Privacy Policy

How we collect, use and protect your personal data

Version 2.0 | Effective: 01 September 2026
We Are Lance Limited | Registered in England & Wales

This Privacy Policy explains how We Are Lance Limited (“Lance”, “we”, “us” or “our”) collects, uses, stores and protects personal data when you visit our website, use the Lance platform, create an account, engage with our services, work with us, or otherwise communicate with us. It is intended to explain our practices in clear, practical terms and is prepared with reference to the UK General Data Protection Regulation (“UK GDPR”), the Data Protection Act 2018 and applicable electronic communications and marketing rules.

1. Who we are

We Are Lance Limited is the company responsible for the processing of personal data described in this Policy where Lance determines why and how that data is processed.

Company name: We Are Lance Limited

Trading name: Lance

Website: lance.design

Registered in: England and Wales

Company number: 17252127

Registered office: Low Flask Farm, Fylingdales, Whitby, YO22 4QH

ICO registration number: Registration pending

Privacy contact: privacy@lance.design

2. Who this Policy applies to

This Policy applies to:

• Brands and business customers who use Lance to find, brief, engage and manage freelance creative specialists.
• Freelancers and creative professionals who create a Lance profile, respond to work or deliver services through the platform.
• Visitors to lance.design who browse the website without creating an account.
• People who contact Lance, including prospective customers, freelancers, suppliers and other business contacts.

This Policy does not apply to third-party websites, applications or services that you may access through links from Lance. Those services have their own privacy policies and terms.

3. The data we collect

3.1 Information you give us

• Account information: name, email address, password credentials, account type and role.
• Brand information: company name, company number, VAT details where relevant, billing information and business contact details.
• Freelancer information: profile photo, biography, portfolio, case studies, skills, specialisms, location, time zone, professional links, availability and rate information.
• Project information: briefs, project descriptions, proposals, messages, attachments, creative files, job status, time records, reviews and feedback.
• Communication information: emails, support requests, live chat messages, survey responses, testimonials and other correspondence.
• Payment and account-credit information: billing details, transaction records, credit purchases, credit balances, wallet balances and payout information. Payment card details are processed by our payment provider rather than stored by Lance.

3.2 Information collected automatically

When you use our website or platform we may automatically collect technical and usage information, including:

• IP address and approximate location such as country or city level.
• Browser, operating system, device type and screen information.
• Pages viewed, navigation paths, referring URLs and session duration.
• Interactions with platform features, performance information, error logs and diagnostic data.
• Cookie and similar technology information, where applicable.

Our use of cookies and similar technologies is explained in our separate Cookie Policy.

3.3 Information we receive from third parties

• Payment providers such as Stripe, including payment status, verification information and fraud-prevention signals.
• Analytics providers such as Google, subject to the configuration of the relevant analytics services.
• Identity, business or fraud-prevention services where verification is required.
• Publicly available professional or company information, such as Companies House, LinkedIn or professional directories, where reasonably necessary to verify information or assess a business relationship.
• Service providers operating parts of the Lance platform or communications infrastructure.

3.4 Special category data

Lance does not intentionally collect special category personal data such as information revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, genetic or biometric data used for identification, health information or information concerning sex life or sexual orientation. Please do not include such information in profiles, briefs, project files or communications unless there is a clear and lawful reason to do so.

4. How and why we use personal data

We only process personal data where we have a lawful basis under the UK GDPR. Depending on the circumstances, this may include performance of a contract, compliance with a legal obligation, our legitimate interests, or your consent.

5. Marketing communications

We may send information about Lance, our services, product updates, events, useful content or offers where we have a lawful basis to do so. The rules for electronic marketing depend on who we are contacting and the communication method. Where consent is required, we will obtain it in accordance with applicable law and keep an appropriate record of that consent.

You can opt out of marketing at any time by using the unsubscribe mechanism in a marketing communication or by contacting privacy@lance.design. You can still receive essential service messages such as account, security, payment and project communications.

Where we contact business contacts using personal data for direct marketing, we will comply with the UK GDPR and applicable Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR), including applicable rules for sole traders and partnerships.

6. How Lance works with Brands and Freelancers

Lance is designed to connect businesses with senior creative specialists and to support the relationship from briefing and matching through to delivery, review, payment and account management. To provide these services, relevant profile, project and engagement information may be visible to other authorised users of the platform.

• Freelancer profiles may be visible to Brands using Lance and may include name, biography, portfolio, skills, specialisms, location, availability, professional links and reviews.
• Brand information and project briefs may be shared with Freelancers who are being considered for, invited to or engaged on relevant work.
• Project messages, briefs, creative files and attachments are shared only with the users and service providers who need access to deliver the relevant service.
• Private messages, payment card details, bank details and identity documents are not made publicly available to other platform users.
• We may use reviews, engagement information and platform activity to maintain quality, resolve problems and improve the Lance service.

7. Who we share personal data with

We do not sell or rent personal data. We share information only where necessary to operate Lance, provide services, meet legal obligations, protect our users and business, or where you have otherwise authorised us to do so.

