Privacy Policy

1. Who We Are

This website is operated by The Free Website Initiative ("TFWI," "we," "us," or "our"). We are a UK-based web design initiative that builds one free, professionally designed website for a selected UK business each month.

For any questions regarding this Privacy Policy or how we handle your personal data, please contact us at:

Email: hello@tfwi.co.uk

2. What Data We Collect

We may collect and process the following categories of personal data:

• Application form data: business name, contact name, email address, phone number, existing website URL, and business description.
• Website analytics data: anonymised information about how visitors interact with our website, including pages visited, time spent on pages, referral sources, and device/browser type.
• Cookie data: small text files placed on your device to facilitate site functionality and analytics. See Section 9 for full details.
• Communication data: any information you provide when contacting us via email or other channels.

3. Why We Collect It

We collect personal data for the following purposes:

• To process applications: evaluate and select recipients for our free website build programme.
• To communicate with applicants: notify you of your application status, request additional information, and coordinate the website build process.
• To improve our services: understand how our website is used and identify areas for improvement.
• To send marketing communications: with your explicit consent, we may send you updates about TFWI, new services, or related content.

4. Legal Basis for Processing

Under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), we rely on the following legal bases for processing your personal data:

• Consent (Article 6(1)(a)): when you submit an application form or opt in to receive marketing communications, you provide your explicit consent for us to process your data for those purposes.
• Legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f)): we process analytics data and use cookies to monitor site performance and improve our services. We have assessed that these interests do not override your fundamental rights and freedoms.

5. How We Store Your Data

We take the security of your personal data seriously. Your data is:

• Stored on secure, UK and EU-based servers.
• Protected using industry-standard encryption both in transit (TLS/SSL) and at rest.
• Subject to strict access controls, ensuring only authorised personnel can access personal data.
• Regularly reviewed as part of our data protection practices.

6. Data Retention

We retain personal data only for as long as is necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected:

• Application data: retained for 24 months from the date of submission, after which it is securely deleted unless you have been selected and the data is required for ongoing service delivery.
• Marketing data: retained until you unsubscribe or withdraw your consent.
• Analytics data: retained for 26 months, in line with standard analytics data retention periods.

7. Data Sharing

We will never sell your personal data to third parties. We may share your data with the following trusted service providers who assist in operating our website and services:

• Hosting provider: to store and serve our website securely.
• Email service provider: to send transactional and marketing emails on our behalf.
• Google Analytics: to collect anonymised website usage data. Google Analytics processes data in accordance with its own privacy policy.

All third-party providers are contractually obligated to handle your data securely and in accordance with applicable data protection legislation.

8. Your Rights

Under the UK GDPR, you have the following rights in relation to your personal data:

• Right of access: request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Right to rectification: request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data.
• Right to erasure: request deletion of your personal data where there is no compelling reason for its continued processing.
• Right to restrict processing: request that we limit the processing of your data in certain circumstances.
• Right to data portability: request your data in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format.
• Right to withdraw consent: withdraw your consent at any time where processing is based on consent.
• Right to complain: lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) if you believe your data protection rights have been violated. The ICO can be contacted at ico.org.uk.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at hello@tfwi.co.uk. We will respond to your request within 30 days.

9. Cookies

Our website uses cookies to enhance your experience and help us understand how the site is used. We use the following types of cookies:

• Essential cookies: required for the basic operation of our website. These cannot be disabled.
• Analytics cookies (Google Analytics): help us understand visitor behaviour by collecting anonymised data such as pages visited, session duration, and traffic sources. You may opt out of analytics cookies at any time.

We do not use advertising or tracking cookies. You can manage your cookie preferences through your browser settings at any time.

10. Marketing Communications

We will only send you marketing communications if you have provided your explicit, opt-in consent. You may unsubscribe from marketing emails at any time by clicking the "unsubscribe" link included in every email, or by contacting us at hello@tfwi.co.uk.

Withdrawing your marketing consent will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out prior to your withdrawal.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or applicable legislation. Where changes are significant, we will notify you via email (where we hold your contact details) and by posting a prominent notice on our website. We encourage you to review this page periodically.

12. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or wish to exercise your data protection rights, please contact us:

Email: hello@tfwi.co.uk

Organisation: The Free Website Initiative (TFWI)