1. Key Definitions

The key terms that we use throughout this privacy notice are defined below, for ease:

Data Controller: under UK data protection law, this is the organisation or person responsible for deciding how personal information is collected and stored and how it is used. 

Data Processor: a Data Controller may appoint another organisation or person to carry out certain tasks in relation to the personal information on behalf of, and on the written instructions of, the Data Controller. (This might be the hosting of a site containing personal data, for example, or providing an email marketing service that facilitates mass distribution of marketing material to a Data Controller’s customer-base.) 

Personal Information: in this privacy notice we refer to your personal data as ‘personal information’. ‘Personal information’ means any information from which a living individual can be identified. It does not apply to information which has been anonymised.

Special Information – certain very sensitive personal information requires extra protection under data protection law. Sensitive data includes information relating to health, racial and ethnic origin, political opinions, religious and similar beliefs, trade union membership, sex life and sexual orientation and also includes genetic information and biometric information. 

2. Details of personal information which we collect and hold about you

2.1 We collect identity information, contact information, employment information and payment information. We will retain this data for up to 7 years after our last contact with you.

3. Details of special information which we collect and hold about you

3.1 Special information is explained in section 1 above. We do not collect special information about clients as standard. If you participate in certain activities as part of our services, we may collect and hold the following types of special information about you: 

(a) race;

(b) ethnic origin;

(c) politics;

(d) religion;

(e) trade union membership;

(f) sexual orientation.

3.2 Where we do hold special information relating to the categories above, we will retain this data for up to 2 years after delivery of the services. 

3.3 We do not collect information from you relating to criminal convictions or offences. 

4. Details of how and why we use personal information 

4.1 We are only able to use your personal information for certain legal reasons set out in data protection law. There are legal reasons under data protection law other than those listed below, but in most cases, we will use your personal information for the following legal reasons: 

(a) Contract Reason: this is in order to perform our obligations to you under a contract we have entered into with you; 

(b) Legitimate Interests Reason: this is where the use of your personal information is necessary for our (or a third party’s) legitimate interests, so long as that legitimate interest does not override your fundamental rights, freedoms or interests. 

(c) Legal Obligation Reason: this is where we have to use your personal information in order to perform a legal obligation by which we are bound; and 

(d) Consent Reason: this is where you have given us your consent to use your personal information for a specific reason or specific reasons. 

4.2 So that we are able to provide you with services, we will need your personal information. If you do not provide us with the required personal information, we may be prevented from supplying the services to you.  

4.3 It is important that you keep your personal information up to date. If any of your personal information changes, please contact us as soon as possible to let us know. If you do not do this then we may be prevented from supplying the services to you.

4.4 Where we rely on consent for a specific purpose as the legal reason for processing your personal information, you have the right under data protection law to withdraw your consent at any time. If you do wish to withdraw your consent, please contact us using the details set out at the beginning of this notice. If we receive a request from you withdrawing your consent to a specific purpose, we will stop processing your personal information for that purpose, unless we have another legal reason for processing your personal information, in which case, we will confirm that reason to you. 

4.5 We have explained below the different purposes for which we use your personal information and, in each case, the legal reason(s) allowing us to use your personal information. Please also note the following: 

(a) if we use the Legitimate Interests Reason as the legal reason for which we can use your personal information, we have also explained what that legitimate interest is; and 

(b) for some of the purposes we may have listed more than one legal reason on which we can use your personal information, because the legal reason may be different in different circumstances. If you need confirmation of the specific legal reason that we are relying on to use your personal data for that purpose, please contact us using the contact details set out at the start of this privacy notice. 

4.6  Purpose - Legal  Reason(s) for using the personal information 

To enrol you as a customer - Legitimate Interests Reason (to offer you   services and grow our business)

To manage the contract between us, which   includes agreeing the scope of services, delivery of the services, taking   payment from you, advising you of any updates in relation to your services or   any enforcement action against you to recover payment - Contract Reason (to comply with the contract we have agreed) / Legitimate Interests Reason (to seek remedy for any non-payment or other breach of such contract)

To comply with audit and accounting matters - Legal Obligation Reason

To enable proper record keeping - Contract Reason (to comply with the   contract we have agreed), Legal Obligation Reason (to comply with   our legal duties)

To improve the services and/or digital content which we supply - Legitimate Interests Reason (to improve   the services, and/or digital content for future customers and to grow our   business)

To recommend and send communications to you about goods, services, and/or digital content that you may be interested  in. More details about marketing are set out in section 11 below - Legitimate Interests Reason (to grow our business), Consent Reason (to deliver any additional marketing you have requested)

To ensure the smooth running and correct operation of our website - Legitimate Interests Reason (to ensure our website runs correctly)

To understand how customers and visitors to our website use the website and interact with it via data analysis - Legitimate Interests Reason (to improve   and grow our business, including our website, and to understand our   customer’s needs, desires and requirements)

4.7 Sometimes we may anonymise personal information so that you can no longer be identified from it and use this for our own purposes. In addition, sometimes we may use some of your personal information together with other people’s personal information to give us statistical information for our own purposes. Because this is grouped together wither other personal information and you are not identifiable from that combined data we are able to use this.  

4.8 Under data protection laws we can only use your personal information for the purposes we have told you about, unless we consider that the new purpose is compatible with the purpose(s) which we told you about. If we want to use your personal information for a different purpose which we do not think is compatible with the purpose(s) which we told you about then we will contact you to explain this and what legal reason is in place to allow us to do this. 

