We take your privacy very seriously. Please read this privacy policy carefully as it contains important information on who we are and how and why we collect, store, use and share your personal data. It also explains your rights in relation to your personal data and how to contact us or supervisory authorities in the event you have a complaint.

When we use your personal data we are regulated under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which applies across the European Union (including in the United Kingdom) and we are responsible as ‘controller’ of that personal data for the purposes of the GDPR. Our use of your personal data is subject to your instructions, the GDPR, other relevant UK and EU legislation and our professional duty of confidentiality.

 

Key terms:
We, us, our Belmores Limited, Belmores Solicitors
Our Data Protection Officer Dave Foulkes 40 Crown Road, Norwich, NR1 3DX dave@belmores.co.uk, 01603 499999
Personal data Any information relating to an identified or identifiable individual
Special category personal data Personal data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, philosophical beliefs or trade union membershipGenetic and biometric data Data concerning health, sex life or sexual orientation

Personal data we collect about you:

The table below sets out the personal data we will or may collect in the course of advising and/or acting for you.

Personal data we will collect Personal data we may collect depending on why you have instructed us
Your name, address and telephone number Information to enable us to check and verify your identity, eg your date of birth or passport details Electronic contact details, eg your email address and mobile phone number Information relating to the matter in which you are seeking our advice or representation Your financial details so far as relevant to your instructions Your National Insurance Number and tax details Your bank and/or building society details Details of your professional online presence, eg LinkedIn profile Details of your spouse/partner and dependants or other family members Your employment status and details including salary and benefits Your nationality and immigration status and information from related documents, such as your passport or other identification Details of your pension arrangements Your racial or ethnic origin, gender and sexual orientation, religious or similar beliefs Your medical records

This personal data is required to enable us to provide our service to you. If you do not provide personal data we ask for, it may delay or prevent us from providing services to you.

How your personal data is collected:

We collect most of this information from you direct. However, we may also collect information:

  • from publicly accessible sources, eg Companies House;
  • directly from a third party, eg:
    • Police and Courts
    • Duty Solicitor Call Centre (DSCC)
    • Sanctions Screening Provider
    • Identification checking providers
  • from a third party with your consent, eg:
    • your bank or building society, another financial institution or advisor;
    • consultants and other professionals we may engage in relation to your matter;
    • your employer and/or trade union, professional body or pension administrators;
    • your doctors, medical and occupational health professionals;
    • your accountant;
  • via our information technology (IT) systems, eg:
    • case management, document management and time recording systems;
    • door entry systems and reception logs;
    • automated monitoring of our websites and other technical systems, such as our computer networks and connections, CCTV and access control systems, communications systems, email and instant messaging systems;

How and why we use your personal data:

Under data protection law, we can only use your personal data if we have a proper reason for doing so, eg:

  • to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations;
  • for the performance of our contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract;
  • for our legitimate interests or those of a third party; or
  • where you have given consent.

A legitimate interest is when we have a business or commercial reason to use your information, so long as this is not overridden by your own rights and interests.

The table below explains what we use (process) your personal data for and our reasons for doing so:

What we use your personal data for Our reasons
To provide legal services to you For the performance of our contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract
Conducting checks to identify our clients and verify their identity Screening for financial and other sanctions or embargoes Other processing necessary to comply with professional, legal and regulatory obligations that apply to our business, eg under health and safety regulation or rules issued by our professional regulator To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations
Gathering and providing information required by or relating to audits, enquiries or investigations by regulatory bodies To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations
Ensuring business policies are adhered to, eg policies covering security and internet use For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, ie to make sure we are following our own internal procedures in the delivery of the service to you
Operational reasons, such as improving efficiency, training and quality control For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, ie to be as efficient as we can in the delivery of the service to you.
Ensuring the confidentiality of commercially sensitive information For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, ie to protect our intellectual property and other commercially valuable information To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations.
Statistical analysis to help us manage our practice, eg in relation to our financial performance, client base, work type or other efficiency measures For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, ie to be as efficient as we can in the delivery of the service to you.
Preventing unauthorised access and modifications to systems For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, ie to prevent and detect criminal activity that could be damaging for us and for you To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations
Updating client records For the performance of our contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract To comply with our legal and regulatory obligationsFor our legitimate interests or those of a third party, eg making sure that we can keep in touch with our clients about existing and new services
Statutory returns To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations
Ensuring safe working practices, staff administration and assessments To comply with our legal and regulatory obligationsFor our legitimate interests or those of a third party, eg to make sure we are following our own internal procedures and working efficiently so we can deliver the best service to you
External audits and quality checks, eg for Lexcel, accreditation and the audit of our accounts For our legitimate interests or a those of a third party, ie to maintain our accreditations so we can demonstrate we operate at the highest standardsTo comply with our legal and regulatory obligations

The above table does not apply to special category personal data, which we will only process with your explicit consent.

