Privacy policy
Last updated:
The short version
- You don't need an account and we don't ask for your name or email to use the site.
- Like every website, our hosting company briefly logs technical details such as your IP address when you load a page.
- If you search by postcode, your browser sends the postcode straight to a free lookup service, postcodes.io. We never see or store it.
- We don't use analytics or advertising cookies at the moment. If we start, they will only run if you say yes.
- We never sell your data.
1. Who we are
Half Term Planner (halftermplanner.co.uk) is run by Grow Online Digital Ltd, trading as Half Term Planner, a private limited company registered in England and Wales, company number 14310212. For data protection purposes we are the controller of the personal data described here.
Contact: info@growonline.digital. Post:
Registered office:5th Floor, 167-169 Great Portland Street
London
W1W 5PF
We are a very small organisation and don't have a Data Protection Officer. Send any privacy question to the email address above.
2. What we collect and why
| What | Why | Lawful basis | How long |
|---|---|---|---|
| Technical request data: IP address, browser and device type, the page you asked for, the page you came from, date and time. Collected automatically by our hosting provider, Vercel. | To deliver pages to you, keep the site secure, stop abuse and fix errors. | Legitimate interests: running a secure, working website. | Vercel keeps request logs for a short time (1 day by default on our plan, at most 30 days). We don't combine them with anything else. |
| Postcode search: the postcode you type, plus your IP address and browser details. | To find your council. Your browser sends this directly to postcodes.io, run by Ideal Postcodes (IDDQD Limited, UK). It never reaches us. | We don't receive or store this. postcodes.io handles it under its own privacy policy. | Not kept by us. Using the postcode search is optional: you can search by council name instead. |
| Planner and calendar choices: the councils you pick. | The planner keeps your councils in the page address (for example ?c=kent,surrey) so you can bookmark or share it. Calendar files are created in your browser. | Not stored by us beyond the technical request data above. | As for request data. |
| Your cookie choice, stored in your browser. | So we don't ask you again on every page. | Strictly necessary storage (no consent needed under PECR). | 6 months, then we ask again. |
| Emails you send us: your email address, name if you give it, and your message. | To reply, correct dates, and handle privacy requests and complaints. | Legitimate interests (answering you and keeping the dates accurate). Legal obligation, for privacy requests and complaints. | 12 months after we've dealt with it. Privacy requests and complaints: 2 years after closing, so we have a record. |
| Analytics (not used at the moment): pages viewed, how you arrived, approximate location (town or region), device type and a random ID stored in a cookie. | To see which pages are useful and improve the site. | Consent. Analytics cookies only load if you choose "Accept all" or tick Analytics. | Analytics data: 14 months. Cookies: 13 months. |
| Advertising (not used at the moment): cookie IDs, IP address, device information and the pages you view here. | To show ads that pay for the site, limit how often you see the same ad, prevent fraud and, if you agree, personalise ads. | Consent. Advertising cookies only load if you choose "Accept all" or tick Advertising. | Set by the ad partner (see our cookie policy). |
| Affiliate links: when you click a link marked "Ad", the affiliate network (Awin) and the holiday company record that you came from us. | So we can be paid a commission if you book. | Awin and the retailer are independent controllers and set their own cookies on their own websites, under their own privacy policies. We only receive reports of clicks and commission, without your name or contact details. | Set by Awin and the retailer. |
We don't use your data for automated decisions that have legal or similarly significant effects on you, and we don't build profiles of visitors.
3. Who we share data with
We use these service providers. Where they act for us (as "processors") they may only use the data to provide their service to us, under a written contract.
| Who | What for | Role | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vercel Inc. | Website hosting and content delivery | Processor | USA, with servers worldwide. Pages are usually served from the location nearest to you. |
| Google (Google Workspace) | Our email inbox | Processor | USA and worldwide (UK-US data bridge) |
| postcodes.io (Ideal Postcodes) | Postcode lookup, only if you use it | Independent: your browser contacts it directly | UK |
| Google (Google Analytics): not used at the moment | Visitor statistics, only with your consent | Processor | USA / worldwide |
| Google (AdSense): not used at the moment | Display advertising, only with your consent | Independent controller for its own advertising purposes. See how Google uses data from partner sites. | USA / worldwide |
| Awin | Affiliate link tracking, when you click an affiliate link | Independent controller | UK, Germany |
We may also disclose information if the law requires it, for example to the police with a valid legal request, or to protect the site from fraud or attack. If the site is ever sold, the buyer would take over this policy.
4. Data stored outside the UK
Vercel and Google are based in the USA. Transfers to them are covered by the UK Extension to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework (the "UK-US data bridge"), which both companies are certified under, and by their data processing terms. Transfers to Awin in Germany are covered by the UK's adequacy regulations for the European Economic Area. Contact us if you'd like more detail.
5. How long we keep data
We keep personal data only as long as we need it. The table in section 2 shows how long for each type. After that it is deleted or made anonymous.
6. Your rights
Under UK data protection law you have the right to:
- access the personal data we hold about you (a "subject access request")
- have inaccurate data corrected
- have your data deleted in some circumstances
- restrict how we use it in some circumstances
- object to our use of it where we rely on legitimate interests
- data portability, where we use data you gave us, based on consent or a contract
- withdraw consent at any time. For cookies, use the .
To use any of these rights, email info@growonline.digital. It's free. We'll reply within one month, or tell you within that month if we need up to two more months for a complex request. We may ask for information to confirm who you are. Bear in mind that we hold very little that can identify you: we can't usually link hosting logs to a named person.
7. Complaints
If you're unhappy with how we've handled your personal data, please tell us first at info@growonline.digital or by post at the address above. We will:
- acknowledge your complaint within 30 days
- look into it and keep you updated
- tell you the outcome without undue delay.
You can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK data protection regulator:
Information Commissioner's OfficeWycliffe House, Water Lane
Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF
Helpline: 0303 123 1113. Online: ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint.
8. Children
Half Term Planner is written for parents and carers, but young people may visit too. You don't need an account and we don't ask for personal details. Analytics and advertising cookies are off unless someone opts in. Please don't email us if you're under 13: ask a parent or carer to contact us instead. If we learn that we've received personal data from a child under 13, we'll delete it.
9. Security
The whole site uses HTTPS. We don't run a database of users, and we keep the data we hold to a minimum. Access to our hosting and email accounts is protected with strong passwords and two-factor authentication.
10. Changes to this policy
We'll update this page if anything changes, for example when we switch on analytics or advertising, and change the "last updated" date at the top. If the change matters, we'll also ask for your cookie choices again.