Privacy Policy, Cookies & UK Data Protection Notice

Effective & Reviewed: 14 November 2026 • Jurisdictional Framework: United Kingdom GDPR, Data Protection Act 2018 & PECR

This Privacy Policy explains in clear detail how UKOutage (ukoutage.co.uk) collects, uses, minimises, stores and safeguards personal and technical information when visitors inspect live United Kingdom utility outage maps, read consumer guides, execute local calculator tools, submit community disruption reports or manage cookie preferences. UKOutage processes data in strict accordance with the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018), and the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 (PECR) as enforced by the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).

1. Data Controller & Strict Minimisation Principle

For the purposes of UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, the data controller responsible for processing activities on ukoutage.co.uk can be reached anytime via our privacy compliance mailbox at [Protected Email — Enable JS] or through our UK Contact & GDPR Desk.

UKOutage does not require visitors to create user accounts, passwords or profiles to inspect live power cut, broadband, mobile, water, gas or banking outage dashboards. We operate under strict privacy-by-design data minimisation: we collect only the smallest technical or user-submitted dataset required to deliver accurate local telemetry, defend against spam bots and comply with British statutory obligations.

2. Categories of Information We Process & Lawful Bases (Article 6 UK GDPR)

• Public Outage Reports & Community Comments: When you voluntarily submit a local disruption notice or comment on a provider, town or postcode page, we store your chosen display name or pseudonym, selected utility provider, outward postcode district (for example SW1A or M1 — never full residential street door numbers unless typed voluntarily into comment notes), disruption category, and written observation. Your IP address is processed solely under Article 6(1)(f) UK GDPR (Legitimate Interests) to apply automated rate limits, prevent abuse and block malicious spam campaigns.
• Editorial, Open-Data & Privacy Desk Messages: When contacting UKOutage via our web form or protected email address, we store your name, email address, subject line, and message content under Article 6(1)(a) (Consent) and Article 6(1)(f) (Legitimate Interests) strictly to investigate corrections, add missing UK utilities or reply to data subject rights requests.
• Optional Web Push Outage Subscriptions: Browser notifications remain completely optional and inactive by default. Only when you explicitly press Enable Alerts and approve your browser’s native permission prompt does UKOutage store an anonymous push subscription identifier alongside your chosen UK outward postcode, nation or service provider under Article 6(1)(a) Consent.
• Essential Web Server & Firewall Logs: Like every public British web host, Nginx/Apache infrastructure transiently processes technical HTTP headers (IP address, request URI, referrer, status code, timestamp and user-agent string) under Article 6(1)(f) Legitimate Interests strictly for DDoS mitigation, security intrusion detection, error diagnostics and availability monitoring.

3. Cookies, Browser Local Storage & PECR Consent Standards

Under Regulation 6 of PECR and ICO guidance, strictly necessary cookies and local preferences required to render the site safely and honour your chosen privacy settings operate without prior opt-in consent, whereas non-essential measurement and third-party advertising technologies remain blocked by default via Google Consent Mode v2 until you affirmatively grant consent.

4. Advertising Partners, Google Cookies & Privacy Choices

To keep UKOutage free and accessible to every household across the United Kingdom during winter power cuts, storm alerts and broadband outages without subscription paywalls, we may display digital advertisements delivered by certified third-party advertising networks, including Google.

• How Third-Party Vendors & Google Use Cookies: Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve advertisements based on a user’s prior visits to ukoutage.co.uk or other websites across the Internet. Google’s use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to visitors based on their visit to this website and/or other sites on the Internet.
• Personalised vs. Non-Personalised Contextual Advertising: For visitors located in the United Kingdom and the European Economic Area (EEA), personalised advertising cookies and behavioural profiling are suppressed by default via Consent Mode v2 until you click Accept All. If you select Essential Only or later withdraw consent, only strictly privacy-preserving contextual or non-personalised signals (such as coarse geographic region, language and current page category) are used without tracking cross-site browsing history.
• Your Direct Advertising Opt-Out Controls: You retain complete control over advertising personalisation at any moment:
  • Adjust your UKOutage consent state directly right here using the interactive button below or via Cookie Settings in the website footer.
  • Opt out of personalised advertising served by Google at any time by visiting Google My Ad Center / Ads Settings (myadcenter.google.com).
  • Manage UK and European participating third-party vendor cookies via the European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance consumer portal at Your Online Choices UK (youronlinechoices.com/uk) or international opt-out choices at aboutads.info/choices.
  • Review how Google handles information from sites and apps using its services at Google Privacy & Partner Sites Policy.
• Browser-Level Blocking: You may also instruct Chrome, Safari, Firefox or Microsoft Edge to block third-party cookies or purge stored browser site data at any time. Blocking optional advertising cookies never restricts access to live outage maps, postcode pages or consumer rights calculators.

Manage UKOutage Cookie & Advertising Preferences

5. Client-Side Privacy of UK Calculators, Speed Test & Letter Tools

Interactive tools on UKOutage—including the Ofgem £95 Power Cut Calculator, Ofcom £9.98/day Broadband Calculator, Ofgem / Ofcom Dispute Letter Generator, UK kWh Cost Estimator, Solar & Home Battery Calculator, EV Charging Cost Tool and Broadband Speed Test—execute calculations 100% locally inside your browser’s memory. Personal names, MPAN references, ISP account references or fault dates typed into the Dispute Letter Generator are never transmitted to or archived inside UKOutage databases.

6. Data Retention, Technical Security & UK International Data Transfers

We keep anonymised historical incident statistics (regional power cut logs, timestamped DNO records and aggregated sector disruption counts) for longitudinal grid reliability research because they contain zero personal data. Raw anti-spam rate-limit IP records and transient web logs are purged on rolling operational schedules. All database writes use strict PDO prepared statements, CSRF signatures, honeypot/anti-bot validation and HTTPS/TLS transport encryption.

Where hosting infrastructure, CDN/DNS routing nodes or consented third-party push/advertising providers transfer technical telemetry outside the United Kingdom, such transfers rely strictly on UK adequacy regulations, the UK International Data Transfer Agreement (IDTA) or the UK Addendum to EU Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) in full compliance with Chapter V of UK GDPR.

7. Your Statutory Rights Under UK GDPR & Right to Complain to the ICO

Under the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018, individuals in the United Kingdom have enforceable statutory rights regarding any identifiable personal data we hold:

• Right of Access (Subject Access Request): Confirm whether UKOutage holds personal data linked to an email address or report you sent and request an electronic copy free of charge.
• Right to Rectification & Erasure ("Right to be Forgotten"): Require immediate correction of inaccurate personal records or permanent deletion of a contact enquiry, comment or alert subscription.
• Right to Restrict Processing, Object & Withdraw Consent: Object to legitimate-interest anti-abuse processing where appropriate or withdraw cookie/notification consent anytime with zero penalty.
• Supervisory Authority (ICO) Escalation: Please submit any UK GDPR request first to our Contact Desk or via [Protected Email — Enable JS]; we respond within one calendar month in accordance with UK statutory timelines. If you remain dissatisfied with our response, you hold the right to lodge a complaint with the United Kingdom supervisory authority: the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF (website: ico.org.uk).

8. Children's Privacy & Policy Revisions

UKOutage provides public utility resilience telemetry and consumer guidance intended for general adult and household use and is not targeted at children under 13 years of age (or under 18 regarding personalised advertising under the ICO Age Appropriate Design Code). We do not knowingly collect personal data from minors. We review this policy periodically to reflect evolving ICO guidance, PECR updates or advertising partner requirements; the review date displayed at the top reflects our current live revision.