Your data, explained simply
Privacy Policy – UK Freshers Guide
What we collect, why we collect it, and how you stay in control of your personal data.
At a glance
We never sell your data
Your details are only used to run this site and answer you.
IPs are hashed
We store a one-way hash of your IP address to stop spam, never the IP itself.
Newsletter by consent
Only if you sign up, and you can unsubscribe at any time.
Your UK GDPR rights
Access, correct or delete your data: just email us.
Last updated: 14 November 2026
1. Who we are
UK Freshers Guide ("we", "us", "our") runs ukfreshersguide.com, a free guide and community directory for students starting university in the UK. We are the controller of the personal data described in this policy. You can contact us about privacy at admin@ukfreshersguide.com.
This policy explains what personal data we collect, why we use it, how long we keep it and the rights you have under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.
2. The data we collect
Information you give us
- Contact form: your first and last name, email address, the subject and your message, and optionally your phone number and university.
- Newsletter: your email address and the page you signed up on.
- Group reports and requests: when you report a broken group link or ask for a missing group, your message and, if you choose to give it, your email address.
Information collected automatically
- Security data: to stop spam and abuse we keep a one-way hash of your IP address (we cannot turn it back into your IP address) together with the time of your submission.
- Click counts: when you open a university group through our site we count the click for that group and day. These counts are anonymous and contain no personal data.
- Analytics: if analytics are switched on we use Google Analytics 4 to understand which pages are useful. It uses cookies and collects information such as pages visited, device type and approximate location.
- Server logs: our hosting provider keeps short-lived technical logs (such as IP address, browser and time of request) to keep the site secure and running.
3. How we use your data and our lawful bases
| Purpose | Data | Lawful basis |
|---|---|---|
| Reply to your contact message | Contact form details | Legitimate interests (answering your enquiry) |
| Send the newsletter | Email address | Consent (you can withdraw it at any time) |
| Fix broken links and add missing groups | Report details, optional email | Legitimate interests (keeping the directory accurate) |
| Prevent spam, fraud and abuse | Hashed IP address, timestamps | Legitimate interests (protecting the site and its users) |
| Understand how the site is used | Analytics data | Consent, where required for cookies |
We never sell your personal data and we do not use it for automated decisions that have legal or similarly significant effects on you.
4. Cookies
The public site does not need cookies to work. Analytics cookies (Google Analytics 4) are only used where analytics are enabled, and you can block them in your browser settings at any time. If we add an optional security check to the contact form (Cloudflare Turnstile), Cloudflare may process technical data to tell people and bots apart.
5. Who we share data with
We only share personal data with service providers who help us run the site, under contracts that require them to protect it:
- our web hosting provider;
- our email provider, which delivers contact form notifications to our team;
- Google, if analytics are enabled;
- Cloudflare, if the contact form security check is enabled.
We may also disclose data if the law requires it, for example to respond to a valid request from the police or a court.
Student groups on other platforms
The university groups we list are hosted on WhatsApp, Telegram, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, LinkedIn, Reddit and other platforms that we do not control. When you join a group, the platform and the other members can see the information you share there, and the platform's own privacy policy applies.
6. International transfers
Some of our providers may process data outside the UK. When they do, we make sure the transfer is protected by UK adequacy regulations or by appropriate safeguards such as the International Data Transfer Agreement or the UK Addendum to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses.
7. How long we keep your data
- Contact messages: up to 12 months after our last reply, then deleted.
- Newsletter: until you unsubscribe or ask us to delete your email address.
- Group reports: until the report has been dealt with, and no longer than 12 months.
- Hashed IP addresses: for as long as the record they protect is kept.
- Anonymous click counts: may be kept indefinitely because they are not personal data.
8. Your rights
Under UK data protection law you have the right to:
- ask for a copy of the personal data we hold about you;
- ask us to correct data that is wrong or incomplete;
- ask us to delete your data;
- object to processing based on our legitimate interests, or ask us to restrict it;
- withdraw your consent at any time (for example by unsubscribing from the newsletter);
- receive data you gave us in a portable format, where this applies.
To use any of these rights, email admin@ukfreshersguide.com. We will reply within one month. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk, although we would appreciate the chance to help first.
9. Keeping your data secure
The site is served over HTTPS, access to our admin area is restricted and logged, passwords and secret keys are stored encrypted or hashed, and we keep only the data we need.
10. Children
Our site is designed for students starting university, who are usually 17 or older. We do not knowingly collect data from children under 13. If you believe a child has sent us personal data, contact us and we will delete it.
11. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy when our site or the law changes. The date at the top of this page shows when it was last updated. Important changes will be highlighted on the site.
12. Contact us
Questions about this policy or your data? Email admin@ukfreshersguide.com or use our contact page.