Last updated: 24/03/2026

Our contact details

Sparrow Self-Employed Carers Ltd

Company number: 15156919

Address: Clickem House, Steel, Hexham, Northumberland, NE47 0HA

Website: www.sparrowcarers.co.uk

Email: hello@sparrowcarers.co.uk

Phone: 01434 444 888

Data protection contact: Tom Maskell (Director)

Registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office as a Data Controller. Registration number: ZB648126

Who we are and what we do

Sparrow Self-Employed Carers is an introductory agency. We introduce people who need care (clients) with self-employed carers who can provide that care. We do not employ carers or provide care services ourselves — we facilitate introductions between clients and independent, self-employed carers.

This privacy policy explains how we collect, use, and protect your personal information. It is written in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018, and the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025.

This policy is in three parts:

Part 1 (below) covers information that applies to everyone — how we keep your data safe, your rights, and how to contact us or complain. Please read this first.

Part 2: Privacy Policy for Clients — if you are seeking care for yourself or someone else.

Part 3: Privacy Policy for Carers — if you are a self-employed carer.

Please read Part 1 and then the section that applies to you.

Part 1: General Information

Your rights

You have important rights over your personal information. You can ask for a copy of the information we hold about you (free of charge). You can ask us to correct information that is wrong or incomplete. You can ask us to delete your information in certain circumstances. You can ask us to limit what we do with your information, or to transfer it to another organisation. You can object to us processing your information, particularly for marketing. Where we rely on your consent, you can withdraw it at any time.

You also have the right to complain to us directly about how we handle your personal information (see “How to complain” below).

To exercise any of these rights, email us at hello@sparrowcarers.co.uk. We will respond within one month. If your request is complex, we may take up to a further two months, but we will let you know. There is no fee.

How to complain

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your personal information, please email hello@sparrowcarers.co.uk with details of your concern. We will acknowledge your complaint within 30 days, investigate it promptly, and let you know the outcome and any action we have taken.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office:

Information Commissioner’s Office Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF Helpline: 0303 123 1113 Website: www.ico.org.uk

How we keep your information safe

We take the security of your personal information seriously. We protect it through a combination of technical measures (secure cloud storage, password protection, two-factor authentication where available, encrypted connections, and regular backups) and organisational measures (limiting access to personal information to those directly involved in providing our service, minimising paper records, and only sharing full personal details when necessary for care provision).

Telephone calls

We record telephone calls to help us take accurate notes and provide better service. You will hear a message at the start of each call letting you know the call is being recorded. If you would prefer not to be recorded, let us know during the call and we will turn off the recording.

Recorded calls are transcribed and summarised using AI technology built into our telephony system, and stored securely in our customer relationship management system. We keep call recordings for up to 6 months, after which they are securely deleted. Transcriptions and summaries are kept for the same period as other records relating to your use of our service (see “How long we keep your information” in the section that applies to you).

Automated decision making and profiling

We use technology to help identify carers who may be suitable for you, based on information carers provide to us such as their availability, location, skills and experience. This helps us suggest potentially suitable carers more efficiently. All decisions about which carers to introduce to you involve review by our team, and you make the final decision about which carer to work with.

International transfers of data

Some of our service providers store or process data outside the United Kingdom. This includes our telephony provider (call recordings and transcripts, stored in the United States), our customer relationship management system (stored in the United States), and our cloud storage provider (which may store data in multiple locations globally).

Where data is transferred outside the UK, we ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect your information in accordance with UK data protection law.

Cookies

Our website uses cookies — small text files stored on your device — to help the site work properly and to help us understand how people use it. When you first visit our website, you will be asked to accept or decline cookies. You can change your preferences at any time using the cookie settings on our website.

We use necessary cookies that are essential for the website to function, analytics cookies (including Google Analytics) that help us understand how visitors use our site, and functional cookies that remember your preferences. We may also use advertising cookies to help us measure the effectiveness of our marketing. You can accept or decline any non-essential cookies through the cookie banner when you visit our site.

For detailed information about the specific cookies we use, please see the cookie settings on our website.

Children and young people

Our website and services are primarily aimed at adults. Our website is not intended for use by anyone under 16.

If you are seeking care for a child or young person under 18, this should be arranged by a parent, guardian, or someone with parental responsibility. Any information about the child or young person should only be provided by that person.

