PAD Magazine Privacy Policy

1. Who is responsible for your information

PAD Magazine publishes property, development, construction, interiors and related news at www.padmagazine.co.uk.

The data controller is PAD Magazine , trading as PAD Magazine. The controller decides why and how personal information is used for the activities described in this notice.

For privacy enquiries, email editor@padmagazine.co.uk or use the postal details in section 15.

2. Information we collect and its sources

We receive information directly from you, through your use of our website, and from sources involved in our publishing and commercial activities.

• Enquiries: your name, email address, message, selected enquiry type and any other details you choose to provide. Our contact form includes print advertising, digital advertising and contract services options.
• Newsletter subscriptions: your email address, subscription preferences and records of your sign-up, consent, unsubscribe or other preference changes.
• Editorial submissions: your contact details, author biography, professional information, article text, photographs and other material you send us. Submissions can also contain information about other people.
• Commercial relationships: business contact details, campaign requirements, correspondence, booking information and billing details provided when arranging advertising or related services.
• Website use: requested pages, referral sources, search terms, interaction events, access times, browser and device information, approximate location, IP addresses and cookie or similar identifiers, depending on the service and your choices.
• Other editorial sources: press releases, PR agencies, contributors, interviewees, public websites, public records and other journalistic sources. Relevant information can include names, job titles, professional contact details, statements and photographs.

You can read our public articles without subscribing or submitting a contact form. If you choose not to provide details marked as required on a form, we may be unable to answer your enquiry or provide the requested service. Please avoid sending sensitive personal information unless it is necessary for your request.

3. How and why we use information

Where UK data protection law applies, we need a lawful basis to use personal information. The basis depends on the purpose:

Where we rely on legitimate interests, we consider the purpose, necessity and effect on your rights. Where consent is the basis, you can withdraw it at any time. Withdrawal does not affect processing that was lawful before you withdrew consent.

4. Newsletters and commercial communications

Our newsletter covers property, development, interiors and construction. Where included in your sign-up choices, emails may also feature advertising opportunities, media partnerships and special rates across our platforms.

We use Mailchimp to manage newsletter subscriptions and send campaigns. It processes subscriber information on our behalf to provide this service. Read Intuit's Global Privacy Statement for information about Mailchimp's own processing.

Signing up to receive emails is a separate choice from contacting our team. Sending an enquiry does not itself subscribe you to our newsletter. Reading or acknowledging a privacy notice is not consent to unrelated marketing.

You can unsubscribe using the link in a marketing email or by contacting us. Essential correspondence about an enquiry, booking or legal request may continue when needed.

Our newsletter configuration does not use individual email-open tracking, subscriber-linked click tracking or engagement scoring. Mailchimp still processes information needed to deliver messages, record bounces, manage subscriptions and honour unsubscribe requests. Our website analytics choices are separate from your choice to receive emails.

5. Cookies, analytics and your choices

Cookies and similar technologies can store or access information on your device. Our website uses Complianz to present cookie choices. The available categories include functional, preferences, statistics and marketing.

Technologies that are strictly necessary to provide a service you request, including remembering your privacy choice, can operate without consent. Optional preference, statistics and marketing technologies are enabled only after your applicable choice. We use consent for optional website analytics, including cookie-free analytics, rather than relying on a statistical exception for those services.

Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager

We use Google Analytics to understand website activity, including page visits, interactions, referral sources, and broad device and location information. Depending on consent and configuration, this can involve cookie identifiers and other technical information. Google Tag Manager manages the deployment of website tags. It is not itself permission to activate tracking.

Google Analytics is controlled by the statistics choice. Advertising storage or personalisation, if introduced, requires its own applicable marketing choice and updated disclosures. Read how Google uses information from sites that use its services.

Ahrefs Web Analytics

We also use Ahrefs Web Analytics for readership statistics. Ahrefs describes the service as cookie-free. Its documentation explains that it processes page URLs, referrers, device information and approximate location, and uses a daily pseudonymous identifier. Ahrefs states that raw visitor IP addresses are discarded rather than stored in its analytics database or logs. Read Ahrefs' explanation of its analytics data. On our website, optional Ahrefs analytics is controlled by the statistics choice.

Change your choices

Use the website's Manage consent control to review available categories, deny optional cookies or withdraw consent. Your browser can also delete or block cookies, although some requested features may then work differently. Closing a banner, scrolling or continuing to read is not agreement to optional tracking.

Review or change your consent

If these controls do not load, use the website's Manage consent control or email editor@padmagazine.co.uk for assistance.

Cookie and service inventory

The list below is supplied by our cookie-management system. It gives the recorded services, cookie names, purposes and expiry information. A service described as cookie-free can still process technical information, as explained above.

6. Who receives your information

Information is disclosed where needed for the purposes described in this policy:

• Authorised team members and contractors: people handling editorial work, reader enquiries, subscriptions, advertising, administration and technical support.
• Website service providers: providers of hosting, email delivery, website maintenance, security, backups and form handling, to the extent they process the information for their service.
• Newsletter and analytics providers: Mailchimp, Google and Ahrefs, as described above.
• Readers and publishing platforms: information intentionally included in a published article, author profile or other contribution can be viewed publicly and shared through our newsletter or social channels.
• Professional advisers and authorities: where necessary for legal advice, accounting, legal obligations or the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.

