Last updated: 19 October 2026
This policy forms part of our terms & conditions. By using any service we host or manage, you agree to follow it. If you're not sure whether something is allowed, ask before you do it.
1. Scope: services and users covered
This policy covers every service Northern Sites provides or manages, including:
- website hosting, including websites we build and existing websites we host;
- domain names we register or manage for you;
- business email mailboxes and forwarding addresses;
- contact, booking and enquiry forms on websites we host;
- care plans, updates and any other managed services.
It applies to you as our client, and to anyone you allow to use these services, including your staff, volunteers, contractors and anyone else with access to your website, admin area or email accounts (“sub-users”).
2. Permitted use
You may use our services to run a lawful website and email for your business, charity, club or community group, including publishing information about what you do, taking enquiries and bookings, selling lawful goods and services, and communicating with your customers and members.
3. Prohibited use
You must not use our services, or allow them to be used, to:
- break any law or regulation, or encourage anyone else to;
- commit or assist fraud, scams, phishing, impersonation or identity theft, including fake shops, fake login or payment pages, or fake reviews and testimonials;
- publish or store content that is illegal, defamatory, hateful, harassing, threatening or that promotes violence or terrorism;
- publish or store any sexual content involving minors, or any material that exploits or endangers children;
- publish adult or pornographic content;
- infringe anyone's copyright, trademarks or other rights, including using photos, text or software you don't have permission to use;
- send spam or unsolicited bulk email, or use purchased or scraped mailing lists;
- distribute malware, viruses or harmful code, or host files for that purpose;
- attempt to hack, probe, overload or disrupt our services, other websites or networks, or get around any security or usage limits;
- collect or process personal data unlawfully, or without a clear privacy notice where the law requires one;
- resell, sublet or share our hosting with third parties without our written agreement.
4. Restricted and high-risk activities
The following are not permitted on our services unless we have agreed to them in writing beforehand, and some we won't host at all:
- gambling, betting, lotteries or prize draws (other than small lawful raffles run by community groups);
- sale of weapons, ammunition, explosives or fireworks;
- sale of tobacco, vapes, alcohol, CBD or other age-restricted or regulated products;
- drugs, drug paraphernalia, or unlicensed medicines and health claims;
- financial services, investments, cryptocurrency, loans or credit;
- dating, escort or adult services;
- counterfeit or replica goods;
- collecting payments on behalf of other businesses.
5. Laws, regulations and sanctions
You must comply with all laws and regulations that apply to your website, email and business. This includes UK data protection law (UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018), the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations, consumer protection law, advertising rules, and UK sanctions and export controls. You must not use our services if you, or anyone who owns or controls your organisation, are subject to UK, EU, UN or US sanctions, or to deal with any sanctioned person, organisation or country.
6. Preventing misuse, fraud and harmful content
- Keep passwords and admin logins secure, don't share them, and tell us straight away if you think an account has been compromised.
- Only give access to people who need it, and remove access when they no longer do.
- Make sure everything you publish is accurate and legal, and that you have permission to use it.
- Respond promptly if we contact you about a complaint, security issue or suspected misuse.
7. Responsibility for third parties and sub-users
You are responsible for everything done through your website, admin area and email accounts, whether by you or by your staff, volunteers, contractors or anyone else you give access to. Any breach of this policy by a sub-user is treated as a breach by you. You're also responsible for content that visitors post on your site, such as comments, reviews or form submissions, once you're aware of it.
8. Monitoring and enforcement
- We don't routinely read your content or email, but we may review websites, files and usage logs to keep our services secure, investigate complaints or suspected misuse, or meet our legal obligations.
- If we believe this policy has been broken, we may, depending on how serious it is: ask you to remove content or fix the problem; remove or disable content ourselves; suspend your website, email or other services; or end our services to you under our terms & conditions.
- Where we can, we'll contact you first and give you a reasonable chance to put things right. For serious or illegal activity, or anything that puts our services or other people at risk, we may act immediately and without notice.
- We'll cooperate with the police, regulators and other authorities where the law requires, and may report illegal activity to them.
- No refund is due for any period your services are suspended or ended because of a breach of this policy.
9. Reporting a problem
To report abuse, illegal content or a security issue on any website we host, please use the contact page. We'll look into every report.
10. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time. The latest version will always be on this page.