GDPR & Privacy Notice
Who we are and how to contact us
We are John Birkby & Co Solicitors of 150 Huddersfield Road Oldham OL4 2RD. If you have any questions about this policy, or how we process your personal data, contact Fiona Goode, Principal at fiona@birkbylaw.co.uk or (0161) 626 5686.
Where we get your personal data from and how we use it
Most legal procedures will involve sharing your personal data with one or more third parties involved in your transaction and without the sharing of this information, we are not able to proceed.
The information we hold may include your name, address and other contact details, your date of birth, national insurance number, bank account details, passport and driving licence details, your occupation and financial situation including loan details and similar information in relation to related third parties.
This information may be obtained directly from you or your organisation and people associated with you and your matter. We may obtain information from the other side’s solicitor, the Land Registry, mortgage providers and brokers, HMRC, freeholders or managing agents in relation to property transactions, estate agents and ID verifiers, courts or your former partner as well as official sources (eg Companies House).
Your information will be used to complete file opening procedures, to comply with our obligations in relation to anti-money laundering or terrorist financing legislation as well as conducting your case in the most appropriate manner possible.
Your personal data may be shared with the other side’s solicitor in your matter, Land Registry, HMRC (stamp duty or IHT / tax issues), mortgage companies connected with the transaction, search providers, estate agents, mortgage brokers and financial advisers, property occupants and insurance companies. In relation to family matters and probate cases your personal data may be shared with Courts, barristers in relation to the provision of advice or advocacy on your matter, CAFCASS (Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service), the police, social service departments, your doctor or other expert witness and pension advisors.
In addition we may engage subcontractors to assist us with running the business including annual accountancy audit, Internet and IT support including a computerised accounts and case management system. We may also be required to provide your personal data to our indemnity insurer in relation to any actual or potential claims.
As part of our CQS (Conveyancing Quality Standard) accreditation your files may be subject to audit. In any such situation we will ensure that appropriate confidentiality commitments are made before disclosing your file.
If our business should ever be put up for sale or be restructured we may allow potential buyers or transferees to have access to your personal data and matter files after they have signed confidentiality agreements which will restrict their use of it to that transaction.
Basis upon which we use your personal data
In most cases it is necessary for us to use your personal data to enable your matter to be completed. In doing so there is a contractual obligation and basis for us to retain this information. In other situations we have a legitimate interest to use your data.
We will only use your personal information when the law allows us to. Normally we will use it as follows:
- where we need to perform the contract we have entered into with you
- where we need to comply with a legal obligation
- where it is necessary for a legitimate interest (for you, ourselves or those of another third party) and your fundamental rights do
- not override these interests (including managing claims / complaints, obtaining insurance, recovering money owed to us
- managing our business properly and maintaining our relationship with you)
- where it is needed in the public interest or to protect the vital interests of the data subject (or another).
Sensitive personal information
There are certain “special categories” of particularly sensitive personal information which require higher levels of protection and consent. This may apply to information provided in family cases, including information about religious or philosophical beliefs, genetic or biometric data, health or sex life or sexual orientation. We may need information about actual or alleged criminal convictions or offences. We may process special categories of personal data only where it is necessary to pursue your case. This may include information provided to us by the other side or an associated party. It may include information provided by local authority social services or Cafcass.
Marketing and automated decision making
We do not disclose any personal data to any third parties for the purpose of marketing or promoting any other products, goods or services. We follow our professional obligations of confidentiality when providing you with legal services and this covers sensitive personal data. We provide a personal service and we do not make any decisions which could have a legal effect, or other significant effect on you, based solely on automated processing of your personal data.
How long we store your personal data
We will only retain your personal information for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting or reporting requirements. We keep your information as a paper file and also store information in relation to your matter on our computer as an electronic file. Once we have completed our work we take reasonable steps to retain the file safely. Most files are retained for a minimum period of six years following the ending of your case so that it can be accessed in the event of a complaint, claim or further information on the file is required by you. The retention periods for different types of legal claim vary and you can request details of our retention policy from Fiona Goode
Data security
We have put in place measures to protect the security of your information. We limit the access to your personal information to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal information on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.
We take reasonable, proportion precautions to reduce the risk of hackers accessing our computers, using antivirus and firewall software. Our file matters are backed up to a secure encrypted backup system. Third parties have access to our offices only under supervision and our offices are kept locked when unattended.
We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so.
Warning: Email correspondence is not secure and no bank details should be transmitted to us by email and we will not email you our bank details. We do not generally encrypt emails but can arrange to do so if specifically requested.
Your rights of access, correction, rectification and restriction on processing
- Where we process your personal data you have the following rights:
- to request a copy of the personal data we hold about you, which may be provided in a portable format where possible;
- to raise an objection to our processing
- to correct your data if it is wrong, or complete if it is incomplete
- to request a restriction in the way in which we process it;
- to request that we erase it from our records (but we will retain your data for the purposes of dealing with any claims or where we
- have any other legitimate or legal obligation to retain it).
No fee is required to access your personal data. We may require information to help us to confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal data. We try to respond to all legitimate requests within a period of 30 days as required by the information Commissioner.
For further information about the way in which we process your data please contact Fiona Goode
If you remain dissatisfied you have a right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at www.ico.org.uk
John Birkby & Co
150 Huddersfield Road
Oldham
OL4 2RD
0161 626 5686
GDPR Privacy Policy prepared 25 May 2018.