PRIVACY POLICY
Privacy Statement – Personal Data
We are committed to protecting your personal data in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018) and the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR).
In order to provide professional services to you it is necessary for you to share data (which includes personal data) with us. This privacy statement sets out how we deal with that personal data and what you can do if you’re not happy with the way we process it.
Who we are
We are Graham Sunley & Co Limited trading as Sunley & Co. The person responsible for ensuring that we comply with data protection laws is Mary Beavis who is our data protection manager. We are registered with the ICO under registration number Z9103500.
If you need to contact us you can do so as follows:
• by writing to us at 52 Front Street, Acomb, York YO24 3BX;
• by emailing us at mary@sunleyandco.co.uk;
• by telephoning us on office 01904 528100.
When we are providing accountancy services, 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 Data Protection Legislation to notify you of the information contained in this privacy notice. We may amend this privacy notice from time to time. If we do so we will supply you with or make available to you the amended notice.
When we are providing payroll services, you are the data controller and we are the data processor. This means that you are responsible for determining how we process the personal data which are holding on your behalf. Where we are acting as data processor we will enter into a data processing agreement with you which sets out your and our obligations and responsibilities.
What is personal data?
Personal data, or personal information, means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include data where the identity has been removed (anonymous data).
Why we are processing your data
We primarily process personal data in order to provide services to you in accordance with the contract that we have with you. There may be other purposes for which we collect data from you and the means of collection, basis of processing, use, disclosure, and retention periods for each purpose may differ.
We may also process your personal data in order to provide payroll services to your employer.
What data do we collect?
Our policy is to collect only the personal data necessary for agreed purposes and we ask you to only share personal data where it is strictly needed for those purposes. Where we are providing accountancy services we collect personal data from you or from third parties acting on your instructions.
We may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal data about you which we have grouped together as follows:
• Identity Data includes first name, maiden name, last name, National Insurance number, marital status, title, date of birth and gender;
• Contact Data includes home address, business address, email address and telephone numbers.
• Financial Data includes information about your tax position and bank account details.
• Transaction Data includes details about payments from you and the services we have provided to you.
• Marketing and Communications Data includes your preferences in receiving marketing from us and our third parties and your communication preferences.
• Accountancy Records includes records for your business, trust or personal tax affairs.
• Working Papers will be created by us while providing the services to you. These may include our notes, calculations and extracts from the above types of data.
We may also hold your Identity, Contact and Financial Data if it has been provided to us by your employer because we provide payroll services to your employer.
We do not collect any Special Categories of Personal Data about you (this includes details about your race or ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, sex life, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership, information about your health, and genetic and biometric data).
We collect information about criminal convictions and offences. We request this information from you as part of our ‘Know Your Client’ procedures to comply with Anti-Money Laundering legislation. We rely on condition 15 (suspicion of tourist financing or money laundering) of Schedule 1 of the Data Protection Act 2018 to process this data. We have an appropriate policy document in place which sets out how we process and safeguard this information.
How to send personal data to us
We require that all documents which you need to send to us which include personal data (e.g. employee lists, identity documents) are transmitted to us via our secure portal Digita Onvio. Email is not a secure method of transmission and should not be used to send personal data to us.
If you fail to provide personal data
Where we need to collect personal data by law, or under the terms of a contract we have with you, and you fail to provide that data when requested, we may not be able to perform the contract we have or are intending to enter into with you (for example, if you do not provide information to verify your identity as required by anti-money laundering regulations). We will notify you if this is the case at the time.
How do we use your personal data?
We process personal data to provide professional services such as tax advice and general or specific business advice as part of the range of services we offer. Such services will be defined in our letters of engagement which form the contract between you and us. We also process personal data in the administration and management of our business.
Your Contact Data is used to provide you with information about our services and other information which we think will be of interest to you. You can opt out of receiving these marketing communications at any time by following the opt-out links on any marketing email sent to you or by contacting us.
The legal bases for processing your personal data
There are six legal bases for processing personal data. When we are providing professional services to you the legal bases for processing are:
• at the time you instructed us to act, you gave consent to us processing your personal data in order to provide professional services to you ;
• the processing is necessary for the performance of our contract with you;
• the processing is necessary for compliance with legal obligations to which we are subject.
If you are a prospective client who does not instruct us to provide professional services, we will process your data on the basis of legitimate interest. In these circumstances we consider that it’s legitimate and necessary to retain your personal data for a reasonable period and that there is a reasonable expectation that we will do so. We have therefore concluded that there is no risk to your rights and freedoms from this processing.
