Privacy Policy
Home Heating Cover Ltd
Last updated: 1 September 2026
1. Who we are
Home Heating Cover Ltd is a company registered in England and Wales under company number 17298778, with its registered office at 5 Stanley Avenue, Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire, FY6 7DP.
We are the data controller for the personal information described in this policy. That means we decide what information is collected and what it is used for.
You can contact us about anything in this policy:
- Telephone: 01253 574926
- Email: jakewinnall@yahoo.com
- Post: Home Heating Cover Ltd, 5 Stanley Avenue, Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire, FY6 7DP
2. What this policy covers
This policy explains what personal information we collect when you use our website or take out one of our boiler care plans, what we do with it, who we share it with, how long we keep it, and what rights you have.
It applies to our website at www.homeheatingcover.co.uk and to the Essential, Plus and Complete boiler care plans.
3. Information we collect
3.1 Information you give us
When you enquire or request a quote
- Your name
- Your email address
- Your telephone number
- Your postcode or address
- Anything else you choose to tell us in a message
When you sign up for a plan
- Your full name and date of birth or confirmation that you are 18 or over
- The address of the property to be covered, and a correspondence address if different
- Your email address and telephone numbers
- Bank account details for your Direct Debit, which are collected and held by our payment provider rather than by us
- Details of your boiler: make, model, type, fuel, approximate age, location in the property, service history and any known faults
- Whether you own, rent or let the property
- If you are a landlord, your tenants’ names and contact details
- Your preferred appointment dates and any access information you give us, such as parking, key safes or pets
- Confirmations and declarations you make during sign-up, including confirmation that the boiler has no existing fault
When you contact us
- The content of your calls, emails, letters and messages, and our replies
- Records of complaints and how they were resolved
3.2 Information we create
- Records of engineer visits, inspections, diagnoses and repairs carried out at your property
- Gas safety records and, where you hold landlord cover, Landlord Gas Safety Records (CP12)
- Photographs taken by our engineers of the appliance or the working area, where relevant to the work
- Notes about your plan, payments and correspondence
3.3 Information collected automatically
When you visit our website we may collect:
- Your IP address
- Your browser type and version, device type and operating system
- The pages you visit, how long you spend on them and how you arrived at our site
- Cookie data, as described in section 8
3.4 Special category data
We do not routinely collect special category data. If you tell us about a health condition, disability or vulnerability so that we can adjust how we deliver the service, for example by arranging a particular appointment time or a specific approach to access, we will record only what is necessary to do that. Our lawful basis is your explicit consent, and you can withdraw it at any time.
3.5 Children
Our services are for adults aged 18 or over. We do not knowingly collect information about children. Where a child lives at a property we cover, we do not collect information about them beyond what is unavoidably recorded in access arrangements.
4. Why we use your information, and our lawful basis
| What we use it for | Lawful basis |
|---|---|
| Assessing your application and deciding whether we can offer cover | Performance of a contract, and steps taken at your request before entering one |
| Setting up and administering your plan, including issuing your client agreement | Performance of a contract |
| Arranging and carrying out inspections, services and repairs | Performance of a contract |
| Collecting your monthly payments and managing arrears | Performance of a contract |
| Keeping records of the work we carry out, including gas safety records | Legal obligation, and our legitimate interest in defending claims |
| Complying with gas safety law and landlord obligations | Legal obligation |
| Responding to your enquiries and complaints | Legitimate interests, being the proper running of our business |
| Preventing and investigating fraud, including applications for cover on boilers with existing faults | Legitimate interests, being the protection of our business and our other customers |
| Sending you service reminders and renewal notices about a plan you hold | Legitimate interests, and performance of a contract |
| Sending you marketing about our other services | Consent, or legitimate interests where you are an existing customer |
| Improving our website and understanding how it is used | Consent, through cookies |
Where we rely on legitimate interests, we have considered whether our interests are outweighed by your rights, and concluded that they are not. You can ask us for more detail on that assessment.
5. Who we share your information with
We share your information with:
- The engineers we appoint. They receive your name, address, contact details, appliance details and access information so they can attend and carry out the work.
- Our payment provider, GoCardless Ltd, who process your Direct Debit. They handle your bank details directly and are a separate data controller for the payment. Their privacy notice is on their own website.
- Our IT and hosting providers, who host our website, email and business systems.
