Privacy Policy
Effective date: July 2026
Business name: Sharon Michelle
Email: hello@sharon-michelle.com
Sharon Michelle is committed to protecting your privacy and handling your personal information responsibly and in accordance with applicable UK data-protection law, including the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018, as amended.
This Privacy Policy explains what personal information is collected, why it is needed, how it is used and the rights available to you.
1. Data controller
The data controller responsible for deciding how your personal information is collected and used is:
Sharon Michelle
Email: hello@sharon-michelle.com
2. Personal information collected
Depending on how you interact with the business, Sharon Michelle may collect:
- Your name and contact details, including your email address and telephone number.
- Booking, attendance and payment information.
- Emergency-contact information.
- Information provided through your Health and Lifestyle Questionnaire or Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire (PAR-Q).
- Relevant information about injuries, health conditions, medication, pregnancy, postnatal recovery or recent surgery.
- Your previous Pilates or exercise experience and your goals.
- Notes relating to your participation, progress, exercise options or adaptations.
- Messages, enquiries, feedback and other correspondence.
- Your marketing preferences.
- Photographs or video recordings where you have provided separate permission.
Information concerning your health is classed as special-category personal data and is given additional protection under data-protection law.
Where explicit consent is used, the consent will be specific, clear and capable of being withdrawn.
3. How your information is collected
Your information may be collected when you:
- Complete a Health and Lifestyle Questionnaire or PAR-Q.
- Book or pay for a class, event or one-to-one session.
- Contact Sharon Michelle through the website, email, telephone, social media or a messaging service.
- Attend a Pilates class, event or private session.
- Provide feedback or take part in a survey.
- Give permission for photographs or video recordings.
- Subscribe to receive marketing communications.
Information may also be generated through attendance records, booking records and relevant session notes.
Where you provide another person’s details as an emergency contact, you should let them know that their information has been provided for this purpose.
4. How your information is used
Your information may be used to:
- Manage bookings, payments, cancellations and attendance.
- Provide group Pilates classes, one-to-one sessions, events and related services.
- Assess whether a class or session may be appropriate for you.
- Identify relevant health considerations and consider appropriate exercise options or adaptations.
- Contact you about a booking, payment, class reminder, change or cancellation.
- Respond appropriately if an incident or emergency occurs.
- Maintain appropriate business, insurance, health and safety and professional records.
- Respond to enquiries, complaints or requests.
- Improve services and understand what clients find useful.
- Establish, exercise or defend legal claims.
- Meet legal, tax, accounting or regulatory obligations.
- Send marketing communications where you have chosen to receive them.
Health information collected through a PAR-Q or Health and Lifestyle Questionnaire will not be used for marketing purposes.
5. Lawful bases for processing
Different lawful bases may apply depending on why your information is being used.
Contract
Personal information may be processed where it is necessary to manage your booking, take payment or provide an agreed class, event or one-to-one service.
Legitimate interests
Personal information may be processed where it is reasonably necessary to administer the business, communicate with clients, manage attendance, improve services, maintain appropriate records or protect legal rights.
Sharon Michelle will consider whether these interests are balanced against your rights and reasonable expectations.
Consent
Consent may be used where you:
- Provide health information through a PAR-Q or Health and Lifestyle Questionnaire.
- Choose to receive marketing communications.
- Give permission for photographs or video recordings.
Marketing, photography and health-data permissions will be requested separately where appropriate.
Legal obligation
Personal information may be processed where it is necessary to comply with a legal, tax, accounting or regulatory obligation.
Vital interests
Personal information may be used where it is necessary to protect someone’s life or physical safety in an emergency.
6. Health information and special-category data
Information about your health is special-category personal data.
For ordinary personal information needed to manage bookings and provide Pilates services, Sharon Michelle generally relies on contract or legitimate interests.
For health information provided through your PAR-Q or Health and Lifestyle Questionnaire, Sharon Michelle relies on your explicit consent under Article 9(2)(a) of the UK GDPR.
Health information may also be processed where it is necessary to establish, exercise or defend a legal claim.
You may withdraw your consent by contacting:
Withdrawing consent will not affect processing that was carried out lawfully before your consent was withdrawn.
However, relevant health information may be needed to determine whether a class or session can be provided safely and appropriately. It may therefore not be possible to provide the service if you do not provide relevant health information or if you withdraw your consent for it to be used.
7. Health questionnaires, PAR-Q and session safety
Health information provided through the PAR-Q or Health and Lifestyle Questionnaire is collected to:
- Help assess whether participation in Pilates may be appropriate.
- Identify whether further information may be required.
- Identify whether medical guidance or clearance may be appropriate.
- Consider suitable exercise options or adaptations.
- Support the safe and appropriate delivery of classes and sessions.
- Maintain relevant professional, health and safety and insurance records.
Answering “Yes” to a health question does not automatically mean that you cannot participate.
Sharon Michelle may contact you privately for further information, suggest an exercise option or adaptation, or ask you to obtain appropriate medical advice or clearance before attending.