Who we share your personal data with:

We routinely share personal data with:

  • professional advisers who we instruct on your behalf or refer you to, eg barristers, medical professionals, accountants, or other experts;
  • other third parties where necessary to carry out your instructions, eg Police and Courts; 
  • The Legal Aid Agency;
  • our insurers and brokers;
  • external auditors, eg in relation to Lexcel accreditation and the audit of our accounts;
  • our banks;
  • external service suppliers, representatives and agents that we use to make our business more efficient;

We only allow our service providers to handle your personal data if we are satisfied they take appropriate measures to protect your personal data. We also impose contractual obligations on service providers relating to ensure they can only use your personal data to provide services to us and to you.

We may disclose and exchange information with law enforcement agencies and regulatory bodies to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations.

We may also need to share some personal data with other parties, such as potential buyers of some or all of our business or during a re-structuring. Usually, information will be anonymised but this may not always be possible. The recipient of the information will be bound by confidentiality obligations.

Where your personal data is held:

Information may be held at our offices, third party agencies, service providers, representatives and agents as described above (see ‘Who we share your personal data with’).

How long your personal data will be kept:

We will keep your personal data after we have finished advising or acting for you. We will do so for one of these reasons:

  • to respond to any questions, complaints or claims made by you or on your behalf;
  • to show that we treated you fairly;
  • to keep records required by law.

We will not retain your data for longer than necessary for the purposes set out in this policy. Different retention periods apply for different types of data. Further details on this are available in our client care letter/terms of business.

When it is no longer necessary to retain your personal data, we will delete or anonymise it.

Your rights:

You have the following rights, which you can exercise free of charge:

Access The right to be provided with a copy of your personal data
Rectification The right to require us to correct any mistakes in your personal data
To be forgotten The right to require us to delete your personal data - in certain situations
Restriction of processing The right to require us to restrict processing of your personal data - in certain circumstances, eg if you contest the accuracy of the data
Data portability The right to receive the personal data you provided to us, in a structured, commonly used and machine readable format and/or transmit that data to a third party - in certain situations
To object The right to object: - at any time to your personal data being processed for direct marketing (including profiling); - in certain other situations to our continued processing of your personal data, eg processing carried out for the purpose of our legitimate interests.
Not to be subject to automated individual decision-making The right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing (including profiling) that produces legal effects concerning you or similarly significantly affects you

For further information on each of those rights, including the circumstances in which they apply, please contact us or see the Guidance from the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) on individuals’ rights under the General Data Protection Regulation.

If you would like to exercise any of those rights, please:

  • email, call or write to our Data Protection Officer - see below: ‘How to contact us’; and
  • let us have enough information to identify you (eg your full name, address and client or matter reference number);
  • let us have proof of your identity and address (a copy of your driving licence or
    passport and a recent utility or credit card bill); and
  • let us know what right you want to exercise and the information to which your request relates

Keeping your personal data secure:

We have appropriate security measures to prevent personal data from being accidentally lost, or used or accessed unlawfully. We limit access to your personal data to those who have a genuine business need to access it. Those processing your information will do so only in an authorised manner and are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

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

If you want detailed information from Get Safe Online on how to protect your information and your computers and devices against fraud, identity theft, viruses and many other online problems, please visit www.getsafeonline.org. Get Safe Online is supported by HM Government and leading businesses.

How to complain:

We hope that we can resolve any query or concern you may raise about our use of your information. 

The General Data Protection Regulation also gives you right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, in particular in the European Union (or European Economic Area) state where you work, normally live or where any alleged infringement of data protection laws occurred. The supervisory authority in the UK is the Information Commissioner who may be contacted at https://ico.org.uk/concerns or telephone: 0303 123 1113.

Changes to this privacy policy:

This privacy policy was published on 30th April 2018

We may change this privacy policy from time to time, when we do we will place a notice on our website.

How to contact us:

Please contact us by post, email or telephone if you have any questions about this privacy policy or the information we hold about you.

Our contact details are shown below:
Our contact details Our Data Protection Officer's contact details
Belmores Solicitors 40 Crown Road Norwich Norfolk NR1 3DX Tel: 01603 499999 Dave Foulkes dave@belmores.co.uk

Do you need extra help?

If you would like this policy in another format (for example audio, large print, braille) please contact us (see ‘How to contact us’ above).