Privacy Policy

Last updated: 15 September 2026

In short: we only collect what we need to respond to your enquiry and carry out the service you ask for. We never sell your data, we keep it secure, and we destroy or return what you ask us to.

Who we are

Valediction ("we", "us", "our") provides document and photograph digitisation and secure destruction services for deceased estates. This policy explains what personal data we collect, how we use it, and your rights, in line with UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.

Contact: hello@valediction.co.uk · 0330 043 0882

What data we collect

Enquiry form data: name, email address, phone number, postcode, and any message or details you choose to share about what you'd like digitised or destroyed.
Communications: records of calls, emails, and messages between you and us, including recordings of phone calls, used to manage your enquiry or order and to keep a record in case of any dispute.
Documents and photographs you provide us with: the physical items you send or hand over for digitisation and/or destruction. These may contain personal information about living individuals — such as family members named in wills, letters, or photographs — as well as information relating to a deceased person. Information about a deceased person is not, by itself, personal data under UK GDPR; information about living individuals within the same documents is.
Website usage data: basic technical data collected automatically by our hosting provider (e.g. IP address, browser type) for security and performance purposes.

Why we are allowed to use your data

Depending on the circumstances, we rely on the following lawful bases under UK GDPR:

Contract: where we need your information to provide a service you've asked us to provide, including arranging collection, digitisation, delivery and destruction.
Legitimate interests: where processing is necessary to operate and protect our business, maintain service records, prevent fraud, resolve disputes, and improve the quality and security of our services.
Legal obligation: where we are required to retain or disclose information to comply with our legal or regulatory obligations (for example, accounting and tax records).
Consent: where we specifically ask for your consent — for example, for certain types of marketing. You can withdraw consent at any time.

How we use your data

To respond to your enquiry and arrange collection, quoting, and delivery of our services
To carry out the digitisation, sorting, and secure destruction service you've asked for
To maintain records required for insurance, accounting, and legal compliance
To communicate with you about your order, including confirmations and updates

We do not use your data for marketing unless you've separately given us consent to do so, and we never sell your personal data to third parties.

Third parties we use

We use a small number of trusted third-party services to run our business. These providers only process data on our instructions and are bound by their own data protection obligations:

Netlify — hosts our website and processes enquiry form submissions. Netlify is a US-headquartered company; where personal data is transferred outside the UK, appropriate safeguards such as standard contractual clauses apply.
Zoho Mail — hosts our business email. Our account is held on Zoho's EU data centre, so this data is stored within the EU.
Yay.com — provides our business phone service. Calls may be recorded for quality assurance, training, and dispute-resolution purposes. Where we record calls, we let you know at the start of the call.

How long we keep your data

We keep personal data only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this policy:

Enquiry information that does not result in an order is normally deleted within 6 months, unless we need to retain it for legal, insurance, or dispute-resolution purposes.
Customer and order records are normally retained for 6 years after completion of the service, in line with standard UK accounting and tax record-keeping requirements.
Digitised files are retained and delivered according to the service you purchase and any instructions agreed with you. We do not retain copies longer than necessary to provide the service, unless we have a lawful reason to do so.

How we protect your data

Physical documents are stored securely while in our care, with a documented chain of custody
Digitised archives are delivered to you on an encrypted USB drive, handed back alongside your returned originals
Destruction is carried out to a certified secure standard, with a certificate of destruction provided

Your rights

Under UK GDPR, you have the right to:

Access the personal data we hold about you
Ask us to correct inaccurate data
Ask us to delete your data, subject to our legal obligations to retain certain records
Object to or restrict certain processing
Withdraw consent at any time, where we're relying on consent

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at hello@valediction.co.uk. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) if you're unhappy with how we've handled your data.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. Any changes will be posted on this page with an updated date.