Privacy notice - GOV.UK
Source: https://www.gov.uk/help/privacy-notice
Archived: 2026-04-23 17:25
Privacy notice - GOV.UK
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We also use cookies set by other sites to help us deliver content from their services.
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at any time.
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Privacy notice
GOV.UK (or www.gov.uk) is provided by the Government Digital Service (
GDS
), part of the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology (
DSIT
).
DSIT
and other government departments, agencies and organisations are joint controllers for pages that start ‘www.gov.uk’.
If you have a GOV.UK One Login, read the
full GOV.UK One Login privacy notice
to find out how it stores, processes and shares your personal information.
If you follow a link to a service provided by another government department, agency or local authority, that organisation will:
be the data controller
be responsible for processing any data you share with them
publish and manage their own privacy notice with details of how to contact them
Example
If you make a claim for Universal Credit
www.universal-credit.service.gov.uk
, the Department for Work and Pensions will be the responsible controller. The service’s own
privacy notice
will apply.
A data controller determines how and why personal data is processed.
What data we collect
The personal data we collect from you includes:
questions, queries or feedback you leave, including your email address if you contact GOV.UK
your postcode and address if you use a GOV.UK service that includes a postcode or address lookup function (such as the
school term and holiday dates service
)
your email address and subscription preferences when you sign up to our email alerts
how you use our emails - for example whether you open them and which links you click on
your Internet Protocol (
IP
) address, and details of which version of
web browser
you used
information on how you use the site,
using cookies
and page tagging techniques
Where you provide your consent, we use
Google Analytics
cookies and a Real User Monitoring (
RUM
) cookie from
SpeedCurve
to collect information about how you use GOV.UK.
Google Analytics processes information about:
the pages you visit on GOV.UK
how long you spend on each GOV.UK page
how you got to the site
what you click on while you’re visiting the site
We also receive the same information from other government digital services.
If you have a Google account and have turned on ‘ad personalisation’, anonymised data about your age, gender and interests may be included in aggregated reports we see in Google Analytics. This helps us understand the general types of people visiting GOV.UK. You can view or change your
Google ad personalisation settings
.
We make sure you cannot be directly identified from Google Analytics data. We do this by:
taking all reasonable steps to remove or reduce personal information in analytics data, for example from page titles or URLs
not storing or logging
IP
addresses in Google Analytics
not combining analytics information with other data sets in a way that that would directly identify you
We will not combine analytics information with other data sets in a way that would directly identify who you are.
SpeedCurve
RUM
software processes anonymised information about:
how well the pages performed on your device
performance bottlenecks your device experienced
JavaScript errors your device encountered
Find out more about how we use Google Analytics and other cookies on GOV.UK
.
Why we need your data
We collect your personal data in order to:
gather feedback to improve our services, for example our email alerts
respond to any feedback you send us, if you’ve asked us to
send email alerts to users who request them
allow you to access government services and make transactions
provide you with information about local services
monitor use of the site to identify security threats
monitor the performance of the site to identify inefficiencies and JavaScript errors
We use the information we collect through Google Analytics and SpeedCurve
RUM
to see how you use GOV.UK and to see how well the site performs on your device.
We do this to help:
make sure GOV.UK is meeting the needs of its users
make improvements, for example
improving site search
make performance improvements, for example improving page load time and data usage
We combine Google Analytics information with similar data from other government digital services to help understand and improve user journeys within GOV.UK and other government digital services.
Our legal basis for processing your data
The legal basis for processing personal data in relation to site security is our legitimate interests, and the legitimate interests of our users, in ensuring the security and integrity of GOV.UK.
The legal basis for processing data collected with Google Analytics and SpeedCurve
RUM
on GOV.UK and other government digital services is your consent.
The legal basis for processing all other personal data is that it’s necessary:
to perform a task in the public interest
in the exercise of our functions as a government department
What we do with your data
The data we collect may be shared with other government departments, agencies and organisations. It may also be shared with our technology suppliers, for example our hosting provider.
We will share your data if we are required to do so by law - for example, by court order, or to prevent fraud or other crime.
