Last updated: 7 October 2026
Who is responsible for your information
Independent Check Limited, a company registered in England and Wales (company no. 08302295), whose registered office is at Celtic House, Caxton Place, Cardiff CF23 8HA, runs the Professional Connections Network (PCN). We are the controller of the information about member firms and visitors described here. We are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (registration ZA389829). Contact us about your information at info@independentcheck.co.uk or 0800 246 1094 (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm).
Information about member firms
When your firm joins and uses PCN, we keep:
- your name, email address and password (stored in a scrambled form we can’t read)
- your firm’s name, profession, postcode area, regulator and registration number
- what you choose to add to your profile: a description, the clients you’d like referred, what you can help with, your website, phone number and contact email
- your settings: whether you appear in the member directory and whether you get the weekly offers email
- when you last logged in, which decides when an unused area reopens
- the referrals you send and receive, your connections with other firms, any offers you post and your answers to “did this become a client?”
- records of past payments, for firms that paid when PCN was a paid service
Information about clients in referrals
A referral starts as a short summary, the client’s postcode area, and a record that the sending firm confirmed the client agreed to be referred. The site checks summaries for names, phone numbers, email addresses, full postcodes and dates of birth. It stops the referral until they are removed.
Once the receiving firm accepts, the sending firm adds the client’s name, phone number, email address, the best time to call and an optional note. Only the receiving firm can see these. Nobody at PCN reads referrals.
Each member firm is the controller of its own clients’ information, and tells its clients how it is used. We carry the details between the two firms on their behalf. We don’t use them for anything else.
A client’s name and contact details are deleted automatically 90 days after they are shared with the receiving firm. By then the two firms are in touch directly. The anonymous summary, the referral’s status and whether it became a client stay, so both firms can see their history. Referrals sent on the old site, before PCN reopened, kept everything in one free-text box. That text is deleted on the same 90-day rule.
Who can see what
- Other logged-in members can see your firm’s directory profile, unless you switch the listing off. Visitors who aren’t logged in can’t.
- Your phone number and contact email are shown only to firms you are connected with and to the other firms in your postcode area.
- The public area checker shows whether a place is open or taken. It shows your firm’s name and website only if you switch that on in your profile. It is off unless you do.
- The Independent Check team can see membership details and totals, to run the site and answer questions.
Emails we send
We email members about things that need them: a new referral, reminders, introductions to firms in your area, connection requests, an area being held or released, and answers we need. These are part of the service. The weekly email of member offers is optional and has a one-click unsubscribe.
The Independent Check team reads the messages sent through the site’s forms at info@independentcheck.co.uk, and replies from there.
Visitors to the site
- The area checker remembers the profession you last chose in your browser’s own storage, so it’s still picked next time. It isn’t sent to us.
- Logging in sets the cookies WordPress needs to keep you logged in. A short-lived cookie shows you the message after you send a form. It is deleted when you close your browser.
- To stop abuse, we keep a count linked to a scrambled form of your IP address when you log in or send a form, for up to an hour.
- We don’t use analytics or advertising cookies, so there is no cookie banner.
Security checks on forms
Our forms use Cloudflare Turnstile to tell people from bots. When you open or send a form, Cloudflare receives your IP address and technical details about your browser. Most people never see a challenge. Cloudflare uses these signals to protect our forms, and also to improve its bot detection. Cloudflare’s Turnstile privacy notice explains how it handles them, including outside the UK.
Why we use your information
- To provide the membership you asked for, which is our contract with your firm: accounts, areas, referrals, introductions, connections and offers.
- Our legitimate interests in keeping the site secure, preventing misuse and reopening unused areas.
- To meet legal duties, such as keeping records of past payments for tax.
Who else handles it
We don’t sell information. Our web host, Zume, stores the site and its database in the UK and sends the site’s emails. Cloudflare runs the security check on forms, as described above.
How long we keep it
- Client names and contact details in referrals: 90 days after they are shared.
- Your firm’s account: while you are a member. If you leave, your account stays so you can rejoin, until you ask us to delete it. Ask at any time and we will.
- Records of past payments: six years, for tax.
- Rate-limit counts: up to an hour. Server logs: for as long as our host keeps them.
Your rights
You can ask to see the information we hold about you, have it corrected or deleted, limit or object to how we use it, or receive a copy to take elsewhere. Contact us at info@independentcheck.co.uk or 0800 246 1094 (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm).
If you’re unhappy with how we handle your information, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk.
Changes
If we change how we use information, we will update this notice and email members before any change that affects them.