Privacy Policy

Who are we?

We are HFT Gough & Co Ltd, Solicitors and provide a very wide range of legal services to private individual, corporate bodies and public bodies

Purpose of this privacy policy

This privacy policy aims to give you information on how we collect and process your personal data through your use of this website.

It is important that you read this policy together with any other privacy notice or fair processing notice we may provide when we are collecting or processing personal data about you so that you are fully aware of how and why we are using your data.

What information do we collect about you?

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).

We may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal data about you which we have grouped together as follows:

1. Identity Data includes first name, birth name, married name, username or similar identifier, marital status, title, date of birth, gender and nattional insurance number
2. Contact Data includes billing address, delivery address, email address and telephone numbers (landline and mobile).
3. Financial Data includes bank account and payment card details and possibly bank statements.
4. Transaction Data includes details about payments to and from you and other details.
5. Technical Data includes internet protocol (IP) address, browser type and version and other details of the technology you use  to access this website.

            If you apply for a job with us we will collect the Identity Data contained in our application form and that form details the purposes for which we will use this information and how long we will keep it for.

If you contact us for any other purpose we may retain your contact details as provided to us by you.

It is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your data changes.

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 act for you and in this case we will notify you.

How is personal data collected?

1. Online
2. Conversations with you either by phone or face to face.
3. Via emails or other communications you send to us.
4. Documents you may provide to us.

What  will we do with your personal data?

We will only use your personal data when the law allows  it.  Usually we will use your personal data in the following circumstances:

1 . Where we need to perform the contract we are about to enter into, or have entered into, with you, i.e. act on your instructions.

• Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests.
• Where we need to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation.

We may process your personal data for more than one lawful ground depending on the specific purpose for which we are using your data. Please contact us if you need details about the specific legal ground we are relying on to process your personal data.

How long will we keep your personal data?

We will only retain your personal data 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.

To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised 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 requirements. Normally we will keep your file/data for a minimum of 6 years.  You will be notified of the period at the conclusion of your case.

Who do we share your data with?

Other than as detailed above, we may also share your personal data with  and any authority with whom, as a matter of law, we are obliged to supply personal data to including, but not limited to, HMRC Land Registry, SRA, Legal Ombudsman, Legal Aid, Agency.

Where do we store your data?

All your personal data which we are the controller of is stored on our secured server. This data is encrypted and backed up securely, the backup runs everyday at various intervals. If you require more information please contact The  Practice Manager, Mrs. Y. Wilkinson HFT Gough & Co, 38/42 Lowther Street Whitehaven Cumbria CA28 7JU.

However, transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we do our best to protect your personal data we cannot guarantee the security of your data transferred to our site or to us and any transmission is at your own risk. We advise you to use encryption or other security methods when sending us information electronically wherever possible. Once we have received your information (whether in a digital or electronic format) we will store and handle it in accordance with our data security policies.

Third-party links

This website may include links to third-party websites. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy statements. When you leave our website, we encourage you to read the privacy notice of every website you visit.

How do you obtain a copy of your personal data?

If you require a copy of your personal data please either write to us c/o The  Practice Manager, Mrs. Y. Wilkinson HFT Gough & Co, 38/42 Lowther Street Whitehaven Cumbria CA28 7JU. Please note that we will do our best to comply with any request for a copy of your personal data and will always comply with such request in accordance with the relevant law. When complying with such request, we do need to take into account the interests of third parties which means that some of the information that we provide to you may be redacted (with the identity of third parties obscured) and/or some information may not be released to you as to do so would be a breach of confidence or the law.

Change or purpose

We will only use your personal data for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose. If you wish to get an explanation as to how the processing for the new purpose is compatible with the original purpose, please contact us.

If we need to use your personal data for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to do so.

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

Data security

We have put in place appropriate security measures, password protection, Firewall security, encryption of data, backup encryption, relevant virus protection, 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, agents, 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 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.

Your rights

You have a right to:

• Request access to any personal data that we hold about you (commonly known as a “data subject access request”). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal data that we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it. If you want to do this then please contact Yvonne Wilkinson email address [email protected].
• 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. If you want to do this then please contact Yvonne Wilkinson (contact details above).
• 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. If you want to do this then please contact Yvonne Wilkinson (contact details above) 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. If you

want to do this then please contact Yvonne Wilkinson (contact details above). 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: (a) if you want us to establish the data’s accuracy; (b) where our use of the data is unlawful but you do not want us to erase it; (c) 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; or (d) you have objected to our use of your data but we need to verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds to use it. If you want to do this then please contact Yvonne Wilkinson (contact details above).

• Request that your personal data is transferred to you or another person. 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. If you want us to transfer your data to you or a third party then please contact Yvonne Wilkinson in order to arrange this (contact details above).
• Withdraw consent at any time where we are relying on consent to process your personal data. 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 services to you. We will advise you if this is the case at the time you withdraw your consent. If you want to withdraw your consent then please contact Yvonne Wilkinson in order to arrange this (contact details above).

     Make a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office (which is the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues) if you feel that we have breached this policy or your rights under data protection legislation. The Information Commissioner’s Office can be contacted via their website www.ico.org.uk or by telephone on 0303 123 1 113. We would however appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the Information Commissioner’s Office, so please contact us in the first instance.

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 may refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances.

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 may 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

Changes to this policy

This policy may be updated at any time to reflect either our current practice or changes in the relevant law. The new policy will be effective as soon as it is posted on this page.