Changes to this policy

We may update this privacy policy when our practices change or when the law requires it. If we make significant changes, we will notify you by email or through a prominent notice on our website. You can see when this policy was last updated at the top of this page.

If we sell our business

If we sell Sparrow Self-Employed Carers or substantially all of its assets to another organisation, your personal information may be transferred to the new owner so they can continue to provide the service to you. We will notify you of any such transfer and the new owner will be required to use your information only for the same purposes and under the same terms as this privacy policy.

Privacy Policy for Clients

This section applies to you if you are seeking care for yourself or someone else.

What information we collect from you

Basic personal information — your name, address, email, phone number, and date of birth (for the person receiving care). If you are arranging care for someone else, we also collect their name, address, email, phone number, and date of birth.

Information about care needs — background and care requirements, health conditions and medical history, medication requirements, and mobility and personal care needs of the person needing care.

Financial information — how you pay for care and our service fee, and information about care funding or eligibility for financial support where relevant. If you pay our service fee by direct debit, your bank details are entered directly with our payment provider (GoCardless) and are not accessible to Sparrow.

Feedback — your experience of our introductory service.

Records of communications — records of our calls, text messages, and emails, including call transcriptions and summaries.

How we collect this information

We collect information directly from you via our website, forms, emails, text messages and phone calls. We may also receive information from third parties such as social services, healthcare professionals, or local authorities who refer you to our service, and from carers who provide updates on care needs or circumstances as part of providing care to you.

What happens if you don’t provide information

We need certain information to provide our service — for example, to communicate with you, to identify appropriate carers, and to process our service fee. If you choose not to provide information we need, we may not be able to provide our introductory service.

Why we collect and use your information (lawful basis)

Under UK data protection law, we need a lawful basis to collect and use your information. The bases we rely on are:

Contract — we need your information to identify and suggest appropriate carers for you, facilitate introductions, process payments for our service fee, and communicate with you about care arrangements.

Legal obligation — we may need to process your information to comply with safeguarding requirements or other legal obligations.

Legitimate interests — we process information to improve our services, keep records for complaint resolution, ensure the quality and safety of care introductions, and record telephone calls for accurate record-keeping and service improvement.

Consent — we will ask for your consent to send you marketing emails. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Health information

Health information receives extra protection under UK data protection law. We process health information because it is necessary to identify and suggest carers who have appropriate skills and experience for your needs, and to ensure carers have the information they need to provide safe and suitable care.

We share health information only with carers who have agreed to duties of confidentiality under their Carer Agreement with Sparrow. In an emergency, we may also share information with emergency services to protect someone’s vital interests.

Who we share your information with

Sharing with carers

This is the main purpose of our service. When looking for suitable carers for you, we share information about your care needs with potentially suitable carers so they can assess whether they are able to provide the care you are looking for. At this stage, we will not share surnames, full addresses or contact details. We share the information we reasonably consider necessary for carers to assess whether they are able to help.

When you decide to work with a carer, we share your full contact details and other information the carer needs to provide care to you.

Third-party service providers

We share information with trusted third parties who help us run our services. These include our customer relationship management system, secure cloud storage provider, telephony provider, form processing service, and website hosting service.

Our accounting software contains client contact details and billing history. Our partner accountant has access to this software for the purposes of supporting carer invoicing and tax returns.

Our payment provider (GoCardless) processes direct debit payments for our service fee. They handle your bank details directly and we do not see them.

All third-party providers are carefully selected and are required to keep your information secure and confidential.

We never sell your information to third parties, share it for third-party marketing, or share it beyond what is necessary to provide our services.

Legal requirements

We may share information if required by law, for example with police or social services for safeguarding concerns, with courts if legally required, or with regulators investigating our services.

How long we keep your information

While you use our services, we keep all information needed to provide the service.

If you contact us but do not go on to use our service, we keep your enquiry information for up to 2 years in case you wish to return to it, as care decisions often develop over time. After this period, it is securely deleted.

After you stop using our services, we keep basic contact information, dates of service, and any safeguarding-related information for up to 5 years for complaint resolution and safeguarding follow-up. We keep financial records for up to 6 years as required for tax purposes. After these periods, we securely delete or destroy all information.

Marketing communications

If you have agreed to receive marketing emails from us, you can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link at the bottom of any marketing email or by emailing hello@sparrowcarers.co.uk. We will never share your information with third parties for their marketing.

