Legal and Privacy Notice

Legal Notice

 

The information contained in this website is for general information purposes only. The information is provided by Scott & Wilkinson and while we endeavour to keep the information up to date and correct, we make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the website or the information, products, services, or related graphics contained on the website for any purpose. Any reliance you place on such information is therefore strictly at your own risk.

In no event will we be liable for any loss or damage including without limitation, indirect or consequential loss or damage, or any loss or damage whatsoever arising from loss of data or profits arising out of, or in connection with, the use of this website.

Through this website you are able to link to other websites which are not under the control of Scott & Wilkinson. We have no control over the nature, content and availability of those sites. The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.

Every effort is made to keep the website up and running smoothly. However, Scott & Wilkinson takes no responsibility for, and will not be liable for, the website being temporarily unavailable due to technical issues beyond our control.

 

Privacy Notice

 

Scott & Wilkinson takes the protection of your privacy very seriously.  We will only use your personal information to deliver the services you have requested from us, and to meet our legal responsibilities.

Scott & Wilkinson (Lancaster) Limited is an accountancy and tax advisory practice (Registered in England & Wales) | Company number 11358224.  Our registered office is at Dalton House | 9 Dalton Square | Lancaster | LA1 1WD.

 

Purpose of this notice

This notice describes how we collect and use personal data about you, in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018 and any other national implementing laws, regulations and secondary legislation, as amended or updated from time to time, in the UK (‘Data Protection Legislation’).

For the purpose of the Data Protection Legislation and this notice, we are the ‘data controller’.  This means that we are responsible for deciding how we hold and use personal data about you.  We are required under the Data Protection Legislation to notify you of the information contained in this privacy notice.

We have appointed a Data Protection Officer.  Our Data Protection Officer is our Data Protection Point of Contact and is responsible for assisting with enquiries in relation to this privacy notice or our treatment of your personal data.  Should you wish to contact our Data Protection Point of Contact, you can do so using the contact details noted at the end.

 

How do we collect information from you?

We obtain information about you when you engage us to deliver our services and/or when you use our website, for example, when you contact us about our services.

 

What type of information do we collect from you?

The personal information we collect from you will vary depending on which services you engage us to deliver.  The personal information we collect might include your name, address, telephone number, email address, your Unique Tax Reference (UTR) number, your National Insurance number, bank account details, your IP address, which pages you may have visited on our website and when you accessed them.

 

How is your information used?

We may process your personal data for purposes necessary for the performance of our contract with you or your employer or our clients and to comply with our legal obligations.

We may process your personal data for the purposes necessary for the performance of our contract with our clients.  This may include processing your personal data where you are an employee, subcontractor, supplier or customer of our client.

We may process your personal data for the purposes of our own legitimate interests provided that those interests do not override any of your own interests, rights and freedoms which require the protection of personal data.  This includes processing for marketing, business development, statistical and management purposes.

We may process your personal data for certain additional purposes with your consent, and in these limited circumstances, where your consent is required for the processing of your personal data then you have the right to withdraw your consent to processing for such specific purposes.

Please note that we may process your personal data for more than one lawful basis depending on the specific purpose for which we are using your data.

In general terms, and depending on which services you engage us to deliver, as part of providing our agreed services, we may use your information to:

  • contact you by post, email or telephone
  • verify your identity where this is required
  • understand your needs and how they may be met
  • maintain our records in accordance with applicable legal and regulatory obligations
  • process financial transactions
  • prevent and detect crime, fraud or corruption

 

Data retention

We will only retain your personal data for as long as is necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it is collected.

When assessing what retention period is appropriate for your personal data, we take into consideration:

  • the requirements of our business and the services provided;
  • any statutory or legal obligations;
  • the purposes for which we originally collected the personal data;
  • the lawful grounds on which we based our processing;
  • the types of personal data we have collected;
  • the amount and categories of your personal data; and
  • whether the purpose of the processing could reasonably be fulfilled by other means.

We are required by legislation, other regulatory requirements and our insurers to retain your data where we have ceased to act for you.  The period of retention required varies with the applicable legislation but is typically five or six years.  However, to ensure compliance with all such requirements it is the policy of the firm to retain all data for a period of fifteen years from the end of the period concerned.

 

Change of purpose

Where we need to use your personal data for another reason, other than for the purpose for which we collected it, we will only use your personal data where that reason is compatible with the original purpose.

Should it be necessary to use your personal data for a new purpose, we will notify you and communicate the legal basis which allows us to do so before starting any new processing.

 

Who has access to your information?

We will not sell or rent your information to third parties.  We will not share your information with third parties for marketing purposes.  Any staff with access to your information have a duty of confidentiality under the ethical standards that this firm is required to follow.

 

Third party service providers working on our behalf

We may pass your information to our third party service providers, agents, subcontractors and other associated organisations for the purposes of completing tasks and providing services to you on our behalf.  However, when we use third party service providers, we disclose only the personal information that is necessary to deliver the service and we have a contract in place that requires them to keep your information secure and not to use it for their own purposes.

