YAKKA Privacy Policy

1. About this privacy policy

YAKKA respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal information.

This privacy policy explains how we collect, use, store and share personal information when you:

create or use a YAKKA account;
create, accept or manage a job;
make or receive a payment;
upload photographs, documents or other evidence;
communicate with a customer, tradie or YAKKA;
raise or respond to a dispute;
leave a review;
visit our website or use the YAKKA application; or
contact our support team.

It also explains your rights under UK data-protection law.

In this policy, “YAKKA”, “we”, “us” or “our” means:

[FULL LEGAL COMPANY NAME]
Company number: [COMPANY NUMBER]
Registered address: [REGISTERED ADDRESS]
Privacy email: [PRIVACY EMAIL ADDRESS]

For most of the personal information described in this policy, YAKKA is the data controller, meaning that we decide why and how that information is used.

Some providers, including payment and identity-verification providers, may also act as independent data controllers for information they collect directly from you.

2. Who this policy applies to

This policy applies to:

customers using YAKKA to arrange and pay for work;
sole traders, tradespeople and other service providers;
directors, owners and authorised representatives of trade businesses;
members of a tradie’s team;
people who contact YAKKA or use our website; and
anyone whose personal information is included in a job, message, photograph, dispute or support request.

YAKKA is intended for people aged 18 or over. You must not create an account if you are under 18.

3. Personal information we collect

The information we collect depends on how you use YAKKA.

3.1 Account and contact information

We may collect:

your full name;
email address;
mobile telephone number;
password and account authentication information;
profile photograph or business logo;
account type;
communication preferences;
account status; and
records of your acceptance of our terms and policies.

We do not store your password in readable form.

3.2 Tradie and business information

If you register as a tradie or business, we may collect:

your trading or business name;
registered company name;
company registration number;
business and work addresses;
postcode and service area;
main trades and services;
qualifications, licences and accreditations;
insurance information;
information about your team;
public profile information;
verification status; and
details obtained from public registers, such as Companies House.

Information placed on your public tradie profile may be visible to customers. This may include your name or trading name, photograph or logo, service area, trades, qualifications, accreditations, insurance status, ratings and reviews.

You should not add information to your public profile that you do not want customers to see.

3.3 Identity-verification information

Tradies may be required to complete identity or business verification before receiving payments or gaining full access to YAKKA.

Verification may involve:

a photograph of an identity document;
information extracted from that document;
a selfie or short video;
facial matching or proof-of-liveness checks;
your date of birth;
home address;
company, director or beneficial-owner information;
device and technical information; and
the result of fraud, sanctions, identity or business checks.

Identity verification may be carried out by a specialist provider such as Stripe.

Where Stripe performs the verification, Stripe may use automated technology and biometric identifiers to compare your face with the photograph on your identity document. Stripe processes this information under its own privacy policy and may act as an independent data controller.

YAKKA will normally receive the verification result, status and limited supporting information rather than the biometric template created by the verification provider. Our precise access will depend on the verification service and integration being used.

We may retain a record that verification was completed, failed, expired or requires further review.

3.4 Payment and payout information

We may collect or process:

payment amount and currency;
payment status;
transaction and payment reference numbers;
refunds, partial payments, chargebacks and disputed amounts;
payout details;
account holder name;
bank account number and sort code;
billing postcode;
invoices, commission and fee information;
payment dates;
connected payment-account identifiers; and
fraud and risk indicators.

Payment card details are entered into and processed by our payment provider. YAKKA does not normally receive or store your complete card number or card security code.

Payments, connected accounts, identity checks and payouts may be provided through Stripe or another regulated payment provider. That provider may collect additional information to meet its legal, regulatory, anti-fraud and financial-services obligations.