• Payment and payout providers, including Stripe.
• Cloud hosting, storage, database and infrastructure providers.
• Email, customer-support and communications providers.
• Analytics and performance providers.
• Identity, fraud-prevention and security providers where required.
• Professional advisers such as accountants, auditors, insurers and lawyers where reasonably necessary.
• HMRC, regulators, courts, law-enforcement agencies or other authorities where required or permitted by law.
• A purchaser, investor or successor entity in connection with a merger, acquisition, financing or sale of all or part of the business, subject to appropriate confidentiality and data-protection safeguards.

Where a third party processes personal data on our behalf, we seek to put appropriate contractual and security arrangements in place as required by applicable data-protection law.

8. Service providers

Our service-provider list may change as the Lance platform develops. The following categories are currently relevant:

We will update this section or our associated supplier records when material changes to our processing arrangements occur.

9. International transfers

Some suppliers may process personal data outside the UK. Where personal data is transferred internationally, we will use a lawful transfer mechanism and appropriate safeguards where required by UK data-protection law. Depending on the destination and circumstances, this may include a UK adequacy regulation, the UK International Data Transfer Agreement (IDTA), the UK Addendum to EU Standard Contractual Clauses, or another lawful mechanism.

You may contact privacy@lance.design if you would like further information about the safeguards applicable to a particular transfer.

10. How long we keep your data

We keep personal data only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, taking into account legal, accounting, tax, security, dispute-resolution and operational requirements.

• Account and profile information: normally for the duration of the account and for a reasonable period afterwards where necessary for security, dispute resolution or legal obligations.
• Financial and transaction records: normally at least 7 years where required for accounting, tax or other legal obligations.
• Project and engagement records: normally retained for up to 6 years after the relevant engagement or dispute, where reasonably necessary to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.
• Support correspondence: normally up to 2 years after resolution, unless a longer period is reasonably necessary.
• Marketing consent and suppression records: retained for as long as reasonably necessary to demonstrate consent or maintain a do-not-contact record.
• Analytics data: retained in line with the relevant analytics configuration and our legitimate business need, subject to applicable cookie and data-protection requirements.

When personal data is no longer required, we will securely delete it or anonymise it. We may retain genuinely anonymised information for analytics, reporting or research because it no longer identifies an individual.

11. Security

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures designed to protect personal data against unauthorised access, loss, misuse, alteration or disclosure. Depending on the system and service involved, these measures may include:

• Encryption of data in transit and, where appropriate, at rest.
• Secure password hashing and authentication controls.
• Role-based access controls and restricted administrative access.
• Backups, monitoring, logging and security controls appropriate to the service.
• Supplier due diligence and contractual data-protection requirements.
• Security incident and breach-response procedures.

No online system can be guaranteed to be completely secure. If a personal-data breach occurs, we will assess it and take the steps required by applicable law, including notifying the ICO and/or affected individuals where legally required.

12. Your rights

Subject to applicable legal conditions and exemptions, you may have the following rights under UK data-protection law:

• Access: Request a copy of personal data we hold about you.
• Rectification: Ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information.
• Erasure: Ask us to delete personal data where there is no overriding lawful reason for us to retain it.
• Restriction: Ask us to restrict processing in certain circumstances.
• Data portability: Receive certain personal data in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format, or ask us to transmit it to another controller where the legal conditions apply.
• Object: Object to processing based on legitimate interests and, at any time, to direct marketing.
• Withdraw consent: Where processing relies on consent, withdraw that consent at any time.
• Automated decision-making: Request applicable safeguards where decisions are made solely by automated processing and have legally or similarly significant effects.

To exercise a right, email privacy@lance.design. Please provide enough information for us to identify you and understand your request. We may need to verify your identity before releasing or changing personal data. We normally respond to valid rights requests within one calendar month, subject to the permitted extensions or restrictions under applicable law.

13. Complaints

If you have a concern about how we use your personal data, please contact us first at privacy@lance.design so that we can try to resolve the issue.

You also have the right to complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). Further information is available from the ICO's website at ico.org.uk. The ICO's current contact details should be checked directly before publication of this Policy.

14. Children's data

Lance is intended for people aged 18 or over. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children under 18 for the purpose of providing Lance accounts or services. If we become aware that we have collected such information, we will take reasonable steps to delete it.

15. Cookies and similar technologies

We use cookies and similar technologies to operate the website and platform, understand usage and, where permitted, support analytics and other functionality. The types of cookies we use, their purposes and your choices are explained in our separate Cookie Policy.

16. Third-party links and services

Lance may contain links to third-party websites, services or professional profiles. Clicking those links may take you outside the Lance platform. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of third parties, and you should review their privacy notices before providing personal data.

17. Changes to this Policy

We may update this Policy from time to time to reflect changes to our services, technology, suppliers, legal requirements or data-processing practices. The latest version will be published on the Lance website with an updated effective date.

Where a change is material and the law requires us to notify you, we will provide an appropriate notice, which may include email notification or a prominent notice on the platform.

18. Contact us

If you have a question about this Policy, want to exercise a data-protection right, or have a privacy concern, contact:

We Are Lance Limited
Email: privacy@lance.design
Website: lance.design
Postal address: Low Flask Farm, Fylingdales, Whitby, YO22 4QH
Company number: 17252127
ICO registration number: Registration pending

END OF POLICY