Mason Accountancy Privacy Notice

 

On the 25th May 2018, the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into force.  The GDPR replaces the existing Data Protection Act (DPA) 1998, and governs how individuals' personal data is managed.  It applies to all businesses in the EU.  Even though the UK will be leaving the EU, it will not affect the commencement of the GDPR, which is set to be placed into UK law post-Brexit.

The GDPR is needed due to developments in internet and cloud technologies, which add to the many ways that personal data is collected and stored.  These new measures are to ensure that personal data is kept safe and is only used for legitimate purposes.

Privacy Notice

Following the introduction of GDPR we are updating our Privacy Policy to provide you with more information about your rights over the data you share with us, how we collect and use your personal data to provide our services to you. 

About Us

Mason Accountancy is an independent firm of accountants, offering professional accountancy and bookkeeping services to individuals, sole traders and small businesses.  We operate from 3 New Cottages, Petworth Road, Wormley, Surrey GU8 5SN.  For the purpose of the Data Protection Legislation and this notice, we are the "data controller", which means 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.

How we may collect your personal data

We obtain personal data about you, for example, when:

  • you contact us about the services we provide;
  • you engage us to provide our services and also during the provision of these services;
  • you contact us by email, telephone or post (for example when you have a query about our services); or
  • from third parties and/or publicly available resources (for example, from your employer, pension provider or Companies House).

The kind of information we hold about you

The information we hold about you may include the following:

  • your personal details (such as your name and/or address);
  • details of contact we have had with you in relation to the provision, or the proposed provision, of our services;
  • details of any services you have received from us;
  • our correspondence and communications with you;
  • information about any complaints and enquiries you make to us;
  • information from any marketing activities;
  • information we receive from other sources, such as publicly available information.

How we use personal data we hold about you

We may process your personal data for purposes necessary for the performance of our contact with you and to comply with our legal obligations.  This may include purposes necessary for the performance of our contract with our clients, for example 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.

Situations in which we will use your personal data

We may use your personal data in order to:

  • carry out our obligations arising from any agreements entered into between you or your employer or our clients and us (which will usually be for the provision of our services);
  • carry out our obligations arising from any agreements entered into between our clients and us (which will most usually be for the provision of our services) where you may be a subcontractor, supplier or customer of our client;
  • provide you with information related to our services that you request from us, or which we feel you maybe be interested in, provided you have consented to be contacted for such purposes;
  • seek your thoughts and opinions on the services we provide, and
  • notify you about any changes to our services.

In some circumstances we may anonymise or pseudonymise the personal data so that it can no longer be associated with you, in which case we may use it without further notice to you.

If you refuse to provide us with certain information when requested, we may not be able to perform the contract we have entered into with you.  Alternatively, we may be unable to comply with our legal or regulatory obligations.

We may also process your personal data without your knowledge or consent, in accordance with this notice, where we are legally required or permitted to do so.

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 ground 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.

Change of purpose

Where we need to use your personal data for another reason, other than for the purpose for which it was collected, 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.

Data Sharing

Why might you share my personal data with third parties?

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.

Which third-party service providers process my personal data?

"Third parties" includes third-party service providers.  Examples of activities carried out by third-party service providers include: IT and cloud services, professional advisory services and banking services.

All 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.

What about other third parties?

We may need to share your personal data with a regulator or to otherwise comply with the law.

Data Security

We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed.  Access to your personal data is limited to only those parties who have a business need to know, and your personal data will only be processed on our instructions and under a duty of confidentiality.  We will notify you and any applicable regulator or a suspected breach where we are legally required to do so.

Rights of access, correction, erasure and restriction

your duty to inform us of changes

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.

Your rights in connection with personal data

Under certain circumstances, by law you have the right to:

  • request access to your personal data.  This enables you to receive details of the personal data we hold about you and to check that we are processing it lawfully;
  • request correction of the personal data we hold about you;
  • request erasure of your personal data.  This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal data where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it.  You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal data where you have exercised your right to object to processing (see below);
  • object to processing of your personal data where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this basis.  You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal information for direct marketing purposes;
  • request the restriction of processing of your personal data.  This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of personal data about you, for example if you want us to establish its accuracy or the reason for processing it;
  • request the transfer of your personal data to you or another data controller if the processing is based on consent, carried out by automated means and this is technically feasible.

if you wish to exercise any of your rights above, please email as at ammason@hotmail.co.uk

Right to withdraw consent

In the limited circumstances where you may have provided your consent to the collection, processing and transfer of your personal data for a specific purpose (for example, in relation to direct marketing that you have indicated you would like to receive from us) you have the right to withdraw your consent for that specific processing at any time.  To withdraw your consent, please email ammason@hotmail.co.uk.  Once we have received notification that you have withdrawn your consent, we will no longer process your personal information (personal data) for the purpose of purposes you originally agreed to, unless we have another legitimate basis for doing so in law.

Changes to this notice

Any changes we make to our privacy notice in the future will be provided to you via our website www.masonaccountancy.com

This privacy notice was last update on 27 May 2018.

Contact us

If you have any questions regarding this notice, or if you would like to speak to us about your personal data, please email Anne-Marie Mason at ammason@hotmail.co.uk or call 07733334797.

You also have the right to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues, at any time.  The ICS's contact details are:

Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF 0303 123 1113/01625 545 745, website: https://ico.org.uk/concerns

uk business directory