Last updated: 22 August 2026
This policy explains what happens to your data when you visit thepaidhour.com. It is written to meet the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.
Who is responsible for your data
The Paid Hour (thepaidhour.com) is the data controller for the personal data described here. You can reach us through the contact page.
What we collect, and why
When you just read the site
Our hosting provider records standard server logs, your IP address, browser and device type, the pages requested and the time of the request. This happens automatically for every website and is used to keep the site running, secure and reasonably fast. The lawful basis is our legitimate interest in operating a secure website.
We use Jetpack, provided by Automattic, to record basic visitor statistics such as page views and referring sites. This tells us which guides people find useful. Automattic acts as a processor on our behalf and may process data outside the UK under appropriate safeguards.
When you contact us
If you send a message through the contact form, we receive your name, email address and whatever you write, and we keep it so we can reply and so we have a record of corrections that have been raised. Messages are checked for spam before reaching us. The lawful basis is our legitimate interest in responding to enquiries. We do not add you to a mailing list, and we do not sell or share your details with anyone for marketing.
Cookies
Cookies strictly necessary for the site to work (such as those used for caching and for remembering your cookie choices), are set without consent, as the rules allow. Anything else, including analytics and advertising cookies, is only set if you agree through the consent banner. You can change or withdraw your choice at any time using the banner or the cookie settings link.
Advertising
Where advertising is enabled on this site, adverts are served by third-party advertising networks. Subject to your consent, those networks may set cookies or similar identifiers to measure performance and, if you allow it, to personalise the adverts you see. They are independent controllers of the data they collect, and their own privacy policies govern that processing. You can refuse advertising cookies through the consent banner and still read everything on the site.
Where those adverts are served through Google AdSense, Google and its advertising partners may use cookies, web beacons and similar technologies, together with your IP address, to serve and measure ads. If you have consented to advertising cookies, Google may also use this information to personalise the ads you see. You can read more about how Google uses this information on Google’s page on how it uses information from sites or apps that use its services, and you can review or change your ad personalisation settings at Google Ad Center. Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this site or other websites. You can also opt out of personalised advertising from many vendors at aboutads.info/choices or, for UK and EU users, youronlinechoices.com.
Affiliate links
Some outbound links are affiliate links. If you click one, the destination company may set a cookie to record that you arrived from this site so that any resulting sign-up is credited to us. We do not receive your personal details from that process. Typically only anonymous confirmation that a referral converted. Once you leave this site, that company’s privacy policy applies, not ours. See the affiliate disclosure for more.
How long we keep things
Contact form messages are kept for as long as they are useful for handling the enquiry and any follow-up, and are deleted when they no longer are. Server logs are kept for a short period by our host as part of normal operations. Statistics are held in aggregate and are not used to identify individuals.
Who else processes your data
We rely on a small number of service providers to run the site, our hosting provider, Automattic for statistics, spam filtering and contact form delivery, and our consent management tool. They process data on our instructions. Some are based outside the UK, in which case transfers are made under the safeguards required by UK data protection law. We do not sell your personal data.
Your rights
Under UK data protection law you have the right to ask for a copy of the personal data we hold about you, to have it corrected or erased, to restrict or object to how we use it, and to receive it in a portable format. Where processing relies on consent, you can withdraw that consent at any time without affecting what was done beforehand.
To exercise any of these, use the contact page. There is no charge, and we will respond within one month.
If you are unhappy with how we have handled your data, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk. We would appreciate the chance to put things right first.
Children
This site is aimed at people running a business and is not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect data from anyone under 13.
Changes to this policy
If this policy changes, the updated version will be posted here with a new date at the top.