How we use your information when you apply to become a walker, and when you work through Seekies. Last updated 27 October 2026
Who we are
Seekies is a dog walking and pet care service by Seeky Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales (Company No. 17272912), registered office 51 Colegate, Norwich NR3 1DD. Seeky Ltd is the controller of the information in this notice. Our data protection lead is Darcy O'Connell Bristow, and you can reach us at privacy@seeky.co.uk.
When you apply
What we collect:
- Your name, email address, mobile number and the postcode you usually start walks from.
- How far, and how, you would travel to a booking.
- Whether you're 18 or over, and whether you have permission to do this kind of work in the UK.
- Your experience with dogs: the sizes and types you're comfortable with, any limits you tell us about, and any training you mention.
- Your typical availability, the kinds of bookings that suit you, whether you have a suitable smartphone, and whether you're willing to complete our checks.
- Basic technical details, such as your IP address, browser, and the page or campaign that brought you to us.
We don't ask for identity documents, bank details, your National Insurance number, your address history or criminal record details in the application.
Why: to assess your application, contact you about it, plan where we need walkers, and keep the form secure.
When you're approved
Checking your identity and right to work. By law, we must check every walker's right to work in the UK before their first job, and keep a record of it. Our team also vets you personally. There are two ways we do this:
- If you're British or Irish: you bring your original passport or ID to your onboarding meeting. Our team checks it with you, photographs it to keep a dated copy, and records that the original was seen.
- Everyone else: you enter your share code (from GOV.UK, made for proving your right to work to an employer) and your date of birth in the Seekies app. At your onboarding meeting, our team opens the Home Office result, which is saved as a dated copy, and checks that the photo on it is you.
If your permission to work has an end date, the app reminds you, and we check again before it runs out. Until it's rechecked, you can't take new jobs. We don't ask you to upload photos of your ID or a selfie, we don't use face-matching technology, and we don't send your details to any outside checking company. When the check is done, you get an internal "ID checked" record on your account.
Why we need it: the law requires us to check your right to work before you take any job, because Seekies is an online matching service. We also confirm your identity to protect owners, and we've told our insurer that every walker is checked before their first job.
When you work through Seekies
- Your account: your name, mobile number, the details you add to your profile, and a photo of you that we take for your profile.
- Your location:
- While you're online, the app uses your phone's location to offer you jobs nearby. We keep only your current position, not a history, and we stop when you go offline or turn location off.
- During a job, we record your route until you tap "Home safe". It shows the owner where their pet is, builds the walk story, and helps sort out any problem. Route points are deleted after 90 days.
- We never use your location to monitor your performance.
- Your jobs: the jobs you're offered, accept and complete; the moments and photos you add; your messages with owners; ratings; and tips.
- Calls: calls in the app during a job are recorded and summarised, so what's agreed is written down. Both of you are told before the call connects. The audio is deleted after 30 days. The written summary stays with the booking.
- Getting paid: payments for your jobs are processed by Stripe in your name. To set up your payout account, Stripe receives your name, date of birth, home address, email if you give it, the date and IP address when you accepted Stripe's terms, and an identity document if Stripe asks for one. You enter your bank details in the app, and they go straight to Stripe; we don't store them. We keep a record of what you earned and were paid.
- Tax: the law requires us to report walkers' earnings to HMRC each year. We'll tell you what we need, and why, before we ask for it.
- Help: what you tell us when you contact us.
Our lawful basis
- Taking steps at your request before an agreement, and then performing our agreement with you: your application, approval, jobs, location for offers and during jobs, payouts and support.
- Legal obligation: financial records, and tax reporting to HMRC.
- Legal obligation: the right-to-work check, and keeping its record (the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 Right to Work Scheme, which covers online matching services from 1 October 2026).
- Legitimate interests: checking that it's really you doing each job (owners see your profile photo and can tell us if someone else turns up), before you take jobs in people's homes. Owners trust us to know who you are, and we've committed to our insurer that every walker is checked.
- Legitimate interests: recruiting suitable, safe walkers, and keeping pets, owners and walkers safe. That includes recording calls, and looking into what happened if something goes wrong.
Who we share it with
- Your right-to-work check copies, share code and check record stay within Seeky. We don't use an outside checking company. They're seen only by Darcy O'Connell Bristow (our data protection lead) and a small number of admins, and stored on our own systems (hosted by DigitalOcean in London). They're never shown to owners or other walkers. We may show our insurer that a check was done, if it asks.
- Owners see your first name and your profile photo on their booking, so they can check it's you who arrives. They also see your route during their job, the walk story, and your messages. They don't see your phone number.
- Service providers that run parts of Seekies for us, under contracts that require them to protect your information:
- DigitalOcean (hosting, London);
- Twilio (sign-in codes by text);
- Stripe (payments and payouts);
- LiveKit (in-app calls);
- ElevenLabs (call transcription);
- Anthropic (call summaries);
- Mapbox (maps).
Some of them process information outside the UK. Where they do, we rely on UK adequacy regulations, or the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or Addendum.
- Others, only where needed: HMRC; the police or other authorities where the law requires it or to keep someone safe; our insurers and professional advisers.
We don't sell your information.
How long we keep it
- Applications that don't go ahead, or that you withdraw: 12 months, then deleted.
- Your right-to-work check (the dated copy of your ID or of the Home Office result) and your check record: while you work through Seekies, and for 2 years after you stop, as the Home Office's guidance requires. Then they're securely deleted.
- Route points: 90 days. Your current position is cleared when you go offline.
- Call audio: 30 days. Call summaries stay with the booking.
- Payment, payout and tax records: 6 years, as the law requires.
- Your profile photo: while your account is open, then deleted when you close it.
- The rest of your account: while you use Seekies, then deleted when you close your account, apart from what we must keep by law.
Your rights
You can ask for a copy of your information, ask us to correct or delete it, object to or restrict how we use it, or ask us to move it to another provider. Email privacy@seeky.co.uk. If you're unhappy with how we handle your information, please tell us first. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk.
Contact
privacy@seeky.co.uk, or write to Seeky Ltd, 51 Colegate, Norwich NR3 1DD.
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