PIP Assistant is a trading name of Search Ventures Ltd (company number 10588553), 82a James Carter Road, Mildenhall, Bury St Edmunds, IP28 7DE. We are the "controller" of your information. This policy explains what information we use when you use pipassistant.co.uk and our service for writing answers to the PIP "How your disability affects you" form, where that information goes, and how long it's kept. We follow UK data protection law, including the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.
1. The short version
i
We never store your answers or health information
While you fill in the form, your answers stay in your own web browser. When you pay and ask us to write your answers, they're sent to our AI provider without your name, written in the UK (or France for the Enhanced package), and not kept by them. Your finished document is held in our server's memory for up to 30 minutes so you can download it and we can email it to you, and is never saved. The only things we keep are your payment record and, if you ask for one, a deadline reminder.
2. What we collect and why
2.1 Your answers, while you fill in the form. Everything you type into the form, before and after you pay, is saved only in your own browser (in its "local storage") so you can come back to it later on the same device. It is not sent to us while you fill it in. You can remove it by clearing your browser's data for this website.
2.2 Your answers, when we write them. After you've paid, your answers are sent to our server and on to our AI provider to write your form answers and any follow-up questions. See section 3 for exactly what is sent. We don't save them to disk or to a database, and we don't record their content in our logs.
2.3 Your finished document. The Word document with your answers, evidence checklist and assessment notes is held in our server's memory for up to 30 minutes, so you can download it and we can email it to you. It is then deleted. It includes your name, so we can put it on the document.
2.4 Payment details. Payments are taken by Stripe. We never see or store your card details. We keep your email address, the Stripe reference for your payment, whether it was paid, which package you bought, and how many times you've used it. We use these to deliver your answers, to stop a payment being used more times than it allows, and for our accounts.
2.5 Deadline reminders (optional). If you give your form's due date and ask for a reminder, we keep your email address and that date so we can email you a few days before. Nothing else about your claim is kept with it.
2.6 Emails. We send your document and any reminder to the email address you gave at checkout. If you email us, we keep that correspondence for as long as we need it to help you.
2.7 Technical information. Like most websites, our server records basic technical details of each visit, such as IP address, browser type and the pages requested, to keep the site secure and working. We use privacy-friendly analytics that don't identify you (see section 9).
3. How your answers are written
3.1 Our AI provider. Your answers are written by AI models run by Nebius Token Factory (Nebius B.V.). The Standard package and all follow-up questions use a model hosted in Nebius's UK data centre. The Enhanced package uses a model hosted in Nebius's data centre in France.
3.2 What is sent. Your age, your conditions and symptoms, which everyday activities you've told us are hard, your medication, what you've told us about how your condition affects you, and your answers to follow-up questions. If someone is helping you, we also say that, and their relationship to you if they gave it.
3.3 What is not sent. Your name, your email address, your payment details, and the names, addresses and phone numbers of your doctors and other professionals. We send only their job titles, such as "GP".
3.4 Nothing is kept or used for training. We use Nebius's zero data retention setting, so your answers are processed to write your form answers and then discarded. They are not stored by Nebius and are not used to train AI models.
3.5 Check every answer. AI can make mistakes. Your answers are a draft based only on what you told us. Read every one and change anything that isn't exactly right before you use it.
4. Our legal basis
- Health information (your conditions, symptoms and how they affect you) is "special category" data. We only use it with your explicit consent, which you give by ticking the box at checkout and then asking us to write your answers. You can stop at any time before then, and nothing will have been sent.
- Your email address and payment record are needed to provide the service you've paid for (performance of a contract), and payment records are kept to meet our legal obligations for tax and accounting.
- Deadline reminders are sent only because you asked for them (consent).
- Technical information and analytics are used in our legitimate interest in keeping the site secure and improving it.
5. Who we share information with
We only share information with the companies that help us run the service, and only what each needs:
| Who | What for | What they receive | Where |
|---|
| Nebius Token Factory | Writing your answers | The details in section 3.2, without your name | UK, and France for Enhanced |
| Stripe | Taking payment | Your payment and card details, and your email address | UK and EU, and the US under approved safeguards |
| Private Email (Namecheap) | Sending your document and reminders | Your email address, and the email with your document attached | See Namecheap's privacy policy |
| Ahrefs Web Analytics | Counting visits | Anonymous page-view information only | See Ahrefs' privacy policy |
We don't sell, rent or share your information with anyone else, including the DWP. We would only disclose information if the law required us to, such as under a court order.
6. How long we keep things
| Information | How long |
|---|
| Your answers while you fill in the form | In your browser until you clear it. We never have a copy. |
| Your answers when we write them | Only while they're being written. Not stored by us or Nebius. |
| Your finished document | Up to 30 minutes in our server's memory, then deleted |
| Deadline reminder (email address and due date) | Deleted 7 days after the due date |
| Payment record (email address, payment reference and status) | As long as the law requires for tax and accounting, normally six years |
Once we've emailed your document, the copy in your inbox is yours to keep or delete. We can't send it again because we don't keep it, so please save it somewhere safe.
7. Security
The site uses an encrypted (HTTPS) connection. Access to our server and database is restricted, and the information we hold is kept to the minimum described above. No online service can be completely secure, but not storing your answers is the best protection we can offer.
8. Your rights
You have the right to ask for a copy of the information we hold about you, to have it corrected or deleted, to object to how we use it, and to withdraw your consent at any time. Because we don't keep your answers or documents, in practice the only information we can give you, correct or delete is your payment record and any deadline reminder. We may need to keep payment records for tax purposes even if you ask us to delete them.
To use any of these rights, email us at [email protected]. We'll reply within one month.
If you're unhappy with how we've handled your information, please contact us first. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113.
9. Cookies and analytics
9.1 Essential cookies only. Our site uses only the cookies it needs to work. We don't use advertising or tracking cookies.
9.2 Analytics. We use Ahrefs Web Analytics to count visits and see which pages are useful. It doesn't use cookies and doesn't identify you.
9.3 Stripe. When you pay, you're taken to Stripe's secure checkout page, which sets its own cookies to process the payment and prevent fraud. These are covered by Stripe's privacy policy.
10. Changes to this policy
If we change how we handle your information, we'll update this page and the date at the top. If a change affects information we already hold about you, we'll tell you by email.