How we handle your data

1. Who we are

SILK is an independent online preparation platform for the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE) in England and Wales. Our syllabus is mapped to the SRA's published SQE Assessment Specification, and our materials are reviewed on an ongoing basis against SRA updates, new legislation and decided cases.

SILK is independent and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or approved by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. We do not provide legal advice, and our materials are study materials rather than a substitute for professional advice.

For any privacy enquiry, or to exercise any of the rights set out below, contact us at support@silklawprep.com. We aim to respond within 30 days.

2. What data we collect

• Account data: your name, email address, and password. Passwords are hashed (bcrypt) — we never see or store them in plain text.
• Study data: practice sessions, question answers, flashcard progress, time spent studying, and the stage you've reached in each topic.
• Payment data: handled entirely by Dodo Payments. We receive a subscription status and a customer ID — never card numbers or banking details.
• Usage data: pages visited, features used, session timestamps. Used to improve the product and detect abuse.

3. Why we collect it

• To provide the SILK service to you.
• To personalise your study plan and adapt question difficulty to your level.
• To send progress emails — only if you opt in via Settings.
• To process your subscription payment.

4. Who processes it on our behalf

We use a small number of established providers. Each is bound by its own data processing terms, and each receives only what it needs to do its job.

We do not sell your data, share it with data brokers, use it for advertising, or allow any provider to use it to train their own models for their own purposes.

Where personal data is transferred outside the UK, those transfers are made under the providers' standard contractual protections for international transfers. You can ask us what applies to a particular provider.

5. How long we keep it

• Account data: until you delete your account.
• Study data: until you delete your account.
• Payment records: 7 years (UK statutory requirement).
• You can request deletion at any time by emailing support@silklawprep.com, or by using the "Delete Account" button in Settings.

6. Your rights (UK GDPR)

• Access — a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Rectification — correction of anything inaccurate.
• Erasure — deletion of your data, subject to records we must keep by law.
• Portability — your data exported in a machine-readable format.
• Restriction — to limit how we process your data while a query is resolved.
• Objection — to object to processing, including profiling used to adapt your study plan.
• Withdraw consent — where you have given it, such as progress emails, at any time and without affecting your access to the platform.

To exercise any right, email support@silklawprep.com. You can also lodge a complaint with the UK Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk.

7. Cookies

SILK uses only the essential cookies needed for the service to function: the session cookie (so we know who you are after login) and a CSRF token (to prevent forged form submissions). We do not use tracking cookies, advertising cookies, or third-party analytics cookies. See our Cookies page for the full list.

8. How we protect your data

• All traffic is encrypted in transit over TLS. The platform is served over HTTPS only.
• Passwords are hashed with bcrypt. Nobody at SILK can read your password, and we will never ask you for it.
• The database is hosted on managed infrastructure with encryption at rest and access restricted to the application.
• Administrative access is limited to those who need it, and payment card details never reach our servers at all.

9. If something goes wrong

If a personal data breach occurs that is likely to result in a risk to your rights and freedoms, we will notify the Information Commissioner's Office within 72 hours of becoming aware of it, and we will tell affected users without undue delay where the risk to them is high. We will tell you what happened, what data was involved, and what we are doing about it.

10. Age

SILK is intended for adults preparing for professional legal qualification. It is not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect data from anyone under 16. If you believe a child has given us personal data, contact us and we will delete it.

11. Automated processing

SILK adapts question difficulty and your study plan based on your performance. This shapes what the platform shows you next. It produces no legal or similarly significant effect, it does not determine any qualification outcome, and you can object to it at any time by contacting us.

12. Changes to this policy

We will notify you by email of any material changes to this policy at least 14 days before they take effect. The date at the top of this page always reflects the current version.