Privacy Policy

Last updated: August 2026

1. Overview

At 4B, we are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy.

This Privacy Policy explains what personal information we collect, why we collect it, how we use it, who we may share it with, and your rights regarding that information. It applies to information collected through our website at www.4b.studio, by email, by telephone, and through any other interactions you have with us.

We process personal data in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

Please read this policy carefully. By using our website or engaging our services, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this policy.

We may update this policy from time to time. Please check this page periodically for any changes.

2. Who We Are

4B is a UK-based software development studio based in the Cotswolds.

As a small business, we do not have a formally appointed Data Protection Officer (DPO). Responsibility for data protection sits with the company director. For all data protection matters, please contact us using the details below.

3. How to Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your personal data, please contact us by email: hello@4b.studio.

4. What Information We Collect

Depending on how you interact with us, we may collect and process the following personal information:

Identity data: your name
Contact data: email address, telephone number, postal address
Technical data: IP address, browser type and version, time zone, pages visited, and time spent on our website
Communications data: emails, enquiries, and records of telephone calls
Marketing preferences: your opt-in or opt-out choices regarding marketing communications

We do not knowingly collect any special category data (such as health, religious beliefs, or ethnic origin) through this website or in the normal course of our business relationships. If such data is required in specific circumstances (e.g. as part of a supplier arrangement), we will seek your explicit consent at that time.

5. How We Collect Your Information

We collect personal information in the following ways:

Directly from you — when you contact us via our website, by email, telephone, or in person; when you request a quote or sign up to our newsletter; or when you submit a job application
Automatically — through cookies and analytics tools when you visit our website (see Section 11)
From third parties — from referral partners, public business directories, or where third-party product providers share your details with us as part of a mutual service arrangement

6. Our Lawful Basis for Processing

Under UK GDPR, we are required to have a lawful basis for processing your personal data. We rely on the following bases:

Delivering services
Fraud prevention and network security
Responding to enquiries
Statutory and regulatory compliance

Where we rely on legitimate interests, we have assessed that our interests do not override your fundamental rights and freedoms. You have the right to object to processing on this basis — see Section 10.

Where we rely on  consent, you may withdraw that consent at any time without affecting the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.

7. How We Use Your Information

We use your personal data for the following purposes:

To provide, manage, and administer the services and products you have engaged us for
To communicate with you about your account, services, or support requests
To send you service updates, maintenance notifications, or changes to our offerings
To send marketing communications about our products, services, and promotions where you have consented or where we have a legitimate interest in doing so
To process and respond to job applications
To comply with legal and regulatory obligations
To carry out financial administration including invoicing and payment processing
To maintain the security and integrity of our systems and services
To improve our website and the quality of our services using anonymised analytics data
We will not use your data for any purpose incompatible with the purpose for which it was originally collected without your knowledge and, where required, your consent.

8. How Long We Keep Your Information

We only retain personal data for as long as is necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, or as required by law.

We review our data retention practices regularly and securely delete or anonymise data that is no longer required.

9. Who We Share Your Information With

We will not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to any third party.
We will not share your information with third parties for their own marketing purposes.

We may share your data with the following categories of recipients:

Third-party service providers acting on our behalf

We work with carefully selected third-party organisations who process personal data on our behalf in order to deliver our services. We have data processing agreements in place with these providers, and they are only permitted to use your data in accordance with our instructions. Our third-party processors include:

Third-party product providers

We work with technology vendors such as Microsoft and Sophos to deliver products and services to you. When you purchase or enquire about such products, the relevant provider may receive your details as required to fulfil the service. In such cases, that provider acts as an independent data controller, and we recommend you review their respective privacy policies.

Business transfers

In the event of a sale, merger, or restructuring of our business, your personal data may be transferred to the relevant third party as part of that transaction. We will take steps to ensure your privacy rights continue to be protected.

Legal and regulatory obligations

We may disclose your data where required to do so by law, court order, or regulatory authority, or where necessary to protect the rights, property, or safety of 4B, our clients, or others.