We will share your personal data with third parties where we are required by law, where it is necessary to administer the relationship between us or where we have another legitimate interest in doing so.

“Third parties” includes third-party service providers.  The following activities are carried out by third-party service providers: IT services, professional advisory services, marketing services and banking services.

All of our third-party service providers are required to take commercially reasonable and appropriate security measures to protect your personal data.  We only permit our third-party service providers to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.

We may share your personal data with other third parties, for example in the context of the possible sale or restructuring of the business.  We may also need to share your personal data with a regulator or to otherwise comply with the law.

 

How you can access and update your information?

Keeping your information up to date and accurate is important to us.  We commit to regularly review and correct where necessary, the information that we hold about you.  If any of your information changes, please email or write to us, or call us using the ‘Contact information’ noted below.

You have the right to ask for a copy of the information Scott & Wilkinson holds about you.

 

Security precautions in place to protect the loss, misuse or alteration of your information

We have put in place commercially reasonable and appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed.  In addition, we limit access to your personal data to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who need to have access in order to complete any required work.  They will only process your personal data on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected data security breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected breach where we are legally required to do so.

Whilst we strive to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of any information you transmit to us, and you do so at your own risk.

Once we receive your information, we make our best effort to ensure its security on our systems. Where we have given, or where you have chosen, a password which enables you to access information, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential.  We ask you not to share your password with anyone.

Your data will usually be processed in our offices in the UK.  However, to allow us to operate efficient digital processes, we sometimes need to store information in servers located outside the UK, but within the European Economic Area (EEA).  We take the security of your data seriously and so all our systems have appropriate security in place that complies with all applicable legislative and regulatory requirements.

 

Transferring personal data outside the European Economic Area (EEA)

We will only transfer the personal data we collect about you outside of the EEA in order to perform our contract with you.

Where any personal data is transferred outside of the EEA, we ensure that there is an ‘adequacy decision’ (Click here for more details) by the European Commission in relation to these countries.  Consequently these countries are deemed to provide an adequate level of protection for your personal information for the purpose of Data Protection Legislation.

 

Your choices

We may occasionally contact you by post / email / telephone with details of any changes in legal and regulatory requirements or other developments that may be relevant to your affairs and, where applicable, how we may assist you further.  If you do not wish to receive such information from us, please let us know by contacting us as indicated under ‘Contact information’ below.

 

Your rights

It is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current.  Should your personal information change, please notify us of any changes of which we need to be made aware by contacting us, using the contact details below.

Access to your information

You have the right to request a copy of the personal information about you that we hold.

Correcting your information

We want to make sure that your personal information is accurate, complete and up to date and you may ask us to correct any personal information about you that you believe does not meet these standards.

Deletion of your information

You have the right to ask us to delete personal information about you where:

  • you consider that we no longer require the information for the purposes for which it was obtained
  • you have validly objected to our use of your personal information - see ‘Objecting to how we may use your information’ below
  • our use of your personal information is contrary to law or our other legal obligations
  • we are using your information with your consent and you have withdrawn your consent - see ‘withdrawing consent to use your information’ below

Restricting how we may use your information

In some cases, you may ask us to restrict how we use your personal information.  This right might apply, for example, where we are checking the accuracy of personal information about you that we hold or assessing the validity of any objection you have made to our use of your information.  The right might also apply where there is no longer a basis for using your personal information but you do not want us to delete the data.  Where this right is validly exercised, we may only use the relevant personal information with your consent, for legal claims or where there are other public interest grounds to do so.

Objecting to how we may use your information

Where we use your personal information to perform tasks carried out in the public interest then, if you ask us to, we will stop using that personal information unless there are overriding legitimate grounds to continue.  You have the right at any time to require us to stop using your personal information for direct marketing purposes.

Withdrawing consent to use your information

Where we use your personal information with your consent, you may withdraw that consent at any time and we will stop using your personal information for the purpose(s) for which consent was given.

Please contact us in any of the ways set out in ‘Contact information’ below if you wish to exercise any of these rights.

 

Changes to our privacy notice

We keep this privacy notice under regular review and will update as necessary.  Paper copies of the privacy notice may also be obtained from the contact details shown below.

This privacy notice was last updated on 25 May 2018.

 

Contact information

If you have any questions regarding this notice or if you would like to speak to us about the manner in which we process your personal data, please email us (hello@scott-wilkinson.com) or telephone 01524 67111.

 

Complaints

We seek to resolve directly all complaints about how we handle your personal information but you also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office at:

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Telephone - 0303 123 1113 (local rate) or 01625 545 745

Website: https://ico.org.uk/concerns



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When appointing a firm of accountants it is important to check that they are appropriately registered and regulated.

Our clients can be assured that Scott & Wilkinson is regulated by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales for a range of investment business activities and is an authorised training partner.