An advertising placement does not by itself provide the advertiser with newsletter subscribers' contact details. If a particular campaign involves passing your information to another organisation, we will identify the recipient, purpose and applicable choice before collecting or sharing it.

7. International data transfers

Our newsletter and analytics services involve international providers. Mailchimp processes subscriber information in the United States and through its international service providers. Google's services use international infrastructure and subprocessors. Ahrefs Pte Ltd is based in Singapore and publishes its own data-processing and transfer terms.

Mailchimp's Data Processing Addendum provides for the Data Privacy Framework, including the UK Extension, and for Standard Contractual Clauses with the UK Addendum where those clauses are required. Google publishes its data-processing terms, and Ahrefs publishes its Data Processing Addendum.

For transfers restricted under UK law, our policy is to require a valid UK adequacy arrangement or executed contractual safeguards recognised for UK transfers, together with any required assessment and additional protections. A provider's published terms do not replace checking that the appropriate arrangement applies to the particular service and transfer.

For information about the country and safeguards applying to your personal information, or to request a copy of applicable safeguards, contact editor@padmagazine.co.uk. Confidential or commercially sensitive details may be redacted.

8. How long we keep information

We keep personal information for the period needed for its purpose, taking account of legal duties, relevant claim periods and whether it is still useful or accurate. The main criteria are:

• Enquiries and unpublished submissions: for up to 12 months after the enquiry is resolved or the submission decision is complete, unless an ongoing relationship, dispute or legal requirement justifies keeping relevant records longer.
• Newsletter records: while your subscription is active. After an opt-out, a limited suppression record can be retained to respect your choice, together with necessary evidence of consent or compliance.
• Advertising and business records: for the relationship and the applicable accounting, tax and legal-claim requirements.
• Published editorial material: while it remains part of a justified publication archive, subject to accuracy, public interest, applicable rights and periodic review.
• Rights requests and complaints: until resolved and for any further period needed to demonstrate our handling of the matter or deal with related claims.

• Google Analytics user-level and event-level records: a two-month retention setting, without extending retention simply because a person returns. Aggregated reports may be retained longer where they no longer identify individuals.
• Routine server and security logs: up to 30 days, with relevant extracts kept longer only where needed to investigate an incident, prevent abuse or meet a legal requirement.
• Backup copies: a rolling recovery period of no more than 90 days. A justified legal hold or unresolved security incident can require specified records to be kept longer.

When personal information is no longer needed, it is deleted or anonymised. Removed information can remain temporarily in recovery copies until those copies expire within the backup period above. If a backup is restored, relevant deletion and suppression requests must be reapplied. Ahrefs describes its raw-IP and daily-identifier handling in the documentation linked in section 5; those technical limits are separate from the retention of aggregate reports.

9. How we protect information

We use technical and organisational measures appropriate to the information and risks involved. Access is limited to people and providers who need it for their work, and personal information must be handled under appropriate confidentiality and security arrangements.

No website, email system or storage method can promise complete security. If you believe information connected with PAD Magazine has been exposed or misused, please contact us promptly using the details below.

10. Your rights and choices

Depending on the circumstances and applicable law, you can ask us to:

• Confirm whether we use your personal information and provide access to it.
• Correct inaccurate information or complete information that is incomplete.
• Delete information where the right to erasure applies.
• Restrict the use of your information.
• Provide information you supplied in a portable format, where processing is automated and based on consent or contract.

You can withdraw consent separately, including by unsubscribing or changing cookie choices. To exercise a right, email editor@padmagazine.co.uk. You do not need to use a particular form or legal wording. We may ask for proportionate information to confirm your identity or clarify your request.

We normally respond to rights requests without undue delay and within one month, subject to lawful rules on verification, clarification and extensions. If an extension or restriction applies, we will explain it as required. Requests are normally free of charge.

11. Editorial content and external websites

Articles, biographies and other published contributions can be read, indexed by search engines, quoted or shared by others. Please consider this when submitting material, and ensure you are entitled to share information or images involving other people.

UK law contains specific provisions for journalism that balance privacy with freedom of expression. An exemption may affect a particular obligation or request only where its legal conditions are met. It is not a general exemption for all of our website activities, subscriptions or advertising records. Contact our editorial team about a privacy concern or correction involving an article.

Our pages may link to other websites or contain third-party media. When you visit an external site or enable third-party content, that provider may receive information such as your IP address, referring page or device details. Its own privacy notice applies to its processing. Optional storage or access technologies associated with embedded content require the applicable cookie choice.

12. Children's information

Our publication is intended for a general readership, including property and industry professionals, rather than specifically for children. If you believe a child has supplied personal information inappropriately, contact us so we can assess the circumstances and take appropriate action.

13. Privacy complaints

If you are concerned about our handling of personal information, you can complain by email, through our contact page or by post. Please explain what happened and the outcome you would like. You do not need to refer to a particular law.

We acknowledge data protection complaints within 30 days, investigate without undue delay, keep you informed and communicate the outcome. The complaint acknowledgement period is separate from the time limits for exercising your data protection rights.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's data protection regulator. People covered by other applicable data protection laws may also contact their relevant supervisory authority.

14. Changes to the PAD Magazine privacy policy

We review this notice when our services, providers, practices or legal requirements change. The date above shows the latest revision. Where required, we will bring significant changes to your attention and obtain a fresh choice before starting processing that needs new consent.