This Privacy Policy sets out how SortedHQ handles the personal data of the people who use our platform — both customers booking everyday home and personal services, and the independent partners who deliver them — across the Republic of Ireland. Reading it should leave you with a clear picture of what we collect, why we collect it, who we share it with, and the choices and rights you have. By creating an account or using the SortedHQ website or progressive web app, you confirm that you have read and understood this Policy.
1. Who we are
SortedHQ is the trading name of the SortedHQ team, which operates an online platform that connects customers with independent service partners across our Cleaning, Beauty, Gardening, and Handyman categories. For the personal data described in this Policy, SortedHQ is the data controller — meaning we decide why and how that data is processed. If you have any privacy question, or you want to exercise a right described below, write to us at support@sortedhq.ie and we will route your message to the person who can help.
2. What this Policy covers
This Policy applies to every interaction you have with SortedHQ as a customer or a partner: registering an account, requesting or accepting a booking, contacting our support team, and general browsing of our site or app. It explains the categories of data involved and the safeguards around them. It does not extend to websites, apps, or services operated by other organisations that we may link to but do not control — see the section on third-party links for how those are treated.
3. Information we collect and why
The table below lists the main categories of personal data we process, the purpose behind each, and the legal basis we rely on under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Irish Data Protection Act 2018.
- Contact details and service address — Setting up and running your account, and getting a booking to the right place at the right time. Legal basis: GDPR Art. 6(1)(b) (performance of a contract).
- Date of birth — Confirming you are an adult and routing under-21 partner applications for a human eligibility check. Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(b) (contract) and Art. 6(1)(f) (our legitimate interest in delivering the service safely).
- Immigration permission (Stamp) and its expiry date — Confirming a partner's right to work in Ireland and applying any working-hour limit attached to that permission. Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(c) (our legal obligation under the Immigration Act 2004 and the Employment Permits Acts 2003–2014).
- Booking and transaction records — Reconciling payments, meeting tax record-keeping duties, and being able to defend a claim within the limitation period. Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(c) (legal obligation under the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 and the Statute of Limitations Act 1957, s.11(1)(a)).
- IP address and device information — Keeping the platform secure and detecting and preventing fraud. Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(f) (legitimate interest).
We do not set out to collect special category data (Art. 9 — for example health, religious, or biometric data). If you include such data in a free-text message to us without being asked to, we will not use it for any further purpose, and we will contact you at support@sortedhq.ie if anything needs to be done about it.
4. How we use your information
We use the information described above to do the things you would expect of a booking platform: to create and maintain your account; to match customers with available partners and pass on the details each side needs to complete a job; to take and reconcile payments; to send you confirmations, receipts, and operational updates about your bookings; to respond when you contact support; to keep the platform secure and investigate misuse; and to meet our legal, tax, and regulatory obligations. We only use your information for a purpose set out in this Policy, or for a closely related purpose you would reasonably expect.
5. Cookies and similar technologies
We keep this deliberately simple. SortedHQ uses only a small number of first-party cookies that are strictly necessary to make the platform work — chiefly the signed session cookies that keep you logged in as you move between pages. We do not use third-party analytics, advertising trackers, social-media pixels, or any other technology that profiles you or follows you across other websites. Because these cookies are essential to deliver the service you have asked for, they do not require separate consent.
6. How we share your information
We share personal data only where it is needed to operate the platform, or where the law requires it. Specifically:
- When you book a service as a customer and a partner accepts the job, we pass that partner your name, service address, phone number, and the details of the job so they can carry it out. Legal basis: GDPR Art. 6(1)(b). From that point the partner is an independent controller for the data they receive, and they are responsible for handling it in line with their own legal obligations.
- When you accept a booking as a partner, we share your first name, your service offering, and any rating you have chosen to display with the customer who booked. Legal basis: GDPR Art. 6(1)(b).
- With the service providers who process data on our behalf under written data-processing agreements: Stripe (payment processing), Resend (transactional email), Twilio (SMS notifications), and our hosting and infrastructure providers. Each acts only on our instructions for the purposes we set.
- With An Garda Síochána, the Revenue Commissioners, the Workplace Relations Commission, the courts, or other Irish authorities where we are legally required to disclose, or where you have asked us to.
We do not sell your personal data to anyone, and we never have.
7. International transfers
Some of the providers listed above run infrastructure outside the European Economic Area, including in the United States. Where personal data is transferred outside the EEA, we make sure an appropriate safeguard is in place before it leaves — either the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses, or reliance on an applicable adequacy decision. The aim is that your data carries an equivalent level of protection wherever it is processed.
