Last updated: 7 October 2026
PAWS Long-Term is a lived-experience website operated by Mark Cunningham. This policy explains what personal information is collected when you visit the website or use its contact form, why it is used and the choices available to you.
Who is responsible for your information
Mark Cunningham, operating PAWS Long-Term, is responsible for deciding how personal information submitted directly to this website is used.
If you have a privacy question or wish to exercise your data-protection rights, please use the PAWS Long-Term Contact page.
Information collected
When you use the contact form, the website collects the name, email address, message and acknowledgement that you submit.
WordPress.com and Jetpack may also collect technical information such as your IP address, browser and device information, referring page, date and time, approximate location, and information used for security, spam prevention and website statistics.
Please do not submit detailed medical records, complete medication histories or other sensitive personal information through the contact form. If you voluntarily include health information, it will only be read as necessary to understand and respond to your message. PAWS Long-Term cannot diagnose, treat or provide emergency assistance.
The website does not currently offer visitor accounts, purchases or an email newsletter.
How and why your information is used
Information submitted through the contact form may be used to:
- read and respond to questions, corrections, suggestions or feedback;
- manage correspondence with you
- protect the website from spam, abuse and security threats
- investigate technical problems; and
- comply with legal obligations or protect legal rights where necessary.
Personal information is not sold or rented to other organisations. It is not currently used for email marketing, automated decision-making or profiling.
Legal basis for using information
Health information and consent
PAWS Long-Term does not require you to provide health or medication information. If you choose to include this type of information in a message, it will only be used to understand and respond to your enquiry where you have provided explicit consent using the separate checkbox on the contact form.
You may withdraw this consent at any time using the Contact page. Withdrawing consent will not affect any processing that took place before it was withdrawn.
Ordinary contact and technical information is processed on the basis of legitimate interests. These interests include responding to enquiries, operating and improving PAWS Long-Term, keeping the website secure and preventing spam or misuse.
Information may also be processed where necessary to comply with a legal obligation or to establish, exercise or defend legal rights.
Who information may be shared with
PAWS Long-Term uses third-party services to operate the website and receive contact-form messages. Information may therefore be processed by:
- WordPress.com, Automattic and Jetpack, which host the website, operate the contact form and provide security, spam-prevention and website-statistics services; and
- Google, because contact-form notifications are delivered to a Gmail account used to manage PAWS Long-Term correspondence.
Information may also be disclosed where required by law or when reasonably necessary to protect the rights, safety or security of PAWS Long-Term or another person.
International processing
WordPress.com, Automattic, Jetpack and Google operate internationally.
This means information may be processed or stored outside the United Kingdom. These providers state that they use appropriate legal safeguards when transferring personal information internationally.
How long information is kept
Contact-form submissions and associated email notifications will normally be kept for no longer than 12 months after the last relevant communication.
Information may be kept for longer when reasonably necessary to manage ongoing correspondence, investigate misuse, resolve a dispute, establish or defend legal rights, or comply with a legal obligation. Test messages, spam and information that is no longer required may be deleted sooner.
Technical and security information processed by WordPress.com, Jetpack or Google may be retained in accordance with those providers’ own policies.
Cookies and website statistics
WordPress.com and Jetpack may use cookies or similar technologies to provide essential website functions, maintain security, prevent spam and produce website statistics.
PAWS Long-Term does not itself use information collected through cookies for personalised advertising or email marketing. More information is available in the Automattic Cookie Policy.
External links
This website contains links to external websites and services. PAWS Long-Term is not responsible for how those organisations collect or use personal information. When you follow an external link, you should read that organisation’s own privacy policy.
How information is protected
Reasonable steps are taken to protect personal information and limit access to information submitted through the contact form. However, no method of sending or storing information online can be guaranteed to be completely secure.
Your data-protection rights
Depending on the circumstances, you may have the right to:
- ask for a copy of the personal information held about you;
- ask for inaccurate or incomplete information to be corrected;
- ask for information to be deleted;
- ask for the use of your information to be restricted;
- object to certain uses of your information;
- receive certain information in a portable format; and
- withdraw consent where consent is being relied upon.
These rights do not apply in every situation. You may be asked to provide enough information to confirm your identity before a request is completed.
To make a request, please use the PAWS Long-Term Contact page.
Questions and complaints
If you have a question or concern about how your information has been used, please contact PAWS Long-Term first using the Contact page.
You also have the right to complain to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office if you believe your data-protection rights have not been respected. Information about making a complaint is available on the ICO website.
Changes to this policy
This policy may be updated when the website, its services or relevant legal requirements change. The date at the top of the page will show when the policy was most recently updated.