This Privacy Policy explains how Britain Needs Us ("we," "us," or "our") collects, uses, stores, and shares your personal information when you visit britainneedsus.co.uk (the "Site"), subscribe to our services, sign a petition, use our calculator tools, or otherwise interact with us. We are registered with the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) under registration number C1887560 and comply fully with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.
Britain Needs Us is an independent, non-partisan citizen accountability initiative. We are not a political party and will never become one.
| Data Controller | Matt Andrews, trading as Britain Needs Us |
| Registered Address | 2 Wayfarer, The Dean, Alresford, Hampshire, SO24 9FT |
| matt@britainneedsus.co.uk | |
| ICO Registration | C1887560 |
| Website | britainneedsus.co.uk |
As a sole trader operating a small-scale campaign, Matt Andrews acts as both data controller and data protection contact. For any data protection queries, please email matt@britainneedsus.co.uk.
| Data | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Email address | Account creation, campaign updates |
| First name | Personalisation |
| IP address | Security, fraud prevention (server logs) |
In addition to the data above, paying subscribers provide:
| Data | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Full name | Subscription management, Open Letter inclusion (with consent) |
| Email address | Account & billing communications |
| Postcode | Regional analysis, petition eligibility |
| Age group (opt-in only) | Anonymised demographic charts |
| Payment data via Stripe | Subscription billing (see Section 8) |
| Data | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Name | Licence holder identification |
| Email address | Account & billing communications |
| Company / organisation name | Licence terms, attribution |
| Data | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Name | Petition signatory identification |
| Postcode | UK Petitions Committee verification |
| Data | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Age band | Anonymised aggregated charts |
| Region | Anonymised aggregated charts |
Demographic data is entirely voluntary. It is only collected if you give explicit opt-in consent. You can withdraw consent at any time via your account settings.
Data you enter into our calculator tools (e.g. salary, tax estimates) is processed entirely within your browser. It is not transmitted to our servers and is not stored unless you explicitly choose to save a result to your account.
When you use the Britain Needs Us tax calculator, we store your calculator inputs and outputs in order to provide your personalised results and to improve the accuracy of our calculations. This includes: income figures, spending habits, and (for Voice of Britain and Champion of Britain members) life event and estate planning data you enter. This data is stored securely in our database and associated with your account. It is never sold or shared with third parties without your explicit consent. We store only the first half of your postcode (e.g. 'SW1') for regional analysis — never your full postcode. Calculator data is retained for as long as you hold an active account, plus 12 months after account closure, after which it is permanently deleted.
If you indicate an interest in being contacted about professional advisers, we store this preference alongside a summary of your tax situation (not your full inputs). This is stored solely to enable a future contact if we establish suitable partner relationships. We do not share your data with any third party at the point of capture. You can withdraw this preference at any time in your account settings. Britain Needs Us is not currently regulated by the FCA.
If you consent to add your name to the open letter, we store: your display name format, your region (derived from postcode district), and your real tax rate as calculated. This data is used solely for the open letter and will be included in the submission when the 10,000-signature threshold is reached. You can withdraw your open letter consent at any time in your account settings.
Automatic data is collected only via Google Analytics and only if you have consented to analytics cookies. We use IP anonymisation.
When you purchase or download a forensic report, we collect and process:
purchased_reports in your subscriber recordSensitive information. We do not collect any special category data (racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, trade union membership, health data, sexual orientation, genetic or biometric data).
| Purpose | Legal Basis |
|---|---|
| Subscription management — set up accounts, process payments, assign Voice of Britain numbers, send receipts | Contract (Art. 6(1)(b)) |
| Open Letter inclusion — your name included in the letter to the Prime Minister | Consent (Art. 6(1)(a)) |
| Voice of Britain Wall — display your first name and region on the public supporter wall | Consent (Art. 6(1)(a)) |
| Champion of Britain name in letter — Champion subscribers' names listed in the Open Letter | Consent (Art. 6(1)(a)) |
| Marketing communications — campaign updates, newsletters | Consent (opt-in, Art. 6(1)(a)) |
| Demographic charts — anonymised, aggregated supporter demographics | Consent (Art. 6(1)(a)), data anonymised |
| Pro licence management — licence holder records, access logs, billing | Contract (Art. 6(1)(b)) |
| Legal obligations — HMRC tax records, ICO requests, court orders | Legal obligation (Art. 6(1)(c)) |
| Website analytics — understanding how visitors use the site | Consent (Art. 6(1)(a)) |
| Fraud prevention & security — detecting suspicious activity | Legitimate interest (Art. 6(1)(f)) |
| Calculator data — storing inputs and outputs to provide personalised results and improve accuracy | Contract (Art. 6(1)(b)) + Legitimate interest (Art. 6(1)(f)) |
| Referral preference — recording interest in professional adviser introductions | Consent (explicit opt-in, withdrawable) (Art. 6(1)(a)) |
| Open letter consent — including your name, region, and real tax rate in the open letter | Consent (explicit opt-in, withdrawable) (Art. 6(1)(a)) |
| Report watermarking — embedding subscriber name and email in downloaded PDFs for intellectual property protection and licence enforcement | Legitimate interest (Art. 6(1)(f)) |
Withdrawing consent. Where we process your data based on consent, you may withdraw it at any time by emailing matt@britainneedsus.co.uk or using your account settings. Withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.