10. International Data Transfers

Some of our third-party service providers, including Square Space, may transfer or store your personal data outside the United Kingdom. Where this occurs, we ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place, including:

Transfers to countries with a UK adequacy decision
Use of the International Data Transfer Agreement (IDTA) as approved by the ICO
Standard contractual clauses or other legally recognised mechanisms

We will not transfer your data outside the UK without ensuring adequate protections are in place in accordance with UK GDPR.

11. Your Rights

Under UK GDPR, you have the following rights in respect of your personal data:

Right of access — to request a copy of the personal data we hold about you (a Subject Access Request)
Right to rectification — to request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data
Right to erasure ("right to be forgotten") — to request deletion of your data where there is no legitimate reason for us to continue processing it
Right to restriction of processing — to request that we limit how we use your data in certain circumstances
Right to data portability — to receive your personal data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format and, where technically feasible, to have it transferred to another organisation
Right to object — to object to processing based on legitimate interests, or to direct marketing at any time
Rights in relation to automated decision-making — to request human review of any automated decisions that produce a legal or similarly significant effect on you

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at hello@4b.studio or write to us at the address in Section 3. We will respond to your request within one calendar month. In complex cases, or where we receive a high volume of requests, we may extend this by a further two months and will notify you if this applies.

There is no charge for making a request, unless requests are manifestly unfounded, excessive, or repetitive, in which case we may charge a reasonable fee.

12. Marketing Preferences

We will only contact you for marketing purposes by email, telephone, or text message where you have given your prior consent, or where we have a legitimate interest in doing so (for example, if you are an existing client and we are promoting a relevant service).

You can opt out of marketing communications at any time by:
Emailing us at hello@4b.studio

Opting out of marketing will not affect communications that are necessary for the delivery of your contracted services.

13. Cookies

We do not use cookies.

14. Automated Decision-Making

We do not currently use automated decision-making processes that produce legal or similarly significant effects on individuals. We may in the future use AI-assisted tools to support activities such as IT support ticket triage. Where any such tools are introduced, we will update this policy accordingly and ensure appropriate safeguards are in place to protect your rights.

15. Security

We take the security of your personal data seriously and have implemented appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect it against unauthorised access, loss, alteration, or disclosure. These include:

SSL/TLS encryption for data transmitted through our website (indicated by "https://" in your browser)
Access controls and authentication measures on our internal systems
Regular security reviews and staff awareness

While we take every reasonable precaution, no data transmission over the internet can be guaranteed as completely secure. You transmit information to us at your own risk. Once received, we take all reasonable steps to maintain its security.

Where passwords are used to access any part of our website or customer portal, you are responsible for keeping those credentials confidential and must not share them with anyone.

16. Links to Other Websites

Our website may contain links to third-party websites. This Privacy Policy applies solely to our website and our services. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of other websites and encourage you to read their privacy policies before submitting any personal information to them.

Similarly, if you have arrived at our website via a link from a third-party site, we are not responsible for the privacy practices of that referring site.

17. Children

Our website and services are not directed at children under the age of 16. We do not knowingly collect personal data from individuals under the age of 16. If you are under 16, please obtain your parent or guardian's permission before providing us with any personal information. If we become aware that we have inadvertently collected data from a child under 16 without appropriate consent, we will delete it promptly.

18. How to Make a Complaint

If you have a concern about how we have handled your personal data, please contact us in the first instance at hello@4b.studio. We will acknowledge your complaint within 30 days and aim to resolve it as quickly as possible.

If you are not satisfied with our response, or if you believe we are processing your data in a way that does not comply with UK GDPR, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO):

Website: ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint
Telephone: 0303 123 1113
Post: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF

19. Changes to This Policy

We keep this Privacy Policy under regular review and will update it as necessary to reflect changes in our business practices or applicable law. Any significant changes will be highlighted on this page. The date at the top of this policy indicates when it was last updated.