Privacy Policy

ZipCert by ClearDeck Limited

Version 2026-11-14 · 14 November 2026
(Trustpilot review invite added. The ZipCert Terms stay at version 2026-10-23.)

ZipCert is a product of ClearDeck Limited, company no. 17475729, registered with the ICO (ref. ZC271080).

Privacy contact: andrew@cleardeck.uk

Who is in charge of your data

• Your account data (you, your business, your engineers, billing): ClearDeck Limited is the controller.
• Your clients' data on certificates (names, addresses, emails, test results): you, the electrician, are the controller. ClearDeck is your processor and only uses it to run ZipCert for you.

What we hold

At sign-up (trial)

• Your company name, email and mobile number. We make your web address name from your company name, and use it as the name on your account until you change it.
• When you first sign in, the app asks for your business postcode, and your scheme registration number (NICEIC/NAPIT) if you want to add it.
• While your account is open we hold these as normal account data. To allow one free trial per company, when you sign up we check your email, mobile number and company name against earlier sign-ups and ZipCert accounts. For this check we keep your email and mobile number as one-way fingerprints, and your company name in a simplified form (for example without spaces, capitals or “Ltd”). We don't use your postcode or scheme registration number for this check.

In the app

• Your business details, logo and signatures.
• Signatures you save on a certificate are stored on our server for 180 days so they sync across your devices.
• Engineers you invite: name and email.
• Certificates you create, their PDFs, and photos you add.
• Your clients' details that you put on certificates.

Billing

• Your plan, invoices and payment status. Stripe holds your card or bank (Bacs Direct Debit) details; we never see them.

Technical

• A sign-in cookie and your cookie choice; Google Ads cookies only if you accept them (see Cookies).
• A short-lived one-way code made from your IP address, to stop abuse such as repeated sign-in attempts.

Why we use it

• To run ZipCert for you (contract): your account, certificates, exports, billing and service emails.
• Trial emails (contract): we email trial users from reminders@zipcert.uk before and when the trial ends.
• One trial per business (legitimate interest, fraud prevention): we check sign-ups against earlier trials and accounts.
• Tax and accounting records (legal obligation).
• Measuring our Google ads (consent): only if you press Accept on the cookie banner (see Cookies).
• We do not sell your data or show ads.

Who else handles it

We use these processors:

• Cloudflare: hosting, storage and sending email.
• Google: If you use Board photo fill, Google Gemini reads the board photo to fill in your schedule; the photo is not kept.
• Stripe: payments.

Only if you accept cookies: Google Ads measures which of our ads led to a sign-up or purchase (see Cookies).

The mic button uses your phone or browser's own speech-to-text (for example Apple or Google). Your voice is processed by them under their privacy terms; ZipCert never receives or stores audio, only the text that appears in the box.

Some of these may process data outside the UK. Where they do, they use UK-approved safeguards.

If you email a certificate to a client from ZipCert, we send it on your instruction.

Trustpilot review invite

When your free trial ends, we email you from reminders@zipcert.uk to say so. We also send a blind copy of that one email to Trustpilot, so Trustpilot can send you one review invite. Leaving a review is optional; you can ignore the invite.

• What Trustpilot gets: your email address and the text of that email, which includes your business name if we have one. We don't send your mobile number, your certificates or your clients' details.
• Why (legitimate interest): honest reviews help other electricians decide whether ZipCert suits them.
• Trustpilot handles this data under its own privacy policy.
• Don't want it shared? Reply to any ZipCert email or write to andrew@cleardeck.uk and we won't share it. The unsubscribe link in our trial emails also stops the trial-end email, so no copy goes to Trustpilot.

How long we keep it

• While you have an account: everything above.
• If you stop paying or cancel (without deleting): your account is read-only and we keep your certificates so you can download them for at least 6 years after cancelling.
• When you delete your account in the app: we delete your business's data, including certificates, client details and your photos. This cannot be undone.
• What we keep after you delete, and why:
  • Trial records: one-way fingerprints of your email and mobile number, and your company name in simplified form (legitimate interest, fraud prevention). They are kept for 6 years, including after the account is deleted, only to stop repeat free trials. The fingerprints can't be turned back into your details.
  • A record of the deletion: your web address name, the email of the person who deleted the account, and when, for 6 years, so we can show the account was deleted.
  • Sign-in safety markers: your email, for up to 15 days, so that old sign-ins stop working.
  • Billing records (invoices and payments) for 6 years, because tax law requires it.
• Backups may hold deleted data for up to 30 days before it is overwritten.

Keep your own copies

Deleting your account removes your certificates. You are responsible for keeping your own copies. Use Download all or Export first, and keep records as your scheme's rules require.

Your rights

• You can ask to see, correct or delete your data, or object to how we use it. Most of this you can do yourself in the app (Export, Delete account).
• Email andrew@cleardeck.uk. We reply within one month.
• If you are an electrician's client: contact the electrician first. They control your data. We will help them answer.
• You can complain to the ICO: ico.org.uk or 0303 123 1113.

Cookies

• One sign-in cookie so you stay signed in (HttpOnly, Secure, SameSite=Lax).
• Your cookie choice: the zc_consent cookie stores Accept or Reject for 180 days. It is only set after you press one of them (a choice made on zipcert.uk is also stored on cleardeck.uk when you reach our thank-you page).
• Only after you press Accept, the Google Ads tag (AW-18536050887) loads and sets the _gcl_au and _gcl_aw cookies (about 90 days) to measure sign-ups and purchases that come from our Google ads. Google receives this measurement data and may also use its own cookies, under its own privacy policy.
• If you press Reject, or choose nothing, no Google tag loads and no Google Ads cookies are set. Pressing Reject later clears the _gcl_ cookies on the site you are on. zipcert.uk and cleardeck.uk keep separate choices: to clear any on the other site, press Reject there too (Cookie settings on its Privacy page); signing up again from zipcert.uk after a Reject also clears them on cleardeck.uk.
• If you press Accept on zipcert.uk and then sign up, your Google ad click ids (the _gcl_ cookies) are copied to cleardeck.uk, so our thank-you page there can measure the sign-up. After Accept, that page also notes in your browser storage that the sign-up was counted, so it is not counted twice.
• When you sign up on zipcert.uk, a 10-minute cookie on cleardeck.uk (HttpOnly) carries your choice to the thank-you page.
• Cookie settings lets you change your choice at any time.

Changes

We will update the version and date here and tell you in the app or by email about important changes.