Last updated: 30 September 2026
1. Who we are
The Bridging Gap Services Ltd is the organisation responsible for personal information received through its website enquiries. This policy covers website visitors and initial enquiries from placing authorities, professionals, young people, families and prospective staff. Detailed placement, safeguarding and recruitment records are covered by the relevant service privacy information.
For privacy questions or requests, contact [email protected], call 0191 312 1022, or write to The Bridging Gap Services Ltd, 42 Station Road, South Gosforth, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE3 1QD.
2. Information you provide
When you contact us, we may receive your name, email address, telephone number, organisation, the details of your enquiry and any follow-up correspondence. You choose what to include. Please share only the information needed for your initial enquiry.
Our Contact and Placement Enquiry forms submit directly through our website. Cloudflare processes the submission and Microsoft 365 delivers it to our team. Contact form messages go to [email protected] for review and onward routing where needed; placement enquiries go to [email protected]. Your email address is used as the reply address. A confirmation reference means our email service has accepted the message for processing; it is not a placement offer. If submission cannot be confirmed, please use the contact details shown on the form.
We do not save your form entries in cookies or browser storage. Please provide only the information needed for an initial enquiry.
3. Why we use enquiry information
We use enquiry information to respond to questions, discuss service suitability, provide requested documents, arrange further conversations and direct recruitment enquiries to the appropriate team.
Routine enquiry handling is based on our legitimate interests in communicating with people who contact us and managing service enquiries. Where processing is necessary to take steps towards a contract with you at your request, the contractual lawful basis may apply. Where a specific legal duty requires information to be retained or disclosed, the relevant processing is based on that legal obligation. Sending an enquiry does not sign you up for marketing.
4. Confidential and sensitive information
Please do not include case records, health information, identity documents, DBS certificates or detailed safeguarding information in an initial website enquiry. Contact our team to agree an appropriate transfer route and obtain the relevant privacy information first.
Placement and recruitment processes may require additional information, lawful bases and safeguards. This website policy does not replace the privacy information for those processes. In immediate danger, call 999; routine email enquiries are not an emergency response channel.
5. Sharing information and service providers
Enquiries are directed to the relevant team, such as referrals, general enquiries or HR. Cloudflare provides website hosting, submission processing and the anti-abuse database. Microsoft 365 provides email delivery and mailbox storage. Our IT providers may also process information needed to support these services. Information may also need to be shared with an appropriate professional, regulator or public authority where required by law or necessary to address a safeguarding concern.
You can ask us which providers or recipients are relevant to your enquiry. External websites and your own email provider have their own privacy policies. If a provider processes information outside the UK, the applicable location and transfer safeguards should be explained in the relevant service privacy information; contact us for details.
6. How long information is kept
Routine general enquiries
Our retention policy is to keep routine general enquiry correspondence for six months after the enquiry closes, to deal with related follow-up questions. An enquiry closes when we have finished responding and no action remains outstanding. We review closed enquiries monthly and delete those whose six-month period has expired at the next review. This means deletion may take place up to one month after that period ends. The review covers the enquiry mailbox, the sending mailbox’s Sent Items and unnecessary forwarded copies.
This rule does not apply to correspondence needed for a placement, recruitment process, complaint, safeguarding matter or a legal obligation to preserve records. Those records need a retention decision based on their purpose, applicable requirements and the relevant service privacy information. Contact us for the arrangements that apply to your record.
Website anti-abuse records
The website database does not store the raw message or contact details. To limit spam and prevent duplicate sends, Cloudflare D1 stores a request identifier, a fingerprint of the submitted information, a hashed IP value, a reference number, processing status and time. Records older than seven days are removed when the next valid submission is processed; they may remain longer if no further submissions occur.
Recovery copies and technical logs
Deletion from an active mailbox or database does not necessarily remove all recovery copies immediately. Cloudflare D1 keeps separate, rolling recovery history. Email recovery copies may remain subject to mailbox retention settings and any applicable legal hold. Hosting logs and any platform or email backups have separate retention arrangements; the six-month routine-enquiry rule is not a promise that every recovery copy is erased at the same time. Contact us for details relevant to your information.
7. Cookies and similar technologies
Cookies are small files a website can store on your device. Similar technologies include local storage and tracking pixels. The website does not set application cookies or include analytics, advertising pixels or embedded social-media feeds. It uses local storage to remember your essential-only cookie preference. Fonts and illustrations are hosted with the website.
- Website cookies: none are set by the current website application.
- Analytics and advertising: no analytics or advertising tools are included.
- Enquiry details: submitted to our team through Cloudflare and Microsoft 365, without saving form entries in browser storage.
- Hosting or access services: a hosting platform or private-preview sign-in service may use its own essential cookies and process technical logs. Its own privacy and cookie information applies to that processing.
The first-visit notice explains our cookie use. Selecting “Continue with essential only” stores your choice on this browser under the key tbg-cookie-preference-v1. This record contains the preference version, optional cookies set to false and the time saved; it contains no enquiry details. We recognise the preference for 180 days, then ask again on your next visit. You can reopen the notice using “Cookie settings” in the footer or remove the preference using your browser’s site-data controls. If storage is blocked, the notice may reappear on later visits. If optional tracking is introduced, this policy and the necessary choices will be updated before it is used. Where consent is required, you will be able to accept or reject optional cookies and withdraw your choice.
You can use your browser settings to view, remove or block cookies. Blocking essential cookies used by an external sign-in service may prevent access to that service.
8. Technical information and security
Web and email services may process technical information such as IP addresses, request times, browser information and email metadata to deliver and protect their services. The website does not use this information to make automated placement or recruitment decisions.
Please use the agreed route when sharing confidential information. No internet or email service can be guaranteed to be completely secure. If you think personal information has been sent to the wrong recipient, contact us promptly.
9. Your rights
Depending on the circumstances and lawful basis, you may ask to access or correct your personal information, request deletion or restriction, object to processing, or request a portable copy. Where processing relies on consent, you may withdraw it without affecting the lawfulness of earlier processing.
Contact us using the details above. We may need proportionate information to confirm your identity. We will explain any applicable limits or exemptions and respond within the period required by law. You can also ask for this policy to be explained or provided in an accessible format.
10. Concerns and complaints
Please contact us if you are concerned about how your information is handled. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK data protection regulator.
11. Updates to this policy
We will update this policy when website features or information-handling arrangements change. The date above identifies the latest website policy version.