PublicReport.uk, operated by City Ledger Media Ltd., respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal data. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store and share your information when you visit our website, subscribe to our newsletter, contact us or interact with our content. It applies to all users in the United Kingdom and complies with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. Please read this policy carefully. If you have any questions, contact us at privacy@publicreport.uk.
Data controller
The data controller is City Ledger Media Ltd., a company registered in England and Wales (company number 16743829), with its registered office at 24 King William Street, 5th Floor, London EC4R 9AT, United Kingdom. We are responsible for deciding how and why your personal data is processed. We do not have a formally appointed Data Protection Officer; for all privacy-related matters, please contact privacy@publicreport.uk or write to the registered office address above, marked for the attention of the Privacy Team.
What data we collect
We may collect the following categories of personal data:
- Correspondence data: When you email us at any @publicreport.uk address (including info, editorial, tips, complaints or privacy), we collect your name, email address and the content of your message. This also applies if you submit a tip via our Tip Us form.
- Newsletter subscription data: When you sign up for our newsletter via our Newsletter page, we collect your email address and, optionally, your name and preferences.
- Technical and analytics data: We automatically collect your IP address, browser type, operating system, referring URLs, pages visited, and the date and time of your visit. This is gathered through cookies and similar technologies. For full details, see our Cookie Policy.
- Advertising and affiliate tracking data: We use cookies and tracking technologies to serve relevant advertisements and to record affiliate purchases. This data may include browsing behaviour, click events and transaction identifiers. Again, see our Cookie Policy for further information.
Purposes and lawful bases
We process your personal data only for specific, legitimate purposes and we rely on one or more of the following lawful bases under UK GDPR:
- Consent: For newsletter subscriptions, non-essential cookies and marketing communications. You can withdraw consent at any time.
- Legitimate interests: To operate and improve our website, to respond to reader correspondence and tip submissions, to ensure editorial accuracy and security, and to deliver advertising and affiliate content. We balance these interests against your rights and freedoms.
- Legal obligation: To comply with laws, regulatory requests or court orders.
Data retention
We retain your personal data only as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected. For example:
- Email correspondence: retained for up to two years after the last interaction, unless relevant to an ongoing complaint or legal matter.
- Newsletter subscriptions: retained until you unsubscribe or we detect a period of prolonged inactivity (typically 24 months).
- Analytics data: aggregated and anonymised after 26 months; raw logs are deleted sooner in accordance with our retention schedule.
- Advertising and affiliate data: retained in line with our partners’ retention policies, but never longer than 24 months for our own records.
Sharing your data
We do not sell your personal data to third parties. We may share your data with processors who support our operations, such as email delivery services, hosting providers, analytics platforms and advertising networks. These processors are contractually bound to process your data only on our instructions and to protect it with appropriate security measures. We never share your data for third-party marketing purposes without your explicit consent.
Your rights
Under UK GDPR, you have the following rights regarding your personal data:
- Right of access: You can request a copy of the data we hold about you.
- Right to rectification: You can ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data.
- Right to erasure: You can request deletion of your data where there is no compelling reason for its continued processing.
- Right to restriction: You can ask us to limit processing in certain circumstances.
- Right to data portability: You can request a machine-readable copy of your data in certain cases.
- Right to object: You can object to processing based on legitimate interests, including direct marketing and profiling for advertising.
Exercising your rights
To exercise any of these rights, please email privacy@publicreport.uk or write to City Ledger Media Ltd., 24 King William Street, 5th Floor, London EC4R 9AT, United Kingdom. We will respond within one month. We may ask you to verify your identity before processing your request.
Complaints
If you are not satisfied with our response, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK’s independent data protection regulator. You can contact the ICO at https://ico.org.uk/ or call their helpline. We encourage you to contact us first so we can try to resolve the matter.
Source confidentiality
We take source protection seriously. If you contact us via our Tip Us page or through other channels to provide information for a story, we will protect your identity in accordance with our editorial standards and legal obligations. We do not voluntarily disclose confidential sources unless required by a court order. Please see our Sources & Standards page for more information.
Contact
For any questions about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your data, contact us at privacy@publicreport.uk. General enquiries can be directed to info@publicreport.uk or via our Contact page. Our full contact details, including for our editorial team, can be found on the About Us page.
This Privacy Policy was last updated on 1 January 2025. We may update it from time to time; any changes will be posted on this page. Please also review our Terms of Use and Cookie Policy.