Privacy Notice

Who controls your information

Optimal Deviation, trading as TheCareExchange, determines how marketplace account information is used. Independent carers may be separate controllers for records they keep for service, safeguarding, legal and tax purposes. Stripe provides payment and identity services under its own privacy terms.

Information we collect

• Account, contact, profile, role and carer business details.
• Care recipient, support-task, mobility, care-complexity, access and care-location details.
• Bookings, availability, packages, prices, payments, payouts, refunds, tips and disputes.
• Messages, reviews, support contacts, notifications and safety reports.
• Saved carers, availability alerts and referral records.
• Carer identity, background-check and insurance evidence, plus optional care qualifications and credentials.
• Search and carer business-location coordinates used for proximity search and maps.
• Device, browser, network, consent and diagnostic data.

Card details and Stripe identity checks are collected directly by Stripe. Carer verification evidence is restricted to the carer and authorised reviewers, scanned before storage and removed according to the configured retention policy.

Do not place reusable access credentials, keysafe codes or unnecessary sensitive personal information in public profiles or persistent booking fields. Carers and clients are responsible for handling any separate care, safeguarding, medication or regulatory records they are legally required to keep.

Where information comes from

Most information comes from you. We may also receive information from the other participant in a booking, Stripe and communications providers, your device when you request nearby results, and authorised staff carrying out support, verification, safety or dispute work.

Location transparency

A declared, staffed public business office may be shown accurately on the marketplace map. A carer's private home, unstaffed base or vehicle location is not published merely because it is used to calculate a service area. A client's search location is used to return nearby results. A care visit's exact location is available only to the client, the booked carer and authorised support or safety staff where access is necessary.

Purposes and legal bases

We use information to provide accounts, search, booking, messaging, payments, calendars, notifications, verification and safety features where needed to perform our contract. We also use it to prevent fraud, secure and improve the service, support users, maintain records and resolve disputes where necessary for legitimate interests, and to meet tax, payment, court, safeguarding and regulatory obligations.

Care details may reveal health, disability or other sensitive information. Provide only what is necessary for the requested service and only when you have authority to do so. We process that information to arrange and support the requested care, with consent or another lawful condition where local law requires it.

Optional analytics, support chat and advertising technology follow the choices shown in the privacy controls where consent is required. Acknowledging this notice is not consent to those optional purposes. We do not currently sell personal information.

Who receives information

We share only what is needed with the client or carer involved in a service; authorised TheCareExchange staff; Stripe; Microsoft Azure and Azure Communication Services; and mapping and location-search providers. We may disclose information to advisers, insurers, courts, regulators, law enforcement or emergency services where lawfully required.

When allowed by your device choices, Google Analytics and Microsoft Clarity provide analytics, while Tawk.to provides chat on the Help page. International transfers use contractual, adequacy or other safeguards required by applicable law.

Children and younger clients

TheCareExchange accounts and bookings are for people who can legally enter a service contract in their country. The marketplace is not directed to children, and a parent, guardian or other authorised adult must make and manage any booking that benefits a younger person. Contact us if you believe a child has provided personal information without appropriate authority.

Automated processing

Search ranking uses information such as location, service area, filters, availability, price and reviews. Security and payment providers may also use automated signals to detect fraud, abuse or payment risk. TheCareExchange does not use automated processing alone to make decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects for marketplace users. Where a restriction or verification decision needs judgement, an authorised person can review the relevant case.

Retention and security

We keep information only as long as needed for service delivery, safety, accounting, disputes and legal purposes. Availability alerts expire after their requested window. Verification evidence is removed after review and the configured retention period. Booking, payment, tax, dispute and safety records may be retained longer where needed to establish rights or comply with law.

We use role-based access, restricted document delivery, malware scanning, encryption, audit records and protected tokens, but no internet service can promise absolute security.

Your choices and rights

You can change device privacy choices at any time and request an account data export. Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, restrict or obtain your information, object or opt out of certain uses, withdraw consent, and complain to your local privacy regulator. We honour Global Privacy Control for applicable marketing choices.

Policy changes

Material changes receive a new version. Signed-in clients and carers are asked to acknowledge the current notice. Contact us through Help and support with a privacy question or complaint.