Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how The Trades Guild collects, uses and protects personal data when you use this website — as an employer or contractor, a candidate looking for permanent work, a homeowner posting a project, or a tradesperson looking for leads.

1. Who we are

The Trades Guild is operated by:

33 Bold Hire Ltd
167-169 Great Portland Street, London, England, W1W 5PF
company no. 14009719

We are the data controller for the personal data described in this policy.

To ask us anything about your data, use the "Need help?" button on this website, reply to any email we have sent you, or write to us at the address above.

2. What we collect

Candidates looking for permanent work

Name, email, phone number, trade or category, location and postcode, rate, availability date, travel radius, experience, and — if you choose to give them — CSCS card, driving licence and right-to-work details, and a photo.

Employers and contractors

Company name, contact name, email, phone number, billing address and VAT number where applicable, details of the projects or contracts you post, and your contact requests and payments.

Homeowners

Name, email, phone number, address and postcode, a description of your project, any photos you upload, your budget and timing, and which tradespeople you choose.

Tradespeople

Name, business name and address, email, phone number, trades and areas covered, hourly rate, description, qualifications, photos of your work, whether you declare insurance, Gas Safe or DBS status (and any proof you upload), the payment details you choose to put on invoices, and reviews you receive.

If you ask for the ✓ Verified badge, we also keep the documents you upload (insurance, CSCS, Gas Safe, DBS or qualification certificates) in a private folder that only our team can open. They are never shown to customers, and we delete them 30 days after the badge ends, is refused or refunded, or straight away if you delete your data.

When a tradesperson asks for a lead credit, we e-mail the customer once (with one reminder) to ask whether the tradesperson was in touch. Tradespeople can rate companies they worked for; ratings are shown to other tradespeople without the rater's name.

Free reminders and tools

If you sign up for free email reminders (document expiry or home maintenance), we keep your email address, what each reminder is for and its date, until you stop the reminders or they end. Sign-ups that are never confirmed are deleted after 30 days. The CIS invoice tool keeps what you type only in your own browser — it is not sent to us.

Phone app and notifications

If you add The Trades Guild to your phone's home screen, nothing extra is collected. If you turn on notifications, we keep the notification address your browser gives us (a technical link to your device, not your phone number) and your login e-mail, only to send you the job alerts and updates you asked for. You can turn them off at any time in your phone or browser settings; addresses that stop working are deleted automatically.

Logging in with fingerprint or Face ID

If you choose to log in with your fingerprint or Face ID (a passkey), your fingerprint or face never leaves your device and we never see it. We keep only a public key for your device, its name and the date you added it, linked to your login e-mail, so we can check it is really you. You can remove a device at any time when you are logged in.

Messages sent through the "Need help?" button

Your name, email address and message, the page you were on and your language. We also keep a scrambled (hashed) version of your IP address, only to block spam and abuse.

Payments

Payments are processed by Stripe. We receive confirmation of payment, the amount and an order reference. We never see or store your full card details.

Technical data

Like any website, our hosting servers log technical data such as IP address and browser type. We also use a few cookies and similar technologies — see our Cookie Policy.

3. Why we use your data

• To run the service: creating and approving profiles and projects, matching homeowners with tradespeople and employers with candidates, and releasing contact details when the right conditions are met (to perform our contract with you).
• To take payments, issue invoices and keep financial records (contract and legal obligation).
• To send you service emails: login codes, confirmations, matching and lead notifications, availability check-ins and review requests (contract and legitimate interests).
• To send the free reminders you asked for (consent — you can stop them with the link in every reminder).
• To keep the platform safe and fair: checking sign-ups, preventing misuse and spam, and stopping free lead credits from being claimed more than once (legitimate interests).
• To meet our legal, tax and accounting obligations (legal obligation).

4. Who sees your data

Candidates: employers can see your first name, your photo (if you add one), trade, location, rate, experience and the short text you write about yourself, but your surname, phone number and email are only released to an employer after they pay the contact fee for your profile, or use an active contact pack.

Homeowners: tradespeople whose trade and area match can see your project description, photos and budget, so they can say they're interested. Your name, phone number, email and address stay hidden until you have chosen a tradesperson and they have unlocked your contact details.

Tradespeople: your profile (shown under your first name only), photos of your work and declared insurance status are only shown to homeowners whose project you have responded to; they are not public. Your full name, business name, phone number and email are shared with a homeowner once they have chosen you.

Employers and contractors: when you post a project, tradespeople can see the project itself; your contact details go only to those you choose.

We also share data with service providers who help us run the site, only as needed: Stripe (payments), our web hosting and email delivery providers, and postcodes.io (we send a postcode to turn it into a map location — nothing else).

We do not sell personal data. We may disclose data if the law requires it, or to protect our rights, for example to deal with fraud or a dispute.

If a provider handles data outside the UK, we make sure appropriate safeguards are in place.

5. How long we keep it

• Candidate and tradesperson profiles: for as long as the profile is active. You can delete your personal details yourself at any time with the "Delete my data" button on your profile page.
• Homeowner projects: until you delete your data with the "Delete my data" button on your project page, or ask us to. This removes your name, email, phone, address and photos from every project you have posted, and closes them.
• Payment and invoice records: for as long as UK tax law requires (normally 6 years), even if you delete your profile.
• Messages from the "Need help?" button: we delete them automatically after a limited period.

6. Your rights

Under UK data protection law you can ask to see the data we hold about you, correct it, delete it, restrict or object to how we use it, receive a copy in a portable format, and withdraw consent at any time where we rely on it. Several of these you can do yourself from your profile or project page; for anything else, contact us as described in section 1.

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your data, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk. We would like the chance to put things right first, but you do not have to contact us before complaining to the ICO.

7. Security

There are no passwords on this site: you sign in with a one-time code or a personal link sent to your email, so please keep your email account secure. We use reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal data, but no online service can be guaranteed to be completely secure.

Photos you upload are stored on our web server. Anyone who has a photo's direct web address can open it, so avoid uploading photos that show anything you would not want seen, such as documents, house numbers or other people's faces. A candidate profile photo is shown to employers on your profile card, so only add one you are happy for them to see.

8. Children

This site is for adults. We do not knowingly collect data from anyone under 18.

9. Cookies

We use only the cookies strictly necessary for the site to work. We do not use advertising or marketing cookies.

Read our Cookie Policy

10. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The "Last updated" date at the top shows when it last changed.