5. Details of how we collect personal information and special information

5.1 We usually collect Identity Information, Contact Information, Payment Information, Transaction Information, Survey Information, Marketing Information, directly from you when you fill out a form, survey or questionnaire, purchase services and/or digital content from us, contact us by e-mail, telephone, in writing or otherwise. This includes the personal information which you provide to us when you subscribe to our mailing list or fill out a survey. 

5.2 We may receive some of your personal information from third parties or publicly available sources. This includes: 

(a) Identity Information and Contact Information from publicly available sources such as Companies House;

(b) Website, Device and Technical Information from third parties such as analytics providers (like Google); 

5.3 We may also receive Website, Device and Technical Information automatically from technologies such as cookies which are installed on our website. 

6. Details about who personal Information may be shared with

6.1 We may need to share your personal information with other organisations or people. These organisations include: 

(a) Third parties who may include: 

(i) Suppliers: such as IT support services, payment providers, administration providers, marketing agencies; 

(ii) Government bodies and regulatory bodies: such as HMRC, fraud prevention agencies;

(iii) Our advisors: such as lawyers, accountants, auditors, insurance companies;

(iv) Our bankers;

(v) Credit Reference Agencies;

(vi) E-mail platforms.

(b) any organisations which propose to purchase our business and assets in which case we may disclose your personal information to the potential purchaser. 

6.2 Depending on the circumstances, the organisations or people who we share your personal information with will be acting as either Data Processors or Data Controllers. Where we share your personal information with a Data Processor we will ensure that we have in place contracts, which set out the responsibilities and obligations of us and them, including in respect of security of personal information. 

6.3 We do not sell or trade any of the personal information which you have provided to us.

7. Details about transfers to countries outside of the EEA

7.1 We do not transfer your personal information outside of the EEA.

8. Details about how long we will hold your personal information

8.1 We will only hold your personal data for as long as is necessary. How long is necessary will depend upon the purposes for which we collected the personal information (see section 4 above) and whether we are under any legal obligation to keep the personal information (such as in relation to accounting or auditing records or for tax reasons). We may also need to keep personal information in case of any legal claims, including in relation to any guarantees or warranties which we have provided with the services.

8.2 We have set out above the details of our retention periods for different types of data. You can find them in in section 2 and also in section 3.

9. your rights under data protection law

9.1 Under data protection laws you have certain rights in relation to your personal information, as follows:

(a) Right to request access: (this is often called ‘subject access’). This is the right to obtain from us a copy of the personal information which we hold about you. We must also provide you with certain other information in response to these requests to help you understand how your personal information is being used. 

(b) Right to correction: this is the right to request that any incorrect personal data is corrected and that any incomplete personal data is completed. 

(c) Right to erasure: (this is often called the “right to be forgotten”). This right only applies in certain circumstances. Where it does apply, you have the right to request us to erase all of your personal information. 

(d) Right to restrict processing: this right only applies in certain circumstances. Where it does apply, you have the right to request us to restrict the processing of your personal information. 

(e) Right to data portability: this right allows you to request us to transfer your personal information to someone else. 

(f) Right to object: you have the right to object to us processing your personal information for direct marketing purposes. You also have the right to object to us processing personal information where our legal reason for doing so is the Legitimate Interests Reason (see section 4 above) and there is something about your particular situation which means that you want to object to us processing your personal information.  In certain circumstances you have the right to object to processing where such processing consists of profiling (including profiling for direct marketing). 

9.2 In addition to the rights set out in section 10.1, where we rely on consent as the legal reason for using your personal information, you have the right to withdraw your consent. Further details about this are set out in section 4.5.

9.3 If you want to exercise any of the above rights in relation to your personal information, please contact us using the details set out at the beginning of this notice. If you do make a request then please note:

(a) we may need certain information from you so that we can verify your identity;

(b) we do not charge a fee for exercising your rights unless your request is unfounded or excessive; and

(c) if your request is unfounded or excessive then we may refuse to deal with your request. 

10. Marketing

10.1 You may receive marketing from us about similar goods and services, where either you have consented to this, or we have another legal reason by which we can contact you for marketing purposes. 

10.2 However, we will give you the opportunity to manage how or if we market to you. In any e-mail which we send to you, we provide a link to either unsubscribe or opt-out, or to change your marketing preferences. To change your marketing preferences, and/or to request that we stop processing your personal information for marketing purposes , you can always contact us on the details set out at the beginning of this notice. 

10.3 If you do request that we stop marketing to you, this will not prevent us from sending communications to you which are not to do with marketing (for example in relation to services which you have purchased from us).

10.4 We do not pass your personal information on to any third parties for marketing purposes. 

11. Complaints

If you are unhappy about the way that we have handled or used your personal information, you have the right to complain to the UK supervisory authority for data protection, which is the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). Please do contact us in the first instance if you wish to raise any queries or make a complaint in respect of our handling or use of your personal information, so that we have the opportunity to discuss this with you and to take steps to resolve the position. You can contact us using the details set out at the beginning of this privacy notice.

12. Third Party Websites

Our website may contain links to third party websites. If you click and follow those links then these will take you to the third party website. Those third party websites may collect personal information from you and you will need to check their privacy notices to understand how your personal information is collected and used by them..