- Our professional advisers, including accountants, insurers and solicitors, where necessary.
- Regulators and authorities, including the Health and Safety Executive and Gas Safe Register, where we are required to report an unsafe condition or where the law requires disclosure.
- A buyer or successor, if we sell or transfer our business, as set out in our terms and conditions.
Where you hold landlord cover, we will contact your tenants to arrange access, using the details you give us. Please make sure your tenants know we may contact them.
We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it with third parties for their own marketing.
6. Where your information is held
Your information is stored on servers in the United Kingdom or the European Economic Area wherever possible.
Some of our suppliers may process data outside the UK. Where that happens, we make sure an appropriate safeguard is in place, normally UK adequacy regulations or the International Data Transfer Addendum to the European Commission’s standard contractual clauses.
Our website loads typefaces from Google Fonts, which may involve your IP address being processed by Google outside the UK.
7. How long we keep it
| Record | How long we keep it |
|---|---|
| Enquiries that do not lead to a plan | 12 months from the last contact |
| Plan records, client agreements and correspondence | 6 years after your plan ends, being the limitation period for contract claims |
| Payment and financial records | 6 years after the end of the tax year they relate to, as required by HMRC |
| Gas safety records and Landlord Gas Safety Records | At least 2 years, and normally for the life of the plan plus 6 years |
| Records of engineer visits and repairs | 6 years after your plan ends |
| Complaint records | 6 years from resolution |
| Website analytics and cookie data | No longer than 26 months |
When a retention period ends we delete the information securely, or anonymise it so it can no longer identify you.
8. Cookies
Our website uses cookies and similar technologies. Some are strictly necessary for the site to work, and some are optional.
Strictly necessary cookies. These keep the site secure, remember your cookie preferences and make forms work. They do not require your consent.
Analytics cookies. These help us understand how visitors use the site so we can improve it. We only set them if you agree.
Marketing cookies. These may be used to measure the effectiveness of our advertising. We only set them if you agree.
You can change your preferences at any time using the cookie settings on our website, and you can block or delete cookies through your browser settings. Blocking strictly necessary cookies may stop parts of the site working.
9. Automated decision-making
We do not make decisions about you using automated processing alone. Decisions about whether to accept an application, and whether a fault is covered, are made by people, and where a technical assessment is needed it is made by a Gas Safe registered engineer at your property.
10. Keeping your information secure
We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your information against loss, misuse and unauthorised access. These include access controls, encryption in transit, secure hosting and limiting access to those who need it.
No system is completely secure. If a breach occurs that is likely to result in a risk to your rights, we will report it to the Information Commissioner’s Office within 72 hours, and tell you where the risk is high.
11. Your rights
You have the right to:
- Be informed about how we use your information, which is what this policy is for
- Access a copy of the personal information we hold about you
- Rectification, meaning correction of information that is inaccurate or incomplete
- Erasure of your information in certain circumstances, though we may need to keep records we are legally required to hold
- Restrict processing in certain circumstances
- Data portability, meaning a copy of information you gave us in a machine-readable format
- Object to processing based on legitimate interests, and to direct marketing at any time
- Withdraw consent where we rely on it, without affecting anything done before you withdrew it
To exercise any of these, contact us using the details in section 1. We will respond within one month. There is no charge unless a request is manifestly unfounded or excessive. We may ask you to confirm your identity first.
12. Marketing
If you agree, we may send you information about our services by email. Every marketing email has an unsubscribe link, and you can also tell us to stop at any time by contacting us.
Service messages about a plan you hold, such as appointment confirmations, service reminders, renewal notices and changes to your terms, are not marketing and will continue while your plan is active.
13. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time. The current version is always on our website, and the date at the top shows when it was last changed. Where a change is significant we will tell you directly.
14. Complaints
If you are unhappy with how we have handled your information, please contact us first using the details in section 1. We will acknowledge within 5 working days and aim to resolve it within 20 working days.
If you are not satisfied with our response, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office:
Information Commissioner’s Office Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF Telephone: 0303 123 1113 Website: ico.org.uk
You can complain to the ICO at any time, and doing so does not affect any other rights you have.
Home Heating Cover Ltd 5 Stanley Avenue, Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire, FY6 7DP Company number 17298778, registered in England and Wales 01253 574926 · jakewinnall@yahoo.com www.homeheatingcover.co.uk
