Studio Pilot privacy policy

Last updated: 22 September 2026

This policy covers Studio Pilot’s business website, enquiries and relationship with studio owners. It also explains our role when we provide a studio’s branded app. The separate studio discovery notice gives the details for our research and onboarding questionnaire.

Who we are

James Cutler Dance Ltd, trading as Studio Pilot, is registered in England and Wales, company number 16261978. Registered office: 28–30 Lincoln Road, Birmingham, England, B27 6PA. Contact admin@thestudiopilot.app for privacy matters or hello@thestudiopilot.app about the service.

We are the controller of information used to run our own business: enquiries, studio relationships, billing, research, security and legal records. We handle this under the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.

If you use a studio’s member app

Your studio is the seller of its classes and the controller of its member information. Studio Pilot provides software and processes that information on the studio’s documented instructions under a data-processing agreement. Sharing a technology platform does not make studios the same business, and does not give one studio access to another’s member records.

AURA Dance Studios is the trading name of the partnership of Martin Cutler, Charlotte Cutler and James Cutler. It is a separate business from James Cutler Dance Ltd. AURA members should read AURA’s app privacy policy and AURA’s app terms.

Other studios publish their own notices, linked from their app and store listing. Those notices describe their member data, bookings, payments, optional health information, children’s details, notifications and retention. Ask your studio about those records. We assist it with access, correction, deletion and other requests; we do not use its members’ records for unrelated Studio Pilot marketing.

Information we use

• Business enquiries: your name, contact information, studio name, website and the information you choose to send.
• Studio setup and service: business identity, authorised contacts, brand assets, configuration, contracts, support correspondence and the agreed launch checklist.
• Billing: business billing details, VAT information where relevant, invoices, payment references, fees and reconciliation records. Stripe processes payments; do not send us full card or bank-login details.
• Research: the business answers and optional contact details you provide in our questionnaire. Please use its dedicated privacy notice.
• Website and security: technical request information, such as network address, browser information and security logs needed by us and our hosting providers to deliver and protect the site.

Information comes from you, your authorised colleagues, providers involved in the service, and public business pages you ask us to review. Do not put member lists, children’s details, health information, passwords or payment credentials in the public questionnaire or an initial sales enquiry.

Why we use it

We use business information to respond to enquiries, assess a proposed setup, deliver and support the agreed service, administer billing and improve the product. We rely on performance of a contract or steps you request before entering one where you are the contracting individual, and legitimate interests in running the business and communicating with its representatives. Accounting and statutory record keeping rely on legal obligations. Optional marketing or research follow-up uses consent where required.

Our legitimate interests include understanding studio needs, protecting the service and resolving issues. You can object to processing based on legitimate interests and to direct marketing at any time. You can withdraw consent without affecting earlier lawful processing. Sending an enquiry or research response does not automatically subscribe you to a newsletter.

Required information is needed to respond to your request or provide the agreed service. We tell you when further details are needed. Research is voluntary. We do not make solely automated decisions with legal or similarly significant effects: proposed app settings, extracted prices and launch plans are reviewed with the studio before approval.

Providers and sharing

Authorised Studio Pilot operators and professional advisers receive only the information they need. We use WordPress and our website hosting providers for the business site; OpenAI Sites and its Cloudflare infrastructure for the questionnaire website and response database; Google Firebase for app infrastructure; Resend for relevant service emails; and Stripe for Connect, payments and related billing. The applicable provider and purpose depend on the service used.

Studios have their own Stripe accounts and store accounts. Stripe, Apple and Google may act as independent controllers for their own payments, fraud prevention, platform-account and legal purposes, under their own notices. Studio-specific processing providers and configured regions are recorded in the studio’s data-processing agreement. We may disclose information where required by law or to protect legal rights. We do not sell your data.

Cookies and browser storage

The business website and its hosting services may use essential cookies for sessions, security and administration. Third-party links have their own policies. Any optional analytics or advertising must have the required information and consent controls; this refreshed page does not add advertising or analytics trackers.

The questionnaire keeps an unfinished draft in the current browser tab so you can move between steps. It is submitted only when you choose to send it. The questionnaire adds no advertising or analytics trackers. Its own notice explains draft clearing, abuse prevention, hosting logs and response retention.

International processing

Our providers operate internationally. Some services may process information outside the UK, even where a studio’s main app database is located in the UK or EU. Where a restricted transfer is made, the applicable arrangement must provide a recognised safeguard such as UK adequacy regulations, the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or UK Addendum, as appropriate. Contact us for details of the providers and safeguards relevant to your information.

How long we keep information

We keep enquiries while they are active and for a reasonable follow-up period, reviewing and deleting information when it is no longer needed. The questionnaire retains responses for 12 months as described in its notice. Customer service records are retained during the relationship and afterwards only for legal, accounting, support or dispute purposes. Financial records are generally kept for six years, with longer retention where a particular obligation or active dispute requires it.

Studio member data follows the studio’s instructions, its privacy notice and our data-processing agreement. Leaving a studio or deleting an app account does not automatically erase legally required payment records. Retained identifiers remain protected as personal data; removal of a name alone does not make a record anonymous. Backups and provider logs follow their applicable retention cycles.

Your rights and contact

You can ask to access or correct your information, request erasure, restrict processing, object to relevant uses, and receive a portable copy where the right applies. We may need to verify a request. Contact admin@thestudiopilot.app. For a studio member account, contact that studio or use its in-app deletion option; we will help route a request if needed.

You can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office. You do not have to contact us first, although we welcome the chance to resolve a concern. We update this notice when relevant arrangements change and provide prominent notice of material changes.