3.5 Job information

When a job is created or managed, we may collect:

the job title and description;
job and customer reference numbers;
job address or postcode;
proposed start and completion dates;
individual tasks and prices;
materials and quantities;
exclusions and additional notes;
total job value;
YAKKA fees and tradie net payment;
payment-release requests;
job status and status history;
completion confirmations;
photographs and videos of work;
invoices and receipts; and
records showing when links, messages or job details were sent or viewed.

The customer and tradie involved in a job will be able to see information needed to manage that job.

3.6 Messages and uploaded content

We may collect and store:

messages between customers and tradies;
messages sent to or from YAKKA;
photographs and videos;
uploaded documents;
message dates and times;
delivery and read information;
notes and attachments; and
system-generated job updates.

Messages and uploads may form part of the formal job record and may be reviewed during a complaint, refund request, dispute or legal claim.

Do not upload unnecessary personal information about other people. Before uploading a photograph or document containing another person, make sure you have a lawful reason and, where appropriate, their permission.

3.7 Disputes, complaints and support information

If you raise or respond to a dispute or contact support, we may collect:

the job and account identifiers;
details of the complaint or disputed work;
selected disputed tasks and amounts;
descriptions and written statements;
photographs, videos and supporting documents;
relevant job messages;
payment history;
evidence submitted by both parties;
communication with YAKKA;
internal investigation notes;
decisions and payment outcomes; and
records of appeals or further complaints.

When a dispute is raised, direct messaging between the customer and tradie may be restricted or disabled. This is intended to protect both parties and preserve the integrity of the dispute record.

YAKKA may disclose relevant evidence submitted by one party to the other party where necessary to conduct a fair review. We may redact information that is irrelevant, confidential or likely to create a safety or privacy risk.

3.8 Reviews and ratings

We may collect:

star ratings;
written reviews;
the identity of the reviewer;
the job connected to the review;
moderation records; and
reports that a review is inappropriate or inaccurate.

A review may be displayed on a user’s profile together with their name or other profile information.

We may remove, restrict or investigate reviews that appear fraudulent, abusive, unlawful or unrelated to the relevant job.

3.9 Device and technical information

When you use the YAKKA app or website, we may automatically collect:

IP address;
device type and operating system;
browser type;
device or application identifiers;
app version;
login and authentication records;
crash reports;
pages and features used;
approximate location derived from an IP address;
timestamps;
cookie and consent preferences; and
security and fraud-prevention logs.

We may use cookies, software development kits, local storage, pixels and similar technologies where these are necessary to provide the service or where you have given any consent required by law.

More information should be provided in our Cookie Policy and cookie-preference tool.

3.10 Information received from other sources

We may receive personal information from:

the customer or tradie involved in a job;
members of a tradie’s business or team;
Stripe and other payment or verification providers;
Companies House and other public registers;
fraud-prevention and security providers;
professional advisers;
insurers;
banks and payment networks;
app stores;
analytics and technical service providers; and
law-enforcement agencies, courts and regulators.

For example, a tradie may create a job link containing a customer’s name and job information, or a customer may create a job request that identifies the intended tradie.

4. How we use personal information

We may use personal information to:

create and manage accounts;
verify identities and businesses;
create, share and manage jobs;
allow customers and tradies to communicate;
process payments, refunds, partial releases and payouts;
calculate YAKKA fees and amounts due to tradies;
keep payment records and provide invoices;
confirm whether work has been marked complete;
provide notifications about job and payment status;
investigate disputes and determine payment outcomes;
prevent fraud, misuse, harassment and unlawful activity;
protect YAKKA, its users and payment systems;
moderate reviews and public profiles;
provide support and answer enquiries;
handle data-protection complaints;
maintain, test and improve the app and website;
diagnose technical problems;
monitor the security and performance of our systems;
comply with legal, tax, accounting and regulatory duties;
establish, exercise or defend legal claims;
enforce our Terms and Conditions; and
send marketing communications where permitted.

We will not sell your personal information.

5. Our lawful bases

UK data-protection law requires us to have a lawful basis for using personal information.

