How SME Benchmark handles, safeguards, and pseudonymises the operational data submitted through our national trade contractor research panel.
SME Benchmark is an independent UK operational research panel investigating administrative latency, clerical chasing burden, and trapped working capital across British trade contracting businesses. The research desk coordinator is Scott Norton. Contact: [email protected].
Our research questionnaire gathers solely the operational and contact data necessary to compile and deliver the peer benchmark synthesis:
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Survey submissions are transmitted over an encrypted HTTPS connection directly to our secure UK research intake endpoint, with an offline pre-filled email fallback option. Upon intake, operational metrics are immediately separated from contact credentials and assigned an unlinked cryptographic pseudonym. Contact records and survey answers are stored in segregated database structures.
Prior to submission, participants indicate affirmative consent via our structured agreement tickbox (version CN-2026-11-03-v2). The verbatim consent statement is cryptographically hashed (SHA-256) alongside the timestamp to create an immutable audit record of agreement.
An optional, secondary checkbox allows respondents to separately request preview access to workflow prototype tools developed to address these clerical bottlenecks. This opt-in is entirely voluntary and is kept strictly segregated from core research processing.
Data is processed to produce anonymous, aggregate peer benchmark reports for UK trade contractors and to deliver the resulting research synthesis to participating firms. Our lawful basis is Consent (UK GDPR Art. 6(1)(a)), governed under statutory research safeguards (UK GDPR Chapter 8A / Data Protection Act 2018).
We do not sell, rent, license, or share contact details, lead lists, or respondent profiles with any software vendors, brokers, or third parties. All published findings are released exclusively as high-level statistical aggregates.
Small-cell suppression (<5 respondents per category) is strictly enforced to ensure no individual firm can ever be deduced from published reports.
Raw response records and contact details are retained for a maximum of 12 months following study completion to allow synthesis verification and report delivery, after which raw contact identifiers are permanently purged.
Under the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018, you hold the right to access your personal data, request rectification, or exercise your right to erasure. To withdraw consent or request full deletion of your submission prior to aggregate publication, email [email protected]. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk.
This privacy notice is periodically reviewed to reflect ongoing statutory updates. Last updated: 3 November 2026.