Every marketing email includes an unsubscribe link. You can also opt out of marketing communications at any time by emailing matt@britainneedsus.co.uk or clicking the unsubscribe link in any email.
If you opt in to providing demographic data (age band and region), this data is:
Aggregated demographic charts are used to illustrate the breadth and diversity of our supporter base. Individual demographic records are deleted upon withdrawal; aggregated data already published remains in anonymised form.
When you sign a petition through our Site, we collect your name and postcode. This data is:
You may withdraw your signature at any time before the petition is formally submitted by emailing matt@britainneedsus.co.uk.
Voice of Britain subscribers may have their first name and region displayed on our public Voice of Britain Wall as a visible show of support. This is done only with your explicit consent at sign-up.
Pro / Media subscribers provide additional data for licence management:
| Data | Purpose | Retention |
|---|---|---|
| Organisation name | Licence holder identification, attribution | Duration of licence + 2 years |
| Billing email | Invoices, licence communications | Duration of licence + 7 years (tax) |
| Access logs | Licence compliance, usage monitoring | 12 months rolling |
Pro data is processed under contract (Art. 6(1)(b)) and governed by the licence terms set out in our Terms & Conditions.
All payments are processed by Stripe, Inc., which is PCI DSS Level 1 certified — the highest level of payment security certification in the industry.
We never see, process, or store your payment card details. Card data is transmitted directly from your browser to Stripe's servers. We receive only a tokenised reference, your billing email, and transaction status.
Stripe may set its own cookies for fraud prevention (see our Cookie Policy). Stripe's privacy policy is available at stripe.com/privacy.
We use essential cookies to make the Site function and, with your consent, analytics and demographic cookies. For full details on all cookies we use, their purposes, and how to manage your preferences, please see our Cookie Policy.
| Data Type | Retention Period | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Active subscriber data | Duration of subscription | Contract performance |
| Payment / transaction records | 7 years after transaction | HMRC legal requirement |
| Cancelled subscriber data | Anonymised after 2 years | Tax records retained; personal data anonymised |
| Demographic data | Kept in anonymised form | Aggregated charts; individual records deleted on withdrawal |
| Calculator saved results | Deletable by user at any time | User convenience; deleted on request |
| Consent records | Permanent | Legal requirement — must demonstrate consent was given |
| Email correspondence | 2 years | Legitimate interest — support |
| Analytics data | 26 months (Google default) | Anonymised and aggregated |
| Server logs | 30 days | Security and fraud prevention |
| Calculator inputs/outputs | Account lifetime + 12 months | Personalised results and accuracy improvement |
| Referral interest | Until withdrawn or 36 months | Future adviser introductions (consent-based) |
| Open letter data | Until withdrawn or letter submitted | Open letter inclusion (consent-based) |
| Report purchase records | 7 years after transaction | HMRC legal requirement for financial records |
When the retention period expires, we securely delete or anonymise the data so that it can no longer be associated with you.
Under UK GDPR, you have the following rights:
| Right | Description |
|---|---|
| Access (Art. 15) | Request a copy of all personal data we hold about you (Subject Access Request). |
| Rectification (Art. 16) | Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data. |
| Erasure (Art. 17) | Request deletion of your data ("right to be forgotten"), subject to legal retention obligations. |
| Restriction (Art. 18) | Request that we limit how we use your data in certain circumstances. |
| Portability (Art. 20) | Request your data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format. |
| Object (Art. 21) | Object to processing based on legitimate interests or for direct marketing. |
| Withdraw consent (Art. 7) | Withdraw consent at any time where processing is consent-based. |
To exercise any right: Email matt@britainneedsus.co.uk with the subject line "Data Rights Request." We will respond within 30 days.
For any data processed on the basis of your consent, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time without affecting the lawfulness of processing before withdrawal.
To remove your signature before the letter is submitted, email matt@britainneedsus.co.uk with subject REMOVE MY SIGNATURE. We will action within 5 working days. Once formally submitted to government the historical record cannot be altered but your withdrawal will be noted.
ICO complaints: If you believe your data has been mishandled, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office: Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF. Telephone: 0303 123 1113. Website: ico.org.uk.
Your personal data is stored in a database hosted by Supabase (Frankfurt, EU). See the International Transfers section for transfer safeguards.
We primarily process data within the UK and EEA. Where data is transferred outside the UK, appropriate safeguards are in place:
We will not transfer your data to any country without adequate data protection safeguards.
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make material changes that affect how we process your personal data, we will notify you by email (if we have your email address) and update this page. The "Last updated" date at the top indicates when it was last revised.
| Name | Matt Andrews |
| matt@britainneedsus.co.uk | |
| Address | 2 Wayfarer, The Dean, Alresford, Hampshire, SO24 9FT |
| ICO Reg. | C1887560 |