Privacy Policy
How PlaceBridge handles information
Last updated: 27 May 2026
PlaceBridge is a secure placement coordination platform for councils, social workers, care providers, and approved partner organisations. This page explains the type of information the service may process and the safeguards expected when using it.
Important note
This policy is a practical launch version and should be reviewed by a qualified UK data protection professional before wider public launch or before processing real sensitive care records at scale.
Who this policy applies to
This policy applies to people using PlaceBridge on behalf of councils, local authorities, care providers, supported living providers, referral teams, and approved partner organisations.
Information we may process
- Account details, such as name, work email, organisation, role, and approval status.
- Provider details, such as availability, service type, region, regulator, CQC or Ofsted rating, and response information.
- Referral and placement coordination information entered by authorised users.
- Secure messages, documents, audit events, and activity records used to coordinate placements.
- Billing and subscription status where payments are enabled.
- Technical information such as session, device, security, and usage logs.
Special category and safeguarding information
Users must only share information that is necessary for placement coordination and should de-identify information where possible. Detailed care, health, safeguarding, or disability information should only be shared where there is a valid professional basis and a clear need to know.
How information is used
- To verify work-email access and organisation membership.
- To allow providers to publish availability and respond to placement enquiries.
- To allow council or social work users to create placement needs and coordinate referrals.
- To support secure messaging, document sharing, referral tracking, and audit records.
- To send account, verification, referral, listing, billing, and service emails.
- To maintain security, prevent misuse, and improve service reliability.
Legal basis and controller responsibilities
PlaceBridge is designed as a professional collaboration tool. The council, provider, or partner organisation entering information remains responsible for ensuring it has a lawful basis for sharing and processing that information. In some workflows PlaceBridge may act as a processor for organisation-controlled records; in others it may act as an independent controller for account, security, billing, and platform administration data.
Data sharing
Information may be shared between authorised users involved in a placement or provider enquiry. PlaceBridge may also use trusted service providers for hosting, storage, email delivery, payment processing, security, and support. Access should be limited to what is necessary for the service.
Retention
Placement records should be retained only for as long as needed for the placement workflow, audit, safeguarding, legal, contractual, or regulatory purposes. Retention rules should be agreed with participating organisations before live processing of real care records.
Your rights and requests
Individuals may have rights under UK data protection law, including rights to access, correction, erasure, restriction, objection, and complaint. Requests about organisation-controlled placement records may need to be handled by the relevant council, provider, or partner organisation.
Security safeguards
- Work-email-only signup rules for registered organisations.
- Email verification before access.
- Admin approval and account status controls.
- Private placement rooms, audit events, and secure document storage.
- Role-aware access to reduce unnecessary visibility.
Contact
For privacy questions, email referrals@placebridge.co.uk.
Helpful references
The ICO explains that privacy information should be provided when personal data is collected, and that transparency helps meet UK GDPR duties. See the ICO right to be informed guidance and data protection principles.