Privacy Policy

1. Who We Are

GuardRegister.uk is a UK-based compliance verification platform for the security industry. We are the data controller for personal data processed on this Platform.

2. What Data We Collect

For Guards

• Name (first name and last initial only shown publicly — full name stored encrypted)
• Email address (never shown publicly)
• SIA licence number (stored encrypted, only last 4 digits shown)
• Home city and region (if provided)
• Availability status and profile preferences
• Short bio (if provided)
• IP address and login timestamps for security

For Security Companies

• Company name, trading name and Companies House number
• Contact email address
• Region and services offered
• ACS accreditation status
• Compliance declaration details and signatory name
• Payment information (processed by Stripe — we do not store card details)
• IP address and login timestamps for security

For Client Portal Users

• Name and email address (provided by the security company that set up your access)
• Login timestamps and IP addresses for security

For Public Search Users

• Hashed search terms (we never store raw SIA licence numbers from search queries)
• IP address for rate limiting

3. Legal Basis for Processing

Processing Activity	Legal Basis
Guard profile and licence data	Contract (Article 6(1)(b)) — necessary to provide the service you registered for
Company data and vetting records	Contract (Article 6(1)(b)) — necessary to provide compliance verification services
Directory of security companies	Legitimate Interests (Article 6(1)(f)) — data sourced from the public Companies House register. You may opt out at any time.
Security and fraud prevention	Legitimate Interests (Article 6(1)(f))
Payment processing	Contract (Article 6(1)(b))
Email notifications	Contract (Article 6(1)(b)) — service emails related to your account

4. How We Use Your Data

• To provide and operate the Platform
• To verify SIA licence numbers via the SIA public register
• To send licence expiry alerts and service notifications
• To process payments via Stripe
• To detect and prevent fraud and abuse
• To maintain audit trails for compliance purposes
• We do not use your data for marketing without explicit consent
• We do not sell your data to third parties

5. Public Data

Guard profiles with public visibility enabled display: first name and last initial only, SIA licence category and status, expiry date, vetting score percentage, home city or region, availability status and travel regions. Full name and SIA licence numbers are never displayed publicly.

Company profiles display: company name, region, services, ACS status and compliance declaration status. Email addresses are never shown publicly.

6. Data Sharing

We share data with:

• SIAChecker.co.uk — SIA licence numbers are sent for validation against the SIA register
• Stripe — payment processing. Stripe's privacy policy applies to payment data
• Email service provider — for sending transactional emails
• Companies House API — we retrieve public company data to populate the directory

We do not share data with advertisers or data brokers.

7. Data Retention

Data Type	Retention Period
Guard account data	Until account deleted + 30 days
Company account data	Until account deleted + 6 years (legal/tax)
Licence check records	90 days active, then archived summary only
Audit trail records	90 days detailed, then anonymised summary
Payment records	6 years (UK tax law)
IP address logs	30 days
Session data	Until logout or 30 days

8. Your Rights

Under UK GDPR you have the right to:

• Access — request a copy of your personal data
• Rectification — correct inaccurate data
• Erasure — request deletion of your data (subject to legal retention requirements)
• Portability — receive your data in a machine-readable format
• Object — object to processing based on legitimate interests
• Restriction — request we limit processing of your data
• Withdraw consent — where processing is based on consent

To exercise any right, email: privacy@guardregister.uk. We will respond within 30 days.

You have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).

9. Cookies

We use strictly necessary cookies only: a session cookie to keep you logged in, and a CSRF token cookie for security. We do not use tracking, advertising or analytics cookies.

10. Data Security

SIA licence numbers are encrypted at rest using AES-256 encryption. Passwords are hashed using bcrypt. All data is transmitted over HTTPS. Access to production data is restricted to authorised personnel only.

11. Directory Listings

Our directory includes approximately 11,500 UK security companies sourced from the public Companies House register (SIC code 80100). This data is publicly available. Legal basis: legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f)). Companies may opt out by emailing privacy@guardregister.uk.

12. Changes to This Policy

We will notify registered users of any material changes to this policy by email. Continued use of the Platform after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

13. Contact

Privacy queries: privacy@guardregister.uk
General: hello@guardregister.uk