8. How long we keep your data
We keep personal data only for as long as we need it for the purposes in this Policy. As a general rule, account and transaction records are retained for the lifetime of your relationship with SortedHQ and for six years after your account closes, in line with the six-year limitation period under Section 11(1)(a) of the Statute of Limitations Act 1957 and our tax record-keeping obligations under the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997. Marketing-preference data is kept until you withdraw consent or close your account, whichever comes first. When data is no longer needed, we delete it or irreversibly anonymise it.
9. Security of your information
We take the protection of your data seriously and apply organisational and technical measures appropriate to the risk. Account sessions are protected by signed, HTTP-only cookies; access to personal data within our team is limited to those who need it to do their job; and the providers we rely on are bound by data-processing agreements that commit them to comparable safeguards. No system can be guaranteed completely secure, so we cannot promise that data will never be at risk — but we work to keep that risk low and to respond quickly if something goes wrong.
If a personal-data breach occurs, we will assess it in line with our obligations under Articles 33 and 34 of the GDPR. Where the breach is likely to result in a risk to people's rights and freedoms, we will notify the Data Protection Commission, and where it is likely to result in a high risk, we will also tell the individuals affected, in each case within the timeframes the GDPR sets.
10. Children's and young people's data
SortedHQ is intended for adults. Our services are aimed at people aged 18 or over, and accounts should only be created by adults. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If you believe a child has provided us with personal data, contact us at support@sortedhq.ie and we will delete it. Please note that the working-hour limit applied to some partners under the age of 21 is a separate matter tied to immigration permissions — it is explained in the section on automated decisions, not here.
11. Automated decisions about job eligibility
SortedHQ applies an automated rule at the moment a partner tries to accept a job, to check whether taking it on would push them past the weekly working-hour limit attached to their declared immigration permission (Stamp). The rule looks at:
- the partner's declared Stamp and its expiry date;
- the hours they have already accepted through SortedHQ in the current week (Monday 00:00 to Sunday 23:59:59.999, Europe/Dublin); and
- the hours the new job would add.
If accepting the job would breach the limit, the rule refuses the claim. Because this is an automated decision that affects you, you have the right to a human review: email support@sortedhq.ie and a member of our team will respond within two working days. You can set out your point of view and provide any extra information you would like the reviewer to take into account. The under-21 admin-review step that happens at partner signup is also partly automated, and you can use the same address if you would like to discuss it.
12. Your rights
Under the GDPR and the Irish Data Protection Act 2018 you have the right to:
- access the personal data we hold about you;
- have inaccurate or incomplete data corrected;
- have your data erased in the circumstances the law allows;
- restrict or object to how we process your data;
- receive the data you have given us in a portable format (data portability); and
- withdraw your consent at any time where our processing is based on consent.
To use any of these rights, email support@sortedhq.ie. We explain the practical steps and timeframes in the final section of this Policy.
13. Marketing and communications choices
There is an important difference between two kinds of message we send. Transactional messages — booking confirmations, receipts, account and security notices, and operational updates about a job — are part of providing the service, so we send them whether or not you have opted in to marketing. Marketing messages — for example news about new services or offers — are only sent where you have a relationship with us that allows it, and you can opt out of them at any time. To stop marketing, use the unsubscribe link in any marketing email or write to support@sortedhq.ie. Opting out of marketing does not affect the transactional messages you need to use your account.
14. Third-party links
Our site and app may contain links to websites or services operated by other organisations — for example a payment provider's page. We provide those links for convenience and we do not control those destinations, so we are not responsible for their content or their privacy practices. We encourage you to read the privacy notice of any third-party site before you share personal data with it.
15. Complaints
If you are unhappy with how we have handled your personal data, we would like the chance to put it right — please contact us first at support@sortedhq.ie. You also have the right to complain to the supervisory authority. In Ireland that is the Data Protection Commission, online at https://www.dataprotection.ie or by post to 21 Fitzwilliam Square South, Dublin 2, D02 RD28.
16. Changes to this policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time as our services or legal obligations change. The version date at the top of the page shows when it was last revised. Where a change is material, we will let you know by email or through the platform before it takes effect, so you have a chance to review it.
17. How to contact us and exercise your rights
For any privacy question, or to exercise a right described in this Policy, email support@sortedhq.ie. To help us respond quickly, please tell us which account the request relates to (the email address you signed up with), the right you want to exercise, and enough detail for us to act — we may need to confirm your identity first so we can be sure we are dealing with the right person. We will respond within one month of receiving your request, in line with the GDPR; if a request is especially complex we may extend that period and will tell you if we do. There is no fee for a first request.