Privacy Notice

Effective date: 24 October 2026.

Who is responsible for your information?

GICT is the trading name of Matt Downing, a sole trader. Matt Downing is responsible for the personal information described in this notice. This notice covers gict.co.uk, enquiries about GICT and our business relationships.

For a privacy question, request or complaint, email matt@gict.co.uk. For general business enquiries, Email GICT or call 03333 397 147.

Business correspondence address: 11 Festival Road, WA11 8EP, United Kingdom.

Information we collect

When you contact us by email or telephone, we receive the information you choose to provide. This may include your name, business, contact details, enquiry and correspondence about the work you need. If we work together, we also keep the information needed to deliver and administer the work, such as project correspondence, agreements and billing records.

We do not record telephone calls. Our telephone provider processes information needed to connect calls, such as telephone numbers and call times. We may keep brief notes needed to handle your enquiry.

The website uses email and telephone contact links rather than an enquiry form or public registration service. Selecting an email link opens your email application; it does not send a message automatically.

Our hosting and security services process technical information needed to serve and protect the website. This may include an IP address, the page requested, access time, browser information, errors and security events.

Please send only the information needed for your enquiry. Do not include passwords, access codes, identity documents or sensitive customer records in an initial email. If a project needs a secure exchange of information, we will agree an appropriate method.

Why we use information

To respond to enquiries and discuss work. If you ask us to take steps towards a contract with you, we use the information to take those steps. If you contact us on behalf of an organisation, we rely on our legitimate interest in responding to business enquiries.
To deliver and administer agreed work. We rely on our contract with you, or our legitimate interest in managing a business relationship where the contract is with your organisation.
To keep the website and business secure. We rely on our legitimate interest in preventing abuse, protecting information and investigating faults or security incidents.
To meet legal obligations. We keep or disclose appropriate records where tax, accounting or another applicable legal obligation requires this.

Sending an enquiry does not subscribe you to marketing. We do not use personal information from enquiries or customer correspondence in AI tools. We do not make decisions about you based solely on automated processing that have legal or similarly significant effects.

Service providers and other recipients

We use service providers to operate the business and limit the information shared to what is needed for their role. These include website hosting and technical support, business email, telephone connectivity, website security and backup storage. Our website arrangements include IONOS hosting, Wordfence security and UpdraftPlus backups stored in Dropbox. Our business email uses Microsoft services; website-generated email uses SMTP2GO through FluentSMTP.

We may also share necessary information with professional advisers or public authorities where this is required or justified by a legal obligation, claim or dispute. We do not sell enquiry information.

International processing

Some of our suppliers operate internationally, so information may be processed outside the United Kingdom. This includes Microsoft email services, Dropbox backup storage, Wordfence security services operated by Defiant in the United States, and SMTP2GO operated by Sand Dune Mail in New Zealand. The country involved can depend on the service and account configuration; we do not describe all processing as UK-only.

These suppliers publish information about their international-processing safeguards. Wordfence publishes a UK International Data Transfer Addendum; Microsoft provides international-transfer terms in its Data Protection Addendum; Dropbox describes its participation in the Data Privacy Framework and UK extension; and SMTP2GO explains its arrangements in its privacy policy. Contact matt@gict.co.uk for information about the safeguards relevant to your information or how to obtain a copy. Supplier arrangements are reviewed when services or their processing change.

How long we keep information

We keep personal information only for as long as it is needed for the purpose for which we hold it.

Enquiries that do not lead to work: we delete the enquiry and associated working copies when the enquiry is closed and no further action is needed. We do not retain unsuccessful enquiries for a general marketing period. A limited record may be kept longer if a specific legal obligation, complaint or dispute requires it.
Customer and project information: we keep the information needed while delivering the work and any agreed ongoing support. When those purposes end, we review the records and retain only what is needed for applicable accounting obligations or a specific legal claim.
Tax and accounting records: we keep records for the period required by the tax rules that apply to the record. This does not justify keeping unrelated enquiry correspondence.
Technical and security records: retention depends on what is needed to operate the service, investigate faults and protect against abuse. Records connected with a particular incident may need to be kept until it is resolved.
Backups: information awaiting removal from a backup is restricted from ordinary use. It is removed through the backup retention process; if a backup is restored, relevant deletion decisions must be reapplied.

Where an exception requires a record to be kept longer, we limit the record to what is necessary and review the reason for keeping it. Contact us if you would like information about the retention of a particular record.

Cookies and website technologies

Our Cookie Notice explains website storage and access technologies and any choices available to you.

Your rights

Depending on the circumstances, you can ask to access or correct your personal information, have it erased, restrict its use, or receive certain information in a portable format. Rights can depend on the lawful basis and may have exceptions. Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it without affecting the lawfulness of earlier use.

Your right to object: you can object to our use of your information based on legitimate interests. Contact matt@gict.co.uk and tell us about your circumstances.

You choose whether to contact us. If you do not provide the contact or project details needed to handle your request, we may be unable to respond or carry out the work you request.

We normally respond to a data-rights request within one calendar month. We may ask for proportionate information to confirm your identity. If a lawful extension or adjustment applies, we will explain it.

Privacy complaints

Please email matt@gict.co.uk if you are concerned about how we handle your information. Matt Downing handles privacy requests and complaints. We acknowledge data-protection complaints within 30 days, investigate without undue delay and keep you informed.

You can also complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office, the UK data-protection regulator.

Changes to this notice

We update this notice when our handling of personal information changes. The published notice shows its effective date. We provide additional information where a change requires it.