The data we collect with Google Analytics cookies is transferred and stored with Google where we analyse it with Google Analytics software (GA4). We do not allow Google to use or share this data for their own purposes.
We will not:
sell or rent your data to third parties
share your data with third parties for marketing purposes
How long we keep your data
We will only retain your personal data for as long as it is needed for the purposes set out in this document or for as long as the law requires us to.
We will:
keep your email data until you unsubscribe
keep your feedback data for 2 years
delete access log data which contain your
IP
address after 120 days
Children’s privacy protection
Our services are not designed for, or intentionally targeted at, children 13 years of age or younger. We do not intentionally collect or maintain data about anyone under the age of 13.
Where your data is processed and stored
We design, build and run our systems to make sure that your data is as safe as possible at all stages, both while it’s processed and when it’s stored.
All personal data is stored in the
European Economic Area
(
EEA
). Data collected by Google Analytics and SpeedCurve
RUM
may be transferred outside the
EEA
for processing.
Where data processing happens in the US, suppliers need to meet the certification standards set out in the
UK-US data bridge
agreement. This facilitates flows of personal data to certified US companies that have opted in to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework.
How we protect your data and keep it secure
We are committed to doing all that we can to keep your data secure. We have set up systems and processes to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure of your data - for example, we protect your data using varying levels of encryption.
We also make sure that any third parties that we deal with keep all personal data they process on our behalf secure.
Your rights
You have the right to request:
information about how your personal data is processed
a copy of that personal data
that anything inaccurate in your personal data is corrected immediately
You can also:
raise an objection about how your personal data is processed
request that your personal data is erased if there is no longer a justification for it
ask that the processing of your personal data is restricted in certain circumstances
If you have any of these requests, get in contact with our Privacy Team.
Privacy Team
gds.data.protection@dsit.gov.uk
Links to other websites
GOV.UK contains links to other websites.
This privacy notice only applies to GOV.UK, and does not cover other government services and transactions that we link to. These services, such as
Universal Credit
, have their own terms and conditions and privacy policies.
Following a link to another website
If you go to another website from this one, read the privacy policy on that website to find out what it does with your information.
Following a link to GOV.UK from another website
If you come to GOV.UK from another website, we may receive personal information from the other website. You should read the privacy policy of the website you came from to find out more about this.
Contact us or make a complaint
GDS
, as part of
DSIT
, acts as a joint controller for personal data published on GOV.UK with other government departments, agencies and public bodies.
If you follow a link to a service provided by another government department, agency or local authority, that organisation will be the data controller.
If you have an enquiry about your data within another service, you need to contact the organisation that holds that data.
GDS
does not have access to that data. The organisation’s privacy notice will say how to contact them.
Contact the
GDS
Privacy Team if you:
have a question about anything in this privacy notice
think that your personal data on GOV.UK has been misused or mishandled
Privacy Team
gds.data.protection@dsit.gov.uk
You can also contact our Data Protection Officer (
DPO
):
DSIT Data Protection Officer
Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
22-26 Whitehall
London
SW1A 2EG
dataprotection@dsit.gov.uk
If you are unhappy with the way
GDS
has handled your personal data, please write to the
DSIT
DPO
in the first instance.
The
DPO
provides independent advice and monitoring of our use of personal information.
You can also make a complaint to the Information Commissioner, who is an independent regulator.
Information Commissioner
icocasework@ico.org.uk
Telephone: 0303 123 1113
Textphone: 01625 545860
Monday to Friday, 9am to 4:30pm
Find out about call charges
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire SK9 5AF
Changes to this policy
We may change this privacy policy. In that case, the ‘last updated’ date at the bottom of this page will also change. Any changes to this privacy policy will apply to you and your data immediately.
If these changes affect how your personal data is processed,
GDS
will take reasonable steps to let you know.
Updates to this page
Last updated 1 June 2025
Related content
Is this page useful?
Maybe
Thank you for your feedback
Help us improve GOV.UK
To help us improve GOV.UK, we’d like to know more about your visit today.
Please fill in this survey (opens in a new tab
)
.
Cookies on GOV.UK
We use some essential cookies to make this website work.
