Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

We Shine Together (“we”, “us”, “our”) is a university admissions support service based in the United Kingdom. We help adults access higher education through free, personalised guidance and application support.

You can contact us at: info@weshinetogether.co.uk

2. What data we collect

We collect the following personal data when you use our website or apply through our service:

• Full name
• Email address
• Phone number and WhatsApp number
• Date of birth
• Nationality
• Course of interest
• Preferred contact method and times
• Student finance history (yes/no and years received)
• How you heard about us

If you contact us via our contact form, we also collect your name, email, phone number, and the content of your message.

We also automatically collect basic analytics data when you visit our website, including the pages you visit, how you arrived (e.g. from Google or social media), and which buttons you click. This data is anonymised and contains no personal identifiers.

3. How we use your data

We use your personal data to:

• Contact you about your university application and guide you through the process
• Match you to appropriate courses and university partners
• Send you relevant updates, reminders and information about your application
• Improve our service and understand how people find and use our website

We will never sell your data to third parties. We will never use your data for unsolicited marketing unrelated to your application.

4. Legal basis for processing

We process your personal data on the following legal bases under UK GDPR:

• Legitimate interest — to contact you about your application and provide the service you have requested
• Consent — where you have voluntarily submitted your details through our application or contact form

5. Who we share your data with

Your data may be shared with the following trusted third parties solely to deliver our service:

• Supabase — our secure cloud database provider where your application data is stored. Supabase is GDPR compliant and data is stored within the EU.
• Resend — our email delivery provider, used to send you confirmation emails and updates about your application.
• University partners — once you progress to a formal application, relevant details will be shared with the university you are applying to, with your knowledge.
• Netlify — our website hosting provider. Contact form submissions may be processed by Netlify as part of their Forms service.
• Anthropic — AI services used internally to generate operational summaries for our team. Your name and application stage may be included. Anthropic operates under a Data Processing Agreement and does not use your data for model training.

We use Anthropic (Claude AI) internally to generate operational summaries for our team. This may include your name and application stage to help us prioritise and manage your application effectively. Anthropic acts as a data processor under a Data Processing Agreement and does not use your data to train AI models. No contact details (email, phone) are shared with Anthropic.

6. How long we keep your data

We retain your personal data for as long as necessary to provide our service and support your application. If your application is unsuccessful or you withdraw, we will retain your data for up to 12 months in case you wish to reapply, after which it will be deleted.

You may request deletion of your data at any time (see Section 8).

7. Cookies and tracking

Our website uses a minimal, privacy-friendly analytics system to understand how visitors use the site. This system does not use third-party cookies, does not track you across other websites, and does not store any personally identifiable information. The data collected (page views, referrer source, button clicks) is used solely to improve our website.

We do not use Google Analytics or Facebook Pixel tracking cookies.

8. Your rights

Under UK GDPR, you have the right to:

• Access — request a copy of the personal data we hold about you
• Rectification — ask us to correct any inaccurate data
• Erasure — ask us to delete your personal data
• Restriction — ask us to limit how we use your data
• Portability — request your data in a portable format
• Objection — object to our processing of your data

To exercise any of these rights, email us at info@weshinetogether.co.uk. We will respond within 30 days.

9. Data security

We take the security of your data seriously. Your data is stored in a secure, encrypted database. Access to your personal data is restricted to authorised We Shine Together staff only, using role-based access controls and secure authentication.

10. Complaints

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your data, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk or by calling 0303 123 1113.

11. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Any changes will be posted on this page with an updated date at the top. We encourage you to check this page periodically.