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Privacy policy
How UK Lifestyle collects, uses and protects personal data — both for people who take part in our surveys and for people who contact us through this website.
Last updated: 7 September 2026.
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1. Who we are
UK Lifestyle is a consumer research and lead generation business operating in the United Kingdom.
For the surveys we run in our own name, we are the data controller. When we run a campaign on behalf of a client using their criteria, we are usually a data processor and the client is the controller; the contract between us records which of us is responsible for what.
Our data protection contact is dpo@uk-lifestyle.co.uk.
2. What we collect
If you take part in one of our surveys
- Your name, postal address and postcode
- Your telephone number or numbers, and your email address if you give it
- Your date of birth or age band
- Your answers to the survey questions — for example whether you own your home, the age of your boiler, which insurance products you hold, and which products you would like to hear about
- A recording of the call, and a note of the date, time, agent and campaign
- The marketing permission you gave, and the wording that was read to you
We do not ask for, and do not want, bank account numbers, card details, National Insurance numbers, or details of your health beyond the general questions in the script. If you volunteer information of that kind, our agents are instructed not to record it.
If you contact us through this website
- Your name, company, work email address and telephone number
- What you told us in the enquiry, including the product and volume you selected
- The date and time of the enquiry and which form it came from
If you are a client contact
- Your business contact details and job role
- Correspondence with us, campaign notes, and records needed for invoicing and audit
3. Where it comes from
Almost all of the consumer personal data we hold came directly from the individual, on a recorded telephone call, in answer to our own questionnaire. We also use:
- Preference-service files (the Telephone Preference Service, the Corporate TPS and the Mailing Preference Service) to work out who we must not contact
- Suppression, bereavement and gone-away files, to remove people who should not be contacted
- The Postcode Address File, to check and correct addresses
- Data supplied to us by a client for processing on their behalf, under contract
- Publicly available business information, for B2B records
4. Why we use it, and our lawful basis
| What we do | Lawful basis under UK GDPR |
|---|---|
| Run market research surveys by telephone | Legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f)) — conducting market research, balanced against your interests |
| Pass your details to a supplier so they can contact you about a product you asked to hear about | Consent (Article 6(1)(a)), given on the call, as required by PECR for live marketing calls to numbers registered with the TPS |
| Send you marketing by email or SMS | Consent (Article 6(1)(a)) — and only where you specifically agreed to that channel |
| Record calls and keep the recording | Legitimate interests — evidencing consent, quality monitoring, training and resolving disputes; and compliance with our legal obligations |
| Screen against preference services and suppression files | Legal obligation (Article 6(1)(c)) under PECR |
| Respond to a business enquiry made through this website | Legitimate interests — replying to a request you made of us |
| Keep accounting records and manage client contracts | Legal obligation, and performance of a contract (Article 6(1)(b)) |
Where we rely on legitimate interests, you have the right to object and we will stop unless we have compelling grounds not to. Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time and that is the end of the matter — withdrawing consent does not make the earlier processing unlawful, but it stops any further use.
5. Who we share it with
- Client companies. Where you agreed to be contacted about a product, we pass your details and your relevant survey answers to the supplier of that product. They then become responsible for their own use of your data and have their own privacy notice. We tell you the categories of company on the call, and we will tell you the specific company if you ask us.
- Service providers. We use suppliers to deliver parts of the service: telephony and dialler platforms, IT hosting and backup, data screening and validation bureaux, and our accountants. Each acts only on our written instructions, under a contract containing the terms required by Article 28 of the UK GDPR. We will tell you which suppliers are currently in use if you ask.
- Regulators and law enforcement. Where we are required to disclose information by law, or to establish or defend legal claims.
We do not sell your data to anyone who has not been named to you in the categories we read out on the call, and we do not pass survey data to list brokers for onward trading.
6. How long we keep it
| Record | Retention period |
|---|---|
| Survey records on the selectable file | 36 months from the date the answers were given, then deleted |
| Call recordings | 12 months from the date of the call, then deleted |
| Consent and provenance records | Retained for as long as the underlying record, plus 12 months |
| Suppression and opt-out records | Kept indefinitely — we must keep these to make sure we do not contact you again |
| Website enquiries | 24 months from the last contact |
| Client contracts and accounting records | 7 years, as required by tax law |
7. Security and location
Personal data we hold is stored on systems located in the United Kingdom. Access is restricted by role and logged. Files sent to clients are encrypted, with credentials sent by a separate channel. Staff receive data protection training at induction and annually thereafter.
We do not routinely transfer personal data outside the UK. If that ever changes we will update this notice and put appropriate safeguards in place, such as the UK International Data Transfer Agreement.
If a personal data breach occurs we will assess it immediately and, where the legal threshold is met, report it to the ICO within 72 hours and tell affected individuals and clients without undue delay.
8. Your rights
Under the UK GDPR you have the right to:
- be told what personal data we hold about you, and get a copy of it
- have inaccurate data corrected
- have your data deleted, where we have no overriding reason to keep it
- restrict how we use your data while a dispute about it is resolved
- object to processing based on legitimate interests
- object to direct marketing at any time — this one is absolute, and we must stop
- receive your data in a portable format, where processing is based on consent
- withdraw consent you have given
To exercise any of these, email dpo@uk-lifestyle.co.uk. We respond within one calendar month and there is no charge. We may ask you to confirm your identity first, so that we do not disclose your data to someone else.
9. Stopping marketing
Tell us and we will stop. Email compliance@uk-lifestyle.co.uk, or write to us at the registered office. Your details are suppressed across every campaign within 24 hours, and we keep a note of your number for the sole purpose of not calling it again.
To reduce marketing calls generally, register free with the Telephone Preference Service at tpsonline.org.uk. We screen against the TPS before every campaign.
If a company has contacted you as a result of data we supplied and you want them to stop, you can tell them directly, or tell us and we will pass the request on.
10. Cookies
This website does not set any cookies and does not use analytics or advertising trackers. See the cookie policy for the detail, including what would change if we added them.
11. Complaints
If you are unhappy with how we have handled your personal data, please tell us first at compliance@uk-lifestyle.co.uk — we acknowledge within two working days and aim to resolve within ten.
You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at any time, whether or not you have raised it with us:
Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF
Telephone 0303 123 1113 ·
ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint
12. Changes to this policy
We review this notice at least once a year and whenever we change how we handle personal data. The date at the top shows when it was last updated. Material changes affecting people already on our file will be notified to them directly where we have a means of doing so.