1. Introduction

Welcome to racheloleary.co.uk. This Privacy & Cookie Policy explains how we collect, use, and protect your personal information when you visit our website. By using our site, you agree to the terms outlined in this policy.

Our website address is: https://racheloleary.co.uk

2. Data We Collect

Contact Form

When you submit an enquiry through our contact form, we collect:

  • Your name
  • Your email address
  • Your phone number (if provided)
  • Your message content

This information is stored in our website database and used solely to respond to your enquiry. Once your enquiry has been addressed, this data is deleted.

Our contact form uses spam protection technology (WP Armour) which analyses form submissions locally on our server to detect spam. It also uses a honeypot field to prevent automated spam submissions. No data is sent to external services for spam protection.

Comments

When you leave a comment on our site, we collect:

  • Your name
  • Your email address (not displayed publicly)
  • Your comment content
  • Your IP address
  • Your browser user agent string

The IP address and browser information are collected to help with spam detection using WP Armour, which processes this data locally on our server.

If you leave a comment, you may opt-in to save your name, email address, and website in cookies for your convenience, so you don’t need to fill in these details again when leaving another comment. These cookies last for one year.

An anonymised string created from your email address (called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to display your profile picture if you use one. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. Your profile picture will be visible to the public alongside your comment once it’s approved.

Comments and their metadata are retained indefinitely so we can recognise and approve any follow-up comments automatically.

Newsletter Signup

If you subscribe to our newsletter via the Mailchimp signup form, we collect:

  • Your email address
  • Your name (if provided)

This information is sent to and stored by Mailchimp, a third-party email marketing service operated by Intuit Inc., based in the United States. Mailchimp processes your data in accordance with their privacy policy, available here: https://www.intuit.com/privacy/statement/

We use double opt-in for newsletter subscriptions, which means you’ll receive a confirmation email and must click a link to confirm your subscription before being added to our mailing list.

You can unsubscribe from our newsletter at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in any email you receive from us, or by contacting us directly.

Analytics Data

We use Independent Analytics, a privacy-friendly, self-hosted analytics tool that does not collect IP addresses or use cookies. This helps us understand website traffic and improve user experience. All analytics data is stored locally on our server and is fully anonymised.

3. Use of Cookies

Our website uses the following types of cookies:

Essential Cookies: Required for the proper functioning of the site. These do not track personal information and are necessary for basic operations.

Comment Cookies (Optional): If you choose to save your details when leaving a comment, cookies will store your name, email, and website for one year to make future commenting easier.

We do not use tracking, advertising, or analytics cookies.

4. How We Use Your Data

  • Enquiry Responses: Data collected via our contact form is used exclusively to respond to your queries
  • Comment Management: Data collected through comments is used to display your comments, manage spam, and facilitate discussion on our site
  • Newsletter Communications: Email addresses collected via Mailchimp are used to send you our newsletter and related communications
  • Website Improvement: Analytics data helps us improve our website’s functionality and user experience

5. Who We Share Your Data With

We do not sell, trade, or rent your personal information to third parties.

Your data is only shared in the following circumstances:

  • Newsletter data is shared with Mailchimp (Intuit Inc., USA) for the purpose of managing and sending newsletters
  • Gravatar service may receive an anonymised hash of your email address if you leave a comment, to display your profile picture

We do not share data with any other third parties unless required by law.

6. Data Protection

We are committed to ensuring the security of your personal data. Appropriate technical and organisational measures are in place to safeguard the information we collect, including:

  • Secure hosting with regular backups
  • Regular software updates and security patches
  • Access controls and authentication
  • Local spam protection that doesn’t send data externally

7. Data Retention

  • Contact form data: Deleted after your enquiry has been addressed
  • Comments: Retained indefinitely to maintain site functionality and discussion threads
  • Newsletter data: Retained by Mailchimp until you unsubscribe
  • Analytics data: Stored indefinitely in anonymised form with no personal information

8. Your Rights

Under UK GDPR, you have the right to:

  • Access the personal data we hold about you
  • Rectification of any inaccurate personal data
  • Erasure of your personal data (right to be forgotten)
  • Restrict processing of your personal data in certain circumstances
  • Data portability – receive your data in a structured, commonly used format
  • Object to processing of your personal data under certain circumstances
  • Withdraw consent at any time where we rely on consent to process your data

If you have left comments on our site, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, or request that we erase it. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the details below.

9. Embedded Content from Other Websites

Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, or other content). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the same way as if you have visited that other website directly.

These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with the embedded content, including tracking your interaction if you have an account and are logged in to that website. We recommend reviewing the privacy policies of any third-party sites you interact with.

10. Children’s Privacy

Our website is not intended for children under the age of 16, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe we have collected information from a child, please contact us immediately.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy & Cookie Policy from time to time. Any changes will be posted on this page with an updated revision date. We encourage you to review this policy periodically.

Last updated: 9 October 2025

12. Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy & Cookie Policy, wish to exercise your data rights, or have concerns about how your data is handled, please contact us.

Rachel O’Leary
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://racheloleary.co.uk

If you are not satisfied with our response, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK’s data protection regulator: https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/

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