You are responsible for informing Sharon Michelle if your health, medication, pregnancy, postnatal status, injury or other relevant circumstances change after completing your questionnaire.
The PAR-Q and Health and Lifestyle Questionnaire are screening tools and are not a substitute for assessment, diagnosis or advice from an appropriately qualified healthcare professional.
8. Providing your information
You are not legally required to provide personal or health information to Sharon Michelle.
However, some information is necessary to manage a booking, provide the agreed service and assess whether participation may be appropriate.
Where necessary information is not provided, Sharon Michelle may be unable to accept or continue your booking.
9. Payments
Payments may be processed through an external payment provider.
The payment provider may collect and process information such as:
- Your name.
- Your payment-card or account details.
- The amount paid.
- The date and time of payment.
- Your payment status.
- Your booking or transaction reference.
Sharon Michelle may receive confirmation of your payment and relevant transaction information but does not normally receive or store your full payment-card details.
Payment providers will process your information in accordance with their own privacy policies.
10. Sharing your information
Personal information is not sold.
Information may be shared where reasonably necessary with:
- Booking and scheduling providers.
- Payment processors.
- Online form, email, website and cloud-storage providers.
- Studio or venue operators where information is required for access, safety or emergency management.
- Accountants, insurers, legal advisers and other professional advisers.
- Emergency services or healthcare professionals where necessary in an emergency.
- Public authorities, regulators or law-enforcement organisations where disclosure is required by law.
Only information reasonably necessary for the relevant purpose will be shared.
Service providers are expected to handle personal information only for the agreed purposes and to apply appropriate security measures.
11. International transfers
Some booking, payment, form, website, email, communication or cloud-storage providers may process or store personal information outside the United Kingdom.
Where a restricted international transfer takes place, reasonable steps will be taken to ensure that the transfer is covered by a lawful transfer mechanism, such as:
- UK adequacy regulations.
- Appropriate contractual safeguards.
- Another lawful transfer mechanism or exception permitted under UK data-protection law.
12. Data retention
Personal information will be kept only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was collected.
The length of time information is retained may depend on:
- The duration of the client relationship.
- The type of class, event or service provided.
- Professional and insurance record-keeping requirements.
- Tax and accounting obligations.
- Health and safety requirements.
- The possibility of a complaint, incident or legal claim.
- Whether consent remains valid.
- Whether you have asked to stop receiving marketing communications.
Marketing information will be retained until you unsubscribe, withdraw your consent or the information is no longer required.
Where someone unsubscribes, limited information may be retained on a suppression list to ensure that further marketing is not sent.
Retention periods will be reviewed periodically. When information is no longer required, it will be securely deleted, destroyed or anonymised.
13. Data security
Reasonable technical and organisational measures will be used to protect personal information against loss, misuse, unauthorised access, alteration or disclosure.
Access to health questionnaires and other sensitive information will be limited to those who genuinely need access.
Electronic accounts and systems will be protected using appropriate security measures, which may include passwords, device security and access controls.
Although reasonable precautions will be taken, no electronic-storage or internet-based system can be guaranteed to be completely secure.
14. Marketing communications
Marketing emails or messages will only be sent where there is an appropriate lawful basis.
Where consent is required, it will be requested separately from consent to process health information.
You may unsubscribe at any time by:
- Using the unsubscribe option provided in a marketing message.
- Contacting hello@sharon-michelle.com.
Messages relating to an existing booking, payment, cancellation, safety matter or class change are operational communications rather than marketing and may still be sent where necessary.
15. Photography and video
Photographs or video recordings will only be taken or used for promotional, website, social-media or marketing purposes where appropriate permission has been obtained.
You will not be required to agree to photography or video recording as a condition of participating in a Pilates class or session.
You may withdraw permission for future use by contacting:
Withdrawal will not necessarily affect material that was published or used lawfully before permission was withdrawn.
16. Your data-protection rights
Depending on the circumstances and the lawful basis being used, you may have the right to:
- Request access to the personal information held about you.
- Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete information.
- Request deletion of your information.
- Request restriction of processing.
- Object to certain processing.
- Receive certain information in a structured and portable format.
- Withdraw your consent at any time.
- Complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office.
These rights are not absolute and may not apply in every situation.
To exercise a data-protection right, contact:
Sharon Michelle may need to request information to verify your identity before responding to your request.
You also have the right to raise a concern with the Information Commissioner’s Office, the UK regulator responsible for data-protection matters.
17. Automated decision-making
Sharon Michelle does not use personal information to make decisions based solely on automated processing that produce legal or similarly significant effects.
18. Changes to this Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy may be updated when services, systems or legal requirements change.
The current version will be published on the Sharon Michelle website with its effective date.
Where a change significantly affects how existing personal information is used, reasonable steps will be taken to bring the change to the attention of affected clients.
19. Contact
For questions about this Privacy Policy, the use of your personal information or your data-protection rights, contact:
Sharon Michelle
Email: hello@sharon-michelle.com
Please also read our Booking Terms & Conditions before making a booking.