Privacy Policy

This policy explains what personal data ScholarySphere collects when you use scholarysphere.help or engage our services, why we collect it, how long we keep it, and what you can ask us to do with it. We handle personal data in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

1. What personal data we collect

Information you give us

When you submit an enquiry or quote request, we collect the details you enter into the form:

• Name — so we know who we are speaking to
• Email address — to send your quote and correspond with you
• Phone number — optional, used only if you ask us to call
• Type of work required — for example dissertation, essay or editing
• Project details you choose to share — subject, word count, deadline, and any brief or supporting documents you send us

If you go on to place an order, we also process correspondence with you and the documents you supply. Please do not send us special category data (such as health or disability information) unless it is genuinely relevant to your request — for example, when explaining an extension granted on medical grounds.

Information collected automatically

• Server logs — IP address, browser type, pages requested and timestamps, recorded by our hosting provider for security and diagnostics
• Submission metadata — the time of your enquiry, your IP address and the page you submitted from, retained with the enquiry to help us detect automated spam

Information we do not collect

We do not take payment details through this website, and we do not ask for them by email. We do not knowingly collect data from anyone under 16.

2. Why we use your data

• To prepare and send you a quote
• To deliver the service you have asked for, including matching you with a suitable specialist
• To communicate with you about your project, including drafts, questions and revisions
• To handle complaints, refunds and disputes
• To keep records required for accounting and tax
• To protect our website from spam and abuse
• To send you occasional study-tips emails, but only where you have signed up — every one contains an unsubscribe link

We do not sell your personal data. We do not use it for automated decision-making or profiling.

3. Lawful bases for processing

Purpose	Lawful basis
Responding to your enquiry and delivering services	Performance of a contract, or steps taken at your request before entering one
Preventing spam and securing the site	Legitimate interests — keeping our service available and secure
Keeping financial records	Legal obligation
Newsletter emails	Consent, withdrawable at any time

4. Who we share your data with

We share the minimum necessary, and only with:

• The specialist assigned to your project — who receives your brief and requirements, but not your contact details unless you agree
• Our hosting provider — which stores the website and processes form submissions on our behalf
• Our email provider — which transmits correspondence between us
• Professional advisers — accountants or legal advisers, where genuinely required
• Law enforcement or regulators — where we are legally obliged to disclose

We never share your name, institution or the fact that you have used our service with your university, and we do not publish, resell or add your work to any public database.

5. How long we keep your data

Data	Retention period
Enquiries that do not become orders	12 months from last contact
Completed order records and correspondence	6 years, to cover the limitation period for contract claims
Financial records	6 years, as required by HMRC
Newsletter subscription	Until you unsubscribe
Server logs	Typically 30 days

When a retention period ends, we delete the data or irreversibly anonymise it.

6. How we protect your data

The website is served over encrypted HTTPS. Access to enquiries and project files is limited to staff and specialists who need it for your project. Our team operates under confidentiality obligations. We review access periodically and remove it when it is no longer required.

No system is perfectly secure. If a breach occurs that is likely to result in a risk to your rights and freedoms, we will notify the Information Commissioner's Office within 72 hours and tell you directly where the risk is high.

7. Cookies

This website does not set advertising or tracking cookies, and does not run third-party analytics or advertising pixels. The only data stored in your browser is what is strictly necessary for the site to function.

We load fonts from Google Fonts, which means your browser makes a request to Google's servers and Google receives your IP address as part of that request. If you would prefer this not to happen, most browsers and privacy extensions can block it, and we are happy to self-host the fonts on request.

You can block or delete cookies through your browser settings at any time.

8. International transfers

Our website is hosted within the European Economic Area. Some of our specialists and service providers may be located outside the UK. Where personal data is transferred outside the UK, we rely on the UK International Data Transfer Agreement, the UK Addendum to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses, or an adequacy decision, so that your data remains protected to an equivalent standard.

9. Your rights

Under UK GDPR you have the right to:

• Be informed about how your data is used — that is what this policy is for
• Access a copy of the personal data we hold about you
• Rectification of data that is inaccurate or incomplete
• Erasure of your data, where we have no overriding reason to keep it
• Restrict processing in certain circumstances
• Data portability — to receive your data in a machine-readable format
• Object to processing based on legitimate interests, and to direct marketing at any time
• Withdraw consent where consent is the basis we rely on

To exercise any of these, email hello@scholarysphere.help. We will respond within one month. There is no charge unless a request is manifestly unfounded or excessive. We may ask you to confirm your identity before releasing data.

10. Complaints

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your data, please tell us first so we can put it right. You also have the right to complain to the UK supervisory authority:

11. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as our services or legal obligations change. The date at the top shows when it was last revised. Where changes are significant, we will tell customers with an active order directly.