Privacy

The UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 seek to protect and enhance the rights of data subjects.  Bannister Preston Solicitors LLP is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy.  We recognise the importance of the correct and lawful treatment of personal data, and will only use personal data as set out in this Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy contains information about what data we collect and store about you and why. It also tells you who we share this data with, the security mechanisms we have put in place to protect your data and how to contact us if you have a complaint.  

Bannister Preston Solicitors LLP is a limited liability partnership registered in England and Wales under company number OC416038.  It is authorised and regulated, under SRA number 637540, by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.  It has notified the Information Commissioner’s Office that it processes personal data under number ZA246188.

Bannister Preston Solicitors LLP collects, uses and is responsible for personal data about you. When we do this we are the ‘controller’ of this data for the purposes of the UK GDPR, the Data Protection Act 2018 and other applicable data protection laws. 

What personal data will Bannister Preston Solicitors LLP hold about you?

Personal data means any data about an individual from which that person can be identified. It can include obvious data like your name and address but also identification numbers or online identifiers.  It does not include data where the identity has been removed (anonymous data). 

We may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal data about you as follows:

• Identity Data includes first names, surname, maiden name, username or similar identifier, title, date of birth, gender, and marital status.
• Contact Data includes home address, email address and telephone numbers.
• Transaction Data includes any data required in order for us to provide our legal services.

We may collect special category personal data and, where necessary, information relating to criminal convictions or offences, where this is relevant to your matter or required for regulatory, legal or professional obligations. This may include information about health, family circumstances, finances, safeguarding issues, criminal allegations or proceedings, or other sensitive matters. Where we process this information, we will do so under an appropriate lawful basis and, where required, an additional condition under the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018.

How is your personal data collected?

We use different methods to collect personal data from and about you including:

• Directly from you – You may give us your identity, contact and financial data by corresponding with us by post, in person, by telephone or by electronic means. 
• Automated technologies or interactions via our website.
• From third parties – such as referral companies, lenders, other law firms, social services, etc.

When someone visits our website we use a third party service, Google Analytics, to collect standard internet log data and details of visitor behaviour patterns. We do this to find out things such as the number of visitors to the various parts of the site.  

We use your personal data for the following purposes:

We use this information to understand your needs and provide you with a better service, and in particular for the following reasons:

• In order to meet our contractual obligations necessary for compliance with legal and regulatory obligations
• Where it is necessary for our legitimate interest or those of a third party and your interest and fundamental rights do not override those interests
• We may use the information to improve our products and services
• Internal record keeping

Please note that we may process your personal data without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with Data Protection Rules, where this is required or permitted by law.

Where we need to collect personal data by law, or under the terms of a contract we have with you, or someone connected to you, and you fail to provide that data when requested, we may not be able to perform the contract we have or are trying to enter into, for example providing our services.  In this case, we may have to cancel a service but we will notify you if this is the case at the time.

How long will we store your personal data?  

We will store your personal data to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations in accordance with the specific field for which we hold the data.  We store your personal data in the United Kingdom and, where necessary, in other jurisdictions subject to appropriate safeguards.

Third Parties

We have relationships with a number of third parties that we routinely share personal data including name and contact details with whom we are in contact during the delivery of our Services to our clients for example Lenders, Firms of Solicitors, Land Registry, H M Customs and Excise, Law Enforcement Agencies if required by applicable law.   This data sharing enables us to fulfil our contractual and legal obligations. 

We will not rely on consent as a basis for collecting, controlling and processing personal data because the data is necessary for compliance with our legal obligations. 

Under the GDPR, you have a number of important rights that you can exercise free of charge. In summary, these rights are:

• Transparency over how we use your personal data and fair processing of your data;
• Access to your personal data and other supplementary data;
• Require us to correct any mistakes or complete missing data we hold on you;
• Require us to erase your personal data in certain circumstances;
• Receive a copy of the personal data you have provided to us or have this data be sent to a third party, this will be provided to you or the third party in a structured, commonly used and machine readable format;
• Object at any time to processing of your personal data for direct marketing;
• Object in certain other situations to the continued processing of your personal data;
• Restrict our processing of your personal data in certain circumstances;
• Request not to be subject to automated decision making which produce legal effects that concern you or affect you in a significantly similar way;

If you want more data about your rights under the GDPR please see the Guidance from the Information Commissioner’s Office on Individual’s rights under the GDPR.

If you want to exercise any of these rights, please:

• Email, call, or write to us at Bannister Preston Solicitors LLP, 28/30 Washway Road, Sale, M33 7QY
• Provide further information so that we can identify you, e.g. your client reference.  We may need to contact you to request further data to verify your identity;
• Let us have proof of your identity and address;
• State the right or rights that you wish to exercise;

We will respond to you within one month from when we receive your request. 

Access to information

The UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 give you the right to request details of personal information that we hold about you and your personal data that we process. We will not usually charge a fee for responding to a data subject access request. We may charge a reasonable fee or refuse to comply where a request is manifestly unfounded or excessive, or where further copies are requested.  If you would like a copy of the information held on you please write to Bannister Preston Solicitors LLP, 28/30 Washway Road, Sale, Cheshire, M33 7QY.

If you believe that any information we are holding on you is incorrect or incomplete, please write to or email us as soon as possible, at the above address. We will promptly correct any information found to be incorrect.

How to make a Complaint

We hope that you are happy with our service and that we can resolve any issues or complaints that arise. Please get in touch if you have any concerns (see ‘Get in touch’ below). 

The UK GDPR also gives you the right to lodge a complaint with the UK supervisory authority. The UK supervisory authority is the Information Commissioner’s Office, which can be contacted at https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/.  

Data Security

We are committed to ensuring that your data is secure. In order to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure, we have put in place suitable physical and electronic procedures to safeguard and secure the data we collect.

We take reasonable appropriate steps to ensure that personal data is processed, secured and transferred according to the applicable law.  We evaluate and update these measures on a regular basis.

Our website may contain links to other websites of interest. However, once you have used these links to leave our site, you should note that we do not have any control over that other website. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting such sites and such sites are not governed by this privacy statement. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy statement applicable to the website in question.

Changes to this privacy Policy

This privacy policy was published on 25^th May 2018.  We review our internal privacy practices from time to time.  

Get in touch

We have appointed Daniel Perry our Data Protection Officer.  If you have any questions about Data Protection or how we handle your personal data, please contact him at Dperry@bannisterpreston.co.uk  or by post to: Mr D Perry, Bannister Preston Solicitors LLP, 28/30 Washway Road, Sale, Cheshire, M33 7QY.