Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

Central Barks is a UK-based platform connecting pet owners with professional dog walkers. We are the data controller for all personal data collected through our website and services. You can contact us at hello@centralbarks.co.uk.

2. What data we collect

We collect the following types of personal data:

• Account information: name, email address, and password when you register.
• Profile information: profile photo, postcode, phone number, and (for walkers) professional details such as DBS status, insurance, and biography.
• Pet information: details about your pets including name, breed, age, and medical notes (pet owners only).
• Booking data: walk schedules, booking history, and notes shared between owners and walkers.
• Payment data: we use Stripe to process payments. We do not store full card details, only a tokenised reference.
• Communications: messages sent between users on the platform.
• Usage data: how you interact with the platform, including pages visited and features used.

3. How we use your data

We use your data to:

• Provide and operate the Central Barks platform
• Match pet owners with dog walkers in their area
• Process bookings and payments
• Send you booking confirmations and service-related notifications
• Enable communication between pet owners and walkers
• Improve our services through aggregated, anonymised analytics
• Comply with legal obligations

Our legal bases for processing are: contract performance (to provide the service you signed up for), legitimate interests (to improve the platform and prevent fraud), and legal obligation where required.

4. Who we share your data with

We share data only as necessary to operate the platform:

• Other users: your public profile information is visible to other users on the platform as part of the service.
• Supabase: our database and authentication provider, hosted in the EU.
• Stripe: our payment processor. Subject to Stripe's own privacy policy.
• Postmark: our email delivery provider, used to send transactional emails.
• Vercel: our hosting provider.

We do not sell your personal data to third parties.

5. How long we keep your data

We keep your account data for as long as your account is active. If you delete your account, we will delete or anonymise your personal data within 30 days, except where we are required to retain it for legal or financial compliance purposes (typically 7 years for financial records).

6. Your rights under UK GDPR

You have the right to:

• Access a copy of the personal data we hold about you
• Rectify inaccurate data
• Erase your data (the "right to be forgotten"), where applicable
• Restrict how we process your data
• Data portability: receive your data in a machine-readable format
• Object to processing based on legitimate interests
• Withdraw consent where consent is the legal basis for processing

To exercise any of these rights, email us at hello@centralbarks.co.uk. We will respond within 30 days.

7. Cookies

We use cookies to keep you logged in and to understand how the platform is used. See our Cookie Policy for details.

8. Changes to this policy

We may update this privacy policy from time to time. We will notify you of significant changes by email. The date at the top of this page shows when the policy was last revised.

9. Complaints

If you have concerns about how we handle your data, you can contact the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk or by calling 0303 123 1113.