Privacy Policy for Carers

This section applies to you if you are a self-employed carer who provides care through Sparrow’s introductory service.

What information we collect from you

Basic personal information — your name, address, email, phone number, date of birth, and National Insurance number. We also hold your bank account details, which appear on your client invoices so that clients can pay you directly.

Identity documents — passport, driving licence, or other documents from the DBS identity checking guidelines, used to verify your identity as part of the DBS check process.

Professional information — DBS check results and certificates, previous care experience and qualifications, references from previous employers or clients, professional insurance details, and training records.

Financial information — financial records held in our accounting software, where we have practice-level access to support you with invoicing, expense recording, and tax returns through our partner accountant.

Records of communications — records of our calls, text messages, emails, and messages on our community platform, including call transcriptions and summaries.

How we collect this information

We collect information directly from you via our website, forms, emails, text messages, phone calls, and our community platform. We also receive information from third parties such as DBS checking services and reference providers, and from clients once an introduction has been made.

What happens if you don’t provide information

We need certain information to work with you — for example, to verify your suitability to provide care, to introduce you to clients, and to support you with invoicing. If you choose not to provide information we need, we may not be able to work with you or introduce you to clients.

Why we collect and use your information (lawful basis)

Under UK data protection law, we need a lawful basis to collect and use your information. The bases we rely on are:

Contract — we need your information to work with you as a self-employed carer, introduce you to potential clients, support you with invoicing, and provide administrative support.

Legal obligation — we must process certain information to carry out DBS checks, comply with safeguarding requirements, and meet tax and accounting obligations.

Legitimate interests — we process information to improve our services, keep records for complaint resolution, ensure the quality and safety of care introductions, and record telephone calls for accurate record-keeping and service improvement.

Consent — we ask for your consent to display your carer profile publicly on our website and to send you marketing emails. You can withdraw consent for either at any time.

Client health information

We share client health information with you because it is necessary for you to assess whether you can provide suitable care and, once matched, to provide that care safely. We share only the health information that is necessary for these purposes.

Under your Carer Agreement with Sparrow, you have agreed to duties of confidentiality covering all client information, including health information. This duty continues after you stop working with Sparrow.

Who we share your information with

Public carer profile

With your consent, we display your carer profile publicly on our website so that potential clients can browse and find carers. Your profile may include your name, photo, location and areas you cover, experience, qualifications and skills, availability, and reviews or testimonials. You have control over what appears on your profile and can request changes or removal at any time.

Sharing with clients

This is the main purpose of our service. When we make an introduction, we share relevant information about you with potential clients, including your profile, experience, qualifications, availability, and the areas you cover. The details of what we share are set out in your Carer Agreement with Sparrow.

Third-party service providers

We share your information with trusted third parties who help us run our services. These include our DBS checking service, training platform provider, secure cloud storage provider, customer relationship management system, telephony provider, form processing service, and website hosting service.

Our accounting software provider holds your financial records, including invoices and expenses. Our partner accountant has access to this software to support you with invoicing and tax returns.

All third-party providers are carefully selected and are required to keep your information secure and confidential.

We never sell your information to third parties, share it for third-party marketing, or share it beyond what is necessary to provide our services.

Legal requirements

We may share information if required by law, for example with police or social services for safeguarding concerns, with courts if legally required, or with regulators investigating our services.

How long we keep your information

While you are working with us, we keep all information needed to provide the service.

If you enquire about joining Sparrow but do not go on to work with us, we keep your information for up to 2 years in case you wish to return to your application. After this period, it is securely deleted.

After you stop working with us, we remove you from our accounting software and no longer have access to your financial records held there. We keep basic contact information, dates you worked with us, records of what we invoiced clients in relation to your care, any safeguarding-related information, and a record of DBS checks (including the date, certificate number, and level of check) for up to 5 years for complaint resolution and safeguarding follow-up. We keep financial records of our transactions with clients relating to your care for up to 6 years as required for tax purposes. Identity documents and references are deleted within 1 year of you leaving Sparrow. After these periods, we securely delete or destroy all remaining information.

Marketing communications

If you have agreed to receive marketing emails from us, you can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link at the bottom of any marketing email or by emailing hello@sparrowcarers.co.uk. We will never share your information with third parties for their marketing.