Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

The People's Pocket ("we", "us", "our") provides general financial education and information for everyday people in the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and England. We are the data controller responsible for your personal data.

For any privacy question, contact us at zak@peoplespocket.com.

2. What data we collect

We only collect what we need to run the service:

• Email address — when you join the newsletter or create an account.
• Region preference — Ireland, Northern Ireland or England, so we send you relevant content.
• Nothing for membership — membership is free and there is no longer any payment. We do not ask for a name, an address or card details anywhere on this site.
• A page counter on two pages — we count how many times /start and /free-cheatsheet are opened each day, to see whether those pages are working. The whole record is a page name, a date and a number, like start | 2026-09-09 | 41. No cookie, no identifier, no IP address, no device type, no third party. Two people are indistinguishable from one person visiting twice, on purpose.
• Receipt photos, in Snap your shop — the photo is sent to an AI service (Anthropic) that reads out the items and prices, so we can compare them with our price data. We show you the result and keep nothing: not the photo, not the items. A receipt can show a loyalty card or the last digits of a payment card, so crop those out if you prefer.
• Questions you type into Ask — your question is sent to the same AI service to write the answer. We don't keep your questions. Please don't type your name, PPS number or other personal details into it.
• Safe Hours and the carer survey — what you enter in Safe Hours stays on your phone. If you opened it from a care company's link, we add one to that company's anonymous totals (how many checked, in broad bands) with no answers, no identifier and no IP address. The carer survey works the same way: each answer adds one to a running total, and no single response is ever kept. Totals of fewer than 5 people are never shown to anyone.
• Anything you choose to send us — for example, messages or community posts.

3. Why we collect it (legal basis)

Under GDPR (Ireland and EU) and UK GDPR, we rely on the following legal bases:

• Consent — for sending you our newsletter and for optional analytics cookies. You can withdraw consent at any time.
• Contract — to provide membership services you've signed up and paid for.
• Legitimate interests — to keep the site secure and improve our content, in a way that does not override your rights.
• Legal obligation — to meet accounting, tax and other legal requirements.

4. Cookies & analytics

We use two types of cookies:

• Essential cookies — needed for the site to function (for example, remembering your cookie choice). These are always on.
• Optional analytics cookies — help us understand which guides are most useful. These only run if you select "Accept all" in our cookie banner.

You can change your mind at any time by clearing your browser's site data for this site, which will make the cookie banner appear again.

5. Who we share data with

We never sell your personal data. We share it only with trusted service providers who help us run the service, and only as far as needed:

• Email/newsletter platform (Kit) — to send you the content you signed up for.
• AI service (Anthropic) — reads receipt photos for Snap your shop and writes the answers in Ask. Only what you upload or type is sent, and we keep none of it.
• No payment processor — there are no payments to process.
• Members' area — access to the on-site members' area is stored locally in your browser. We don't currently use any external community platform.
• Hosting & analytics providers — to keep the site online and improve it.

These providers act under data-processing agreements and may process data outside the EU/UK under appropriate safeguards.

6. How long we keep it

We keep your data only as long as needed for the purpose it was collected: for the life of your subscription or account, and for any period required by law afterwards (for example, financial records). If you unsubscribe or close your account, we delete or anonymise your data within a reasonable period.

7. Your rights

Under GDPR and UK GDPR you have the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you.
• Correct inaccurate data.
• Request deletion ("right to be forgotten").
• Restrict or object to processing.
• Data portability — receive your data in a usable format.
• Withdraw consent at any time.

To exercise any of these, email zak@peoplespocket.com. You also have the right to complain to the Irish Data Protection Commission (Ireland) or the Information Commissioner's Office (UK).

8. Security

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your data, and we work only with reputable providers who do the same. No method of transmission over the internet is 100% secure, but we take reasonable steps to keep your information safe.

9. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. When we do, we'll change the "last updated" date at the top. Significant changes will be communicated by email or a notice on the site.

10. Contact us

Questions about your privacy or this policy? Email zak@peoplespocket.com and we'll come back to you.