Depending on the circumstances, we rely on the following bases.

5.1 Performance of a contract

We process information where it is necessary to provide the YAKKA service or take steps at your request before entering into a contract.

This includes:

creating and maintaining your account;
creating and managing jobs;
enabling job communications;
arranging payments and payouts;
recording completion;
managing refunds and partial payments;
handling disputes under the YAKKA Terms and Conditions; and
providing customer support.

Some information is required to use YAKKA. If you do not provide it, we may be unable to create your account, process a payment, verify a tradie or provide the relevant service.

5.2 Legal obligation

We process information where necessary to comply with legal obligations relating to matters such as:

tax and accounting;
fraud prevention;
lawful requests from regulators, courts or law-enforcement agencies;
financial records;
data-protection rights and complaints; and
reporting or investigating unlawful activity.

5.3 Legitimate interests

We may process information where it is necessary for our legitimate interests or those of another person, provided those interests are not overridden by your rights.

Our legitimate interests include:

operating and improving YAKKA;
protecting customers and tradies;
preventing fraud and misuse;
maintaining platform security;
keeping appropriate evidence of jobs and transactions;
reviewing disputes fairly;
enforcing our agreements;
handling complaints;
understanding how the service is used;
protecting our legal rights; and
communicating important non-marketing information.

Where required, we assess whether the processing is necessary and whether your interests, rights or freedoms outweigh our interests.

5.4 Consent

We rely on consent where required, including for:

certain cookies and similar technologies;
some marketing messages;
optional device permissions;
optional push notifications; and
any processing of biometric or other sensitive information where consent is the appropriate legal condition.

You may withdraw consent at any time. This will not affect processing that took place before consent was withdrawn.

5.5 Legal claims and sensitive information

YAKKA does not generally ask users to provide health, ethnicity, religious-belief or other special-category information.

However, this information may occasionally appear in a message, photograph, identity document or dispute record. Where it is necessary to use special-category information, we will identify an additional legal condition, such as explicit consent or the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.

Please avoid uploading sensitive information unless it is genuinely relevant and necessary.

6. Identity checks and automated processing

Identity and fraud checks may involve automated systems operated by Stripe or another verification provider.

These systems may assess:

whether an identity document appears genuine;
whether a selfie matches the document photograph;
whether the person appears to be physically present;
whether account information is consistent; and
whether fraud or security indicators are present.

A failed or incomplete automated check may result in additional information being requested or the account being referred for further review.

YAKKA does not currently make final dispute decisions solely by automated means. We may use technology to organise, categorise or summarise job and dispute information, but a person will make or approve the final decision about disputed payments.

You may contact us to request more information or ask for a human review of a decision that significantly affects you.

We only share personal information where necessary for the purposes described in this policy.

7.1 Customers and tradies

We share relevant job information between the customer and tradie, including:

names and profile information;
job descriptions and locations;
task breakdowns and prices;
job dates;
messages and uploads;
payment and completion status;
reviews; and
information relevant to a dispute.

We do not share a customer’s full card details with a tradie.

A customer will not normally see a tradie’s full bank account details.

7.2 Payment and identity providers

We share information with payment and identity providers such as Stripe to:

process customer payments;
create and manage connected accounts;
verify tradies and businesses;
prevent fraud;
process refunds;
transfer payouts; and
comply with financial-services requirements.

These providers may process your information under their own privacy notices as independent data controllers.

7.3 Service providers

We may use trusted service providers for:

database hosting and authentication, including services such as Supabase;
cloud storage;
website and app hosting;
email, SMS and push notifications;
customer support;
security monitoring;
fraud prevention;
analytics;
document storage;
software development and error reporting; and
professional services.

These providers may process information only for agreed purposes and must protect it appropriately.

7.4 Professional advisers and insurers

We may share information with lawyers, accountants, auditors, insurers, payment advisers and other professional advisers where necessary.

