Terms of Use

What this app is

UC Journal Companion / Claimant Companion is a private Universal Credit journal preparation companion. It helps you prepare clearer wording before you decide what to copy into your official Universal Credit journal yourself.

What this app is not

UC Journal Companion is operated by MARK COWAN DIGITAL LTD. This app is not DWP, GOV.UK, Citizens Advice, a solicitor, a welfare rights adviser, your work coach, a decision maker or an official Universal Credit service.

It does not connect to your Universal Credit account, does not send anything to DWP and does not post into your official journal.

Your responsibility

You are responsible for checking anything you choose to copy from this app and post into your official Universal Credit journal. Only post wording that is true and accurate for your own situation.

No legal advice or guarantees

The app does not provide legal advice and does not guarantee any outcome. It does not guarantee that Universal Credit, DWP, a work coach, a decision maker, a tribunal or anyone else will accept your explanation.

Universal Credit account safety

Do not enter your official Universal Credit login details, UC password, security answers, National Insurance number, bank details, card details, full home address, full date of birth or unnecessary private identifiers into this app.

Privacy and saved data

UC Journal Companion processes information as described in the Privacy Notice. Privacy Mode controls whether eligible output is added to saved drafts by default; it does not mean that no temporary service processing takes place.

The Work Search Logger has been removed. Previously saved entries are retained and remain available through your account data export. Claim Context is saved so the Companion can understand your saved circumstances, commitments, work plan, availability, restrictions and relevant work-coach instructions.

Saved draft content and Claim Context content are encrypted before storage.

Optional Conversation Sharing

Optional Conversation Sharing is voluntary and is OFF by default. Accepting these Terms, subscribing to UC Journal Companion or paying for the service does not enable it.

If you choose to enable sharing, eligible new Companion conversations may be copied to a separate protected review dataset for product improvement, as explained in the Privacy Notice. You can turn sharing off at any time.

AI and source limits

The app uses AI to help organise and rewrite wording. AI can make mistakes, misunderstand unclear information or miss context. Read all output carefully before copying anything.

The app uses stored public guidance/source chunks where available. The source library may not cover every Universal Credit situation, and guidance can change.

Subscription, cancellation and refunds

Eligible new subscribers receive a three-day free trial. A payment card is required. Unless cancelled through Stripe before the trial ends, the subscription continues automatically at £5 per month. Tool access depends on your subscription status. Billing is handled through Stripe. Card details are handled by Stripe and are not stored by this app.

Cancellation is managed through Billing and the Stripe Customer Portal. Cancelling normally stops future renewal. If cancellation is scheduled for the end of the current subscription period, you may keep access until that date while the app still recognises your subscription as active or trialling.

Refunds are not automatic. If you think you were charged in error, charged twice, or could not access the paid service because of a serious technical problem, contact support. Refund requests are reviewed case by case. Nothing here affects any rights you may have under applicable consumer law.

Data rights, export and deletion

The Privacy page provides a self-service account-data download and a deletion-request mechanism. The self-service download is not necessarily a complete response to every data-protection rights request. The Privacy Notice explains how to exercise your rights or make a data-protection complaint.

Account deletion and subscription cancellation are separate processes. Requesting deletion does not by itself cancel a Stripe subscription or instantly delete Stripe billing records or your Supabase Auth user.