Where we need to use your data for another reason other than for the purpose it was collected we will notify you and communicate the appropriate legal basis before starting any new processing.
Retention Periods
We are subject to legal, regulatory and professional obligations. We need to keep certain records to demonstrate that our services are provided in compliance with those obligations and those records may contain personal data. We may retain your personal data for a longer period in the event of a complaint or if we reasonably believe there is a prospect of litigation in respect to our relationship with you.
Personal data processed is kept by us for as long as is considered necessary for the purpose for which it was collected (including as required by applicable law or regulation). We also consider the amount, nature and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorized use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means and the applicable legal, regulatory, tax accountancy or other requirements.
In the absence of specific legal, regulatory or contractual requirements, our retention period for Identity, Contact, Financial and Transaction Data and Working Papers is 7 years after you cease to be a client of the practice.
We will ask you to collect Accounting Records after we have completed the services for you. Please call into the office to pick up your records as soon as possible after we’ve notified you that they’re available for collection.
Your obligations to retain information
You are responsible for retaining information that we send to you (including details of capital gains base costs and claims and elections submitted) and this will be supplied in the form agreed between us.
Documents and records relevant to your tax affairs are required by law to be retained by you as follows:
Individuals, trustees and partnerships
• with trading or rental income: five years and 10 months after the end of the tax year;
• otherwise: 22 months after the end of the tax year.
Companies, LLPs and other corporate entities
• six years from the end of the accounting period.
Data Security
We take the security of your data seriously. 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. In addition, we limit access to your personal data to those employees, consultants, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal data on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality. We ensure that our employees, consultants and contractors have regular training on data protection.
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.
We regularly review the appropriateness of the measures we have in place to keep the data we hold secure.
Data Sharing
We will only share personal data with others when we are legally permitted to do so. When we share data with others, we put contractual arrangements and security mechanisms in place to protect your data. We will not transfer data outside of the EEA.
We may share your personal data with:
• HMRC
• any third parties with whom you require or permit us to correspond
• subcontractors
• an alternate appointed by you in the event of incapacity
• tax insurance providers
• professional indemnity insurers
• our professional body (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) and/or the Office of Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervisors (OPBAS) in relation to practice assurance and/or the requirements of MLR 2017 (or any similar legislation)
• third parties to whom we may choose to sell, transfer or merge parts of our business or our assets. Alternatively, we may seek to acquire other businesses or merge with them. If a change happens to our business, then the new owners may use your personal data in the same way as set out in this privacy policy
If the law allows or requires us to do so, we may share your personal data with:
• the police and law enforcement agencies
• courts and tribunals
• the Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”).
We may need to share your personal data with the third parties identified above in order to comply with our legal obligations, including our legal obligations to you. If you ask us not to share your personal data with such third parties we may need to cease to act for you.
Your Legal Rights
You have the right to:
Request access to your personal data (commonly known as a "data subject access request"). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal data we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.
Request correction of the personal data that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate data we hold about you corrected, though we may need to verify the accuracy of the new data you provide to us.
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 successfully exercised your right to object to processing (see below), where we may have processed your information unlawfully or where we are required to erase your personal data to comply with local law. Note, however, that we may not always be able to comply with your request of erasure for specific legal reasons which will be notified to you, if applicable, at the time of your request.
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 ground as you feel it impacts on your fundamental rights and freedoms. You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal data for direct marketing purposes. In some cases, we may demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate grounds to process your information which override your rights and freedoms.
Request restriction of processing of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of your personal data in the following scenarios:
• if you want us to establish the data's accuracy.
• where our use of the data is unlawful but you do not want us to erase it.
• where you need us to hold the data even if we no longer require it as you need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.
• you have objected to our use of your data but we need to verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds to use it.
Request the transfer of your personal data to you or to a third party. We will provide to you, or a third party you have chosen, your personal data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format. Note that this right only applies to automated information which you initially provided consent for us to use or where we used the information to perform a contract with you.
Withdraw consent at any time where we are relying on consent to process your personal data. However, this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdraw your consent. If you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide certain products or services to you. We will advise you if this is the case at the time you withdraw your consent.
No fee usually required
You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal data (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive or excessive. Alternatively, we could refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances.
What we may need from you
We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal data (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up our response.
Time limit to respond
We try to respond to all legitimate requests within one month. Occasionally it could take us longer than a month if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, we will notify you and keep you updated.
Complaints
If you do want to complain about our use of your personal data, please use the contact details set out above and set out the details of your complaint. You also have the right to register a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (“ICO”). For further information on your rights and how to complain to the ICO, please refer to their website.