7.5 Authorities and legal requests

We may disclose information to:

courts;
law-enforcement agencies;
regulators;
tax authorities;
payment networks;
fraud-prevention bodies; and
other public authorities,

where required by law or where reasonably necessary to prevent harm, fraud or unlawful activity.

7.6 Business transactions

If YAKKA is involved in a merger, acquisition, financing, restructuring or sale of all or part of its business, personal information may be disclosed to potential buyers, investors and advisers subject to appropriate confidentiality protections.

8. International transfers

Some of our providers may store or access personal information outside the United Kingdom.

Where personal information is transferred internationally, we will use an appropriate legal safeguard. Depending on the destination and provider, this may include:

a UK adequacy regulation;
the UK International Data Transfer Agreement;
the UK Addendum to approved standard contractual clauses; or
another safeguard permitted under UK data-protection law.

You may contact us for further information about the safeguards used for a particular provider.

9. How long we retain personal information

We keep personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, including legal, regulatory, tax, accounting, fraud-prevention and dispute-resolution purposes.

Our intended retention periods are:

Account information

We retain account and profile information while the account is active.

Following account closure, we may retain essential account records for up to six years where needed for tax, fraud prevention, disputes, enforcement or legal claims.

Public profile information will normally stop being publicly displayed when the account is closed or disabled.

Completed jobs and payment records

We may retain core job, transaction, fee, payout, invoice and accounting records for up to six years after the end of the relevant financial year or completion of the transaction.

Job messages, photographs and ordinary uploads

For jobs completed without a dispute, routine messages and uploaded job photographs will normally be retained for up to [CHOOSE A PERIOD, RECOMMENDED: 12–24 MONTHS] after completion.

We may retain selected information for longer where it is needed to:

establish what was agreed;
protect a customer or tradie;
prevent fraud;
enforce our Terms and Conditions; or
establish, exercise or defend a legal claim.

Dispute evidence

Where a dispute, refund, chargeback, complaint or legal claim occurs, we may retain the relevant job record, messages, photographs, evidence and decision for up to six years after the matter is closed.

Information subject to an active legal hold may be retained for longer.

Identity-verification records

YAKKA may retain the verification result and necessary account-verification records while the account remains active and for up to six years afterwards where required for fraud prevention, financial records or legal claims.

Identity providers determine how long they retain documents, selfies and biometric information processed under their own control. Requests concerning information controlled independently by the verification provider may need to be sent directly to that provider.

Abandoned job drafts

Unpaid or abandoned job drafts may be deleted or anonymised after 12 months.

Support enquiries and data-protection complaints

We may retain ordinary support enquiries for up to three years after closure.

Data-protection complaints and related correspondence may be retained for up to six years where needed to demonstrate compliance or deal with further proceedings.

Technical and security logs

Routine technical logs will normally be retained for up to 12 months. Security, fraud or incident records may be retained for longer where necessary.

Marketing information

We retain marketing preferences until you unsubscribe or withdraw consent.

We may keep limited suppression information after an unsubscribe so that we can respect your request not to receive further marketing.

Backups

Information may remain in encrypted backups for a limited period after deletion from live systems. Backup copies will be deleted or overwritten through our normal backup cycle unless they must be retained for security or legal reasons.

We may anonymise information so that it can no longer identify you. Anonymised information may be retained for research, reporting and service-improvement purposes.

10. Photographs and dispute evidence

Job photographs can contain personal information, including:

people;
faces;
vehicle registration numbers;
addresses;
possessions;
documents;
family photographs; and
information about the inside of a home.

Before uploading evidence, users should:

include only what is relevant to the job;
avoid photographing people unless necessary;
avoid including children;
remove or cover unrelated documents and personal items; and
avoid uploading financial, medical or identification documents unless YAKKA specifically requests them.

We may remove, restrict or redact uploaded information that is excessive, unlawful, unsafe or unrelated to the job.