We’d like to set additional cookies to understand how you use GOV.UK, remember your settings and improve government services.
We also use cookies set by other sites to help us deliver content from their services.
You have accepted additional cookies.
You can
change your cookie settings
at any time.
You have rejected additional cookies.
You can
change your cookie settings
at any time.
View cookies
Skip to main content
Privacy notice
GOV.UK (or www.gov.uk) is provided by the Government Digital Service (
GDS
), part of the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology (
DSIT
).
DSIT
and other government departments, agencies and organisations are joint controllers for pages that start ‘www.gov.uk’.
If you have a GOV.UK One Login, read the
full GOV.UK One Login privacy notice
to find out how it stores, processes and shares your personal information.
If you follow a link to a service provided by another government department, agency or local authority, that organisation will:
be the data controller
be responsible for processing any data you share with them
publish and manage their own privacy notice with details of how to contact them
Example
If you make a claim for Universal Credit
www.universal-credit.service.gov.uk
, the Department for Work and Pensions will be the responsible controller. The service’s own
privacy notice
will apply.
A data controller determines how and why personal data is processed.
What data we collect
The personal data we collect from you includes:
questions, queries or feedback you leave, including your email address if you contact GOV.UK
your postcode and address if you use a GOV.UK service that includes a postcode or address lookup function (such as the
school term and holiday dates service
)
your email address and subscription preferences when you sign up to our email alerts
how you use our emails - for example whether you open them and which links you click on
your Internet Protocol (
IP
) address, and details of which version of
web browser
you used
information on how you use the site,
using cookies
and page tagging techniques
Where you provide your consent, we use
Google Analytics
cookies and a Real User Monitoring (
RUM
) cookie from
SpeedCurve
to collect information about how you use GOV.UK.
Google Analytics processes information about:
the pages you visit on GOV.UK
how long you spend on each GOV.UK page
how you got to the site
what you click on while you’re visiting the site
We also receive the same information from other government digital services.
If you have a Google account and have turned on ‘ad personalisation’, anonymised data about your age, gender and interests may be included in aggregated reports we see in Google Analytics. This helps us understand the general types of people visiting GOV.UK. You can view or change your
Google ad personalisation settings
.
We make sure you cannot be directly identified from Google Analytics data. We do this by:
taking all reasonable steps to remove or reduce personal information in analytics data, for example from page titles or URLs
not storing or logging
IP
addresses in Google Analytics
not combining analytics information with other data sets in a way that that would directly identify you
We will not combine analytics information with other data sets in a way that would directly identify who you are.
SpeedCurve
RUM
software processes anonymised information about:
how well the pages performed on your device
performance bottlenecks your device experienced
JavaScript errors your device encountered
Find out more about how we use Google Analytics and other cookies on GOV.UK
.
Why we need your data
We collect your personal data in order to:
gather feedback to improve our services, for example our email alerts
respond to any feedback you send us, if you’ve asked us to
send email alerts to users who request them
allow you to access government services and make transactions
provide you with information about local services
monitor use of the site to identify security threats
monitor the performance of the site to identify inefficiencies and JavaScript errors
We use the information we collect through Google Analytics and SpeedCurve
RUM
to see how you use GOV.UK and to see how well the site performs on your device.
We do this to help:
make sure GOV.UK is meeting the needs of its users
make improvements, for example
improving site search
make performance improvements, for example improving page load time and data usage
We combine Google Analytics information with similar data from other government digital services to help understand and improve user journeys within GOV.UK and other government digital services.
Our legal basis for processing your data
The legal basis for processing personal data in relation to site security is our legitimate interests, and the legitimate interests of our users, in ensuring the security and integrity of GOV.UK.
The legal basis for processing data collected with Google Analytics and SpeedCurve
RUM
on GOV.UK and other government digital services is your consent.
The legal basis for processing all other personal data is that it’s necessary:
to perform a task in the public interest
in the exercise of our functions as a government department
What we do with your data
The data we collect may be shared with other government departments, agencies and organisations. It may also be shared with our technology suppliers, for example our hosting provider.
We will share your data if we are required to do so by law - for example, by court order, or to prevent fraud or other crime.
