Privacy and Data Protection Policy

Waller and Hart takes your privacy very seriously. We ask that you read this privacy policy carefully as it contains important information about what to expect when Waller and Hart collects personal information about you for any of our services and how Waller and Hart will use your personal data.

This policy applies to information we collect in relation to clients.

The information you provide is kept in line with regulations to protect your personal information which includes The General Data Protection Regulation 2018 (GDPR) and the UK (GDPR).

1. The information we collect about you when you instruct us

We process both personal and sensitive categories of data such as your name, address, phone numbers and email addresses.

If using our website it could also be your IP address and cookies.

We also process sensitive data such as bank accounts, credit card numbers, health data, ethnic origin (e.g. passports etc for identifying and verifying as required to meet our obligations).

Occasionally we may receive information about you from other sources (such as credit reference agencies) which we will add to the information which we already hold about you in order to help us provide an excellent service.

2. How we will use the information about you

We gather this information to allow us to process any commissions you may ask us to undertake, provide the services requested and comply with our legal requirements or because we have a legitimate interest. The relevant information is then used by us, our agents and sub-contractors to provide you with our services and to communicate with you on any matter relating to the conduct of your commission and the provision of the services or in general. If you agree, we may also contact you about other products and services we think may be of interest to you. We may also use aggregate information and statistics for the purpose of monitoring website usage in order to help us to develop our website and our services. We may also provide such aggregate information to third parties. These statistics will not include information that can be used to identify you. From time to time we may provide your information to our client service agencies for research and analysis purposes so that we can monitor and improve the services we provide. We or our agents and sub-contractors may contact you by post, email or telephone or as require to ask you for your feedback and comments on our goods or services or as the case may be.

3. Marketing

We may also wish to provide you with information about special features or our services or matters we think may be of interest to you. If you would rather not receive this information, please send a email message to our email. If you agree to us providing you with marketing information, you can always opt out at a later date. We may also want to provide you with related information from third parties we think may be of interest to you. If you would rather not receive this information, please send an email to our email. If you agree to us providing you with third party marketing information, you can always opt out at a later date.

4. How we protect your information

We have put in place the various security procedures and technical and organisational measures to safeguard your personal information: e.g. firewalls, limited access, use of passwords etc as appropriate. We will use all reasonable efforts to safeguard your personal information. However, you should be aware that the use of the Internet is not entirely secure and for this reason we cannot guarantee the security or integrity of any personal information which is transferred from you or to you via the Internet.

5. Overseas transfers

The information you provide may be transferred to countries outside the European Economic Area (EEA) that do not have similar protections in place regarding your data and restrictions on its use as set out in this policy. However, we will take steps to attempt to ensure adequate protections are in place to ensure the security of your information. The EEA comprises the EU member states plus Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. By submitting your information, you consent to these transfers for the purposes specified above.

6. Access to your information and updating and correcting your information

Under the GDPR your rights may include:

The right to be informed – We will make available this privacy notice with the emphasis on transparency over how we process your data.

The right of access – You may be entitled to find out what details we may hold about you and why.

The right to rectification – We will correct or update your details when you advise us of the change.

The right to erasure – This is also known as the request to be forgotten.

The right to restrict processing – You may have the right to block or supress the processing by us of your personal data.

The right to data portability – You may have the right to obtain and reuse your personal data that you have provided to us

The right to object – You may have the right to object to us processing your data in relation to direct marketing and/or profiling

Rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling – We do not use automatic decision making and profiling

You can also request to find out what information we may hold about you by making a subject access request, if we hold information we will contact you within one calendar month in writing after receiving your request.

Please note you may be asked to provide your identification if making a request and the calendar month referred to above can be extended by us in certain circumstances although we will process your request.

It is important to ensure that your personal information is accurate and up to date. If any of the information that you have provided to us changes, for example if you change your email address, name or payment details, or if you wish to cancel your instructions, please let us know the correct details by sending an email to our email address or by sending a letter to us.

We cannot be held responsible for any incorrect data if we have not been supplied with this.

You may ask us, or we may ask you, to correct information you or we think is inaccurate, and you may also ask us to remove information which is inaccurate.

7. Sale of business

If our business is sold or integrated with another business your details may be disclosed to our advisers and any prospective purchasers and their advisers and will be passed on to the new owners of the business.

8. Your consent

By submitting your personal information, you consent to the use of that information as set out in this policy.

9. Changes to privacy policy

We keep our privacy policy under regular review and we may amend this privacy notice from time to time and please ask for a copy of our up to date policy.

10. How to contact

We welcome your views about our privacy policy and website.

The Data Controller is Waller and Hart Solicitors Limited, Hazelberry, 29 Basset Road, Camborne, Cornwall, TR14 8SH and the Data Protection Manager for the firm is Mr Peter Clive Hart.

You can contact us:

By Mail: For the attention of the Data Protection Manager– Mr Peter Clive Hart, Waller and Hart Solicitors Limited, Hazelberry, 29 Basset Road, Camborne, Cornwall, TR14 8SH

By Email: solicitors@wallerandhart.co.uk

11. Our use of cookies and other information gathering technologies

Cookies are text files placed on your computer to collect standard internet log information and visitor behaviour information. The information is used to track visitor use of the website and to compile statistical reports on website activity. For further information about cookies visit www.aboutcookies.org or www.allaboutcookies.org. You can set your browser not to accept cookies and the above websites tell you how to remove cookies from your browser.

12. Sharing your information

We will keep your information within the Firm except where disclosure is required or permitted by law or when we use third party service providers (data processors) to supply and support our services to you.

Our Data Processors services are:

IT Provider

Email Provider

Secure Document Disposal

Wi- Fi Provider

Accountants

13. Retention Timescales

We consider how long to keep personal data for and our data retention policy is in line with the GDPR, our legal regulator who is The Solicitors Regulation Authority and our purposes for processing your personal data.

14. Your Concerns

You have the right to make a complaint if you do feel your personal information has not been fairly processed. First of all, you should contact us for us to have the opportunity to discuss this with you in detail and at length.

Secondly, if you remain dissatisfied with our replies then the next point of contact is the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) at www.ico.org.uk

Our contact details can be found at the top of this privacy policy.

Please note that our website may contain links to other websites and our privacy policy applies to our website only. If you click on links to other websites you should read their own privacy policies.

Authorised and Regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) | SRA ID: 626277