11. Security

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures designed to protect personal information from:

unauthorised access;
accidental loss;
alteration;
misuse;
destruction; and
unlawful disclosure.

These measures may include:

encryption in transit;
access controls;
authentication;
restricted administrative access;
monitoring and logging;
secure payment-provider integrations;
backups;
staff confidentiality requirements; and
procedures for responding to security incidents.

No online service can guarantee complete security. You are responsible for keeping your password and account credentials confidential and for notifying us promptly if you believe your account has been compromised.

12. Your data-protection rights

Depending on the circumstances, you may have the right to:

be informed about how your information is used;
request access to your personal information;
request correction of inaccurate or incomplete information;
request deletion of your information;
request restriction of processing;
object to processing based on legitimate interests;
receive certain information in a portable format;
withdraw consent;
object to direct marketing;
request safeguards relating to automated decisions; and
complain about how we use your information.

These rights are not absolute. For example, we may need to retain information to comply with law, process a payment, prevent fraud, resolve a dispute or defend a legal claim.

To exercise a right, contact:

[PRIVACY EMAIL ADDRESS]

We may need to request reasonable information to confirm your identity. We will not request more identification than is necessary.

We normally respond to valid rights requests within the period required by law. We will tell you if additional time is needed or if an exemption applies.

13. Data-protection complaints

You may make a complaint if you are unhappy with how YAKKA has collected, used, shared or protected your personal information.

You can submit a complaint through:

the privacy or support section of the YAKKA app;
our online data-protection complaint form; or
[DATA-PROTECTION COMPLAINT EMAIL ADDRESS].

We will:

provide an appropriate way to submit a complaint;
acknowledge your complaint within 30 days;
investigate the complaint appropriately; and
communicate the outcome without undue delay.

Please include enough information for us to identify the relevant account, job or processing activity.

You also have the right to complain to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office. We encourage you to contact us first so that we have an opportunity to resolve your concern.

14. Marketing communications

We may send essential service communications without marketing consent. These may include:

verification updates;
payment confirmations;
payout notifications;
job-status updates;
dispute messages;
security alerts;
changes to our terms; and
important account notices.

Where permitted, we may also send marketing about YAKKA features, promotions or referral offers.

You can unsubscribe from marketing by using the unsubscribe option in the message or changing your account preferences. Unsubscribing from marketing will not stop essential service messages.

15. Cookies and similar technologies

Our website and application may use cookies and similar technologies for:

login and authentication;
security;
remembering preferences;
fraud prevention;
app functionality;
analytics; and
marketing.

Technologies that are strictly necessary may be used without consent where permitted by law. We will request consent before using non-essential technologies where consent is required.

You can manage your choices through our cookie banner, cookie settings or device settings.

Please see our separate Cookie Policy for details of the technologies we use and their durations.

16. Closing or deleting an account

You may request account closure through the app or by contacting us.

Closing your account does not necessarily result in immediate deletion of every record. We may retain information where needed for:

outstanding jobs or payments;
refunds or disputes;
fraud prevention;
tax and accounting;
enforcement of our Terms and Conditions;
legal claims; or
compliance with law.

Where possible, information that no longer needs to identify you will be deleted or anonymised.

17. Changes to this privacy policy

We may update this privacy policy when:

the YAKKA service changes;
we introduce a new provider or feature;
our data practices change; or
legal or regulatory requirements change.

We will publish the updated policy and change the “last updated” date.

Where a change is significant, we may notify you through the app, by email or through another appropriate method before the change takes effect.

18. Contact us

Questions, rights requests and privacy concerns should be sent to:

[FULL LEGAL COMPANY NAME]
[REGISTERED ADDRESS]
Email: [PRIVACY EMAIL ADDRESS]

Data-protection complaints:

[COMPLAINT EMAIL ADDRESS OR FORM LOCATION]

General support:

[SUPPORT EMAIL ADDRESS]