Privacy Policy and Data Protection
The purpose of this Notice
As part of my arrangement with you, I have certain obligations under privacy laws, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to notify individuals how I will process any personal information I collect about them. This Notice will inform you of what personal information is used, where it is transferred, and how you may view, amend and delete such information. You may be assured that I will treat all personal information as totally confidential and will not process it other than for a legitimate purpose. Steps will be taken to ensure that the information is accurate, kept up to date and not kept for longer than is necessary. Measures will also be taken to safeguard against unauthorised or unlawful processing and accidental loss of destruction or damage to the information.
What type of personal information will be processed?
I collect and process various data about you for the purposes of providing advice and legal services which are explained in more detail below. “Processing” is defined in the Act but could include obtaining, recording or holding information of data. “Personal data” is information which can identify you as a living individual, including where used in conjunction with other information. Common examples of personal data which may be collected and used by me in my day to day business activities include: name; date of birth; gender; ethnicity; marital status; address; telephone number and other contact details (including email addresses); job title; and bank account and other financial details.
Depending on the types of products and services you require, the information collected and processes may also contain “sensitive personal data” for the purposes of the GDPR which includes information held by me as to: your physical or mental health or condition; financial and property details.
Any information which we receive fairly and lawfully relating to one of the above categories constitutes sensitive personal data.
Please note that as with personal data, you have freedom of choice when it comes to your decision as to whether you provide me with sensitive personal data, and you have an opportunity at the end of this Notice to opt in to allow us to process this. You have the right to request that I stop processing your personal data and sensitive personal data at any time. You should however note that if you exercise this right or subsequently request that I stop processing all or part of your personal data and/or sensitive personal data, this could impact upon my ability to provide you with certain types of services and may ultimately result in me being unable to provide them to you at all.
How will my personal data be collected and used?
I collect personal data from you to the extent necessary to provide advice and legal services as you request. Some of the personal data that I maintain will be kept in paper files, while other personal data will be included in computerised files and electronic databases.
I undertake at all times to protect your personal data, including any financial, health and contact details, in a manner which is consistent with my duty of professional confidence and the requirements of the GDPR concerning data protection. I will also take reasonable security measures to protect your personal data storage.
Who might my personal data be shared with?
Your personal data will be will not be made to any third party.
Certain personal data will also be reported to government authorities where required by law and for tax or other purposes. Personal data may also be released to external parties as required by legislation, or by legal process, as well as to companies you authorise me to release your personal data to. I will not sell your personal data to any third party.
What are your rights?
Every individual has the right to see, amend, delete or have a copy, of data held that can identify you, with some exceptions. You do not need to give a reason to see your data.
If you want to access your data, you must make a subject access request in writing to Gerry Barber at Safe Haven Wills. Under special circumstances, some information may be withheld. I shall respond within 20 working days from the point of receiving the request and all necessary information from you. My response will include the details of the personal data we hold on you including:
a. The purposes of processing the information
b. Persons or entities with whom I am sharing the information
You have the right, subject to exemptions, to ask to:
a. Have your information deleted
b. Have your information corrected or updated where it is no longer accurate
c. Ask me to stop processing information about you where I am not required to do so by law.
d. Receive a copy of your personal data, which you have provided to me, in a structured, commonly used and machine readable format and have the right to transmit that data to another controller, without hindrance from us.
e. Object at any time to the processing of personal data concerning you
I do not carry out any automated processing, which may lead to automated decisions based on your personal data.
If you would like to invoke any of the above rights then please write to the Gerry Barber at Safe Haven Wills.
What safeguards are in place to ensure data that identifies me is secure?
I only use information that may identify you in accordance with GDPR. This requires me to process personal data only if there is a legitimate basis for doing so and that any processing must be fair and lawful.
In line with the common law duty of confidence, I will protect your information, inform you of how your information will be used, and allow you to decide if and how your information can be shared.
I also ensure the information I hold is kept in secure locations, restrict access to information to authorised personnel only, protect personal and confidential information held on equipment such as laptops with encryption (which masks data so that unauthorised users cannot see or make sense of it). I do not use external data processors.
How long do you hold confidential information for?
I hold confidential information relating to advice given for an indefinite period.
Direct Marketing
I may wish to provide you with information about new legislation and other information that I think you may be of interest to you. I may send you such information by email and telephone; unless you have registered with the appropriate Preference Service (I would be grateful if you could let me know if this is the case). If you engage with me I may retain your address for future mailings.
Use of cookies
I use cookies for Google Analytics purposes. These cookies are used to collect information about how visitors use my site. I use the information to compile reports and to help me improve the site. The cookies collect information in an anonymous form, including the number of visitors to the site, where visitors have come to the site from and the pages they visited.
Cookies are small. I do not make use of cookies to collect any private or personally identifiable information. The technical platform of this website uses cookies solely to aid the proper technical functioning of the website. The cookies used contain random strings of characters alongside minimal information about the state and session of the website – which in no way collects or discloses any persona information about you as a visitor.
Advanced areas of this site may use cookies to store your presentation preferences in a purely technical fashion with no individually identifiable information. Note also my statement on analytics software below – as analytics software also uses cookies to function.
Most web browsers allow some control of most cookies through the browser settings. To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them, visit www.allaboutcookies.org
To opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all websites visit http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout
Analytics
Like most websites, I make use of analytics software in order to help me understand the trends in popularity of my website and of different sections. I make no use of personally identifiable information in any of the statistical reports I use from this package. I use an analytics package called Google Analytics who provide details on their privacy policy on the Google Website.
How to request that we cease processing your personal data
If at any time you wish me to cease processing your personal data or sensitive personal data, or contacting you for marketing purposes, please contact me.
Complaints
If you have a complaint regarding the use of your personal data then please contact mes by writing to Gerry Barber at Safe Haven Wills and I will do my best to help you.
If your complaint is not resolved to your satisfaction and you wish to make a formal complaint to the ICO, you can contact them on 01625 545745 or 0303 1231113.