The data we collect with Google Analytics cookies is transferred and stored with Google where we analyse it with Google Analytics software (GA4). We do not allow Google to use or share this data for their own purposes.
We will not:
sell or rent your data to third parties
share your data with third parties for marketing purposes
How long we keep your data
We will only retain your personal data for as long as it is needed for the purposes set out in this document or for as long as the law requires us to.
We will:
keep your email data until you unsubscribe
keep your feedback data for 2 years
delete access log data which contain your
IP
address after 120 days
Children’s privacy protection
Our services are not designed for, or intentionally targeted at, children 13 years of age or younger. We do not intentionally collect or maintain data about anyone under the age of 13.
Where your data is processed and stored
We design, build and run our systems to make sure that your data is as safe as possible at all stages, both while it’s processed and when it’s stored.
All personal data is stored in the
European Economic Area
(
EEA
). Data collected by Google Analytics and SpeedCurve
RUM
may be transferred outside the
EEA
for processing.
Where data processing happens in the US, suppliers need to meet the certification standards set out in the
UK-US data bridge
agreement. This facilitates flows of personal data to certified US companies that have opted in to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework.
How we protect your data and keep it secure
We are committed to doing all that we can to keep your data secure. We have set up systems and processes to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure of your data - for example, we protect your data using varying levels of encryption.
We also make sure that any third parties that we deal with keep all personal data they process on our behalf secure.
Your rights
You have the right to request:
information about how your personal data is processed
a copy of that personal data
that anything inaccurate in your personal data is corrected immediately
You can also:
raise an objection about how your personal data is processed
request that your personal data is erased if there is no longer a justification for it
ask that the processing of your personal data is restricted in certain circumstances
If you have any of these requests, get in contact with our Privacy Team.
Privacy Team
gds.data.protection@dsit.gov.uk
Links to other websites
GOV.UK contains links to other websites.
This privacy notice only applies to GOV.UK, and does not cover other government services and transactions that we link to. These services, such as
Universal Credit
, have their own terms and conditions and privacy policies.
Following a link to another website
If you go to another website from this one, read the privacy policy on that website to find out what it does with your information.
Following a link to GOV.UK from another website
If you come to GOV.UK from another website, we may receive personal information from the other website. You should read the privacy policy of the website you came from to find out more about this.
Contact us or make a complaint
GDS
, as part of
DSIT
, acts as a joint controller for personal data published on GOV.UK with other government departments, agencies and public bodies.
If you follow a link to a service provided by another government department, agency or local authority, that organisation will be the data controller.
If you have an enquiry about your data within another service, you need to contact the organisation that holds that data.
GDS
does not have access to that data. The organisation’s privacy notice will say how to contact them.
Contact the
GDS
Privacy Team if you:
have a question about anything in this privacy notice
think that your personal data on GOV.UK has been misused or mishandled
Privacy Team
gds.data.protection@dsit.gov.uk
You can also contact our Data Protection Officer (
DPO
):
DSIT Data Protection Officer
Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
22-26 Whitehall
London
SW1A 2EG
dataprotection@dsit.gov.uk
If you are unhappy with the way
GDS
has handled your personal data, please write to the
DSIT
DPO
in the first instance.
The
DPO
provides independent advice and monitoring of our use of personal information.
You can also make a complaint to the Information Commissioner, who is an independent regulator.
Information Commissioner
icocasework@ico.org.uk
Telephone: 0303 123 1113
Textphone: 01625 545860
Monday to Friday, 9am to 4:30pm
Find out about call charges
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire SK9 5AF
Changes to this policy
We may change this privacy policy. In that case, the ‘last updated’ date at the bottom of this page will also change. Any changes to this privacy policy will apply to you and your data immediately.
If these changes affect how your personal data is processed,
GDS
will take reasonable steps to let you know.
Updates to this page
Last updated 1 June 2025
Related content
Is this page useful?
Maybe
Thank you for your feedback
Help us improve GOV.UK
To help us improve GOV.UK, we’d like to know more about your visit today.
Please fill in this survey (opens in a new tab
)
.