Privacy Notice | Peace Legal

The General Data Protection Regulations 2018 regulates the use of personal information held by us. This means we must comply with eight data protection principles which say that personal data needs to be:

processed fairly and lawfully
processed only for specified and lawful purposes
adequate, relevant and not excessive
accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date
not kept longer than necessary
processed in accordance with an individual’s rights under the Regulations
kept secure
not transferred to non-European Economic Area countries without adequate protection

This notice contains information about:

Information we may collect
How we use personal information
How long we keep information
How we keep information secure
How you can find information we hold about you
Changes to this privacy notice
How to contact us

Information we may collect

The type of information we may collect and process about you is varied and may include:

your name
your e-mail address
telephone, email, and correspondence address

In addition, because of the wide ranging nature of our regulatory work, we may collect other information and data about you such as:

your date of birth
any previous addresses you may have lived at
your national insurance number
Identification such as your passport/driving licence
Proof of your current address

Some information is defined in the GDPR as sensitive personal data. This is information about you which relates to:

your racial or ethnic origin
your political opinions
your religious beliefs or other beliefs of a similar nature
your membership of a trade union
any physical or mental health condition
your sexual orientation
the commission or alleged commission by you of any offence
any proceedings for any offence committed or alleged to have been committed by you, including the disposal of any proceedings or a court sentence.

Where we collect personal data we will not collect or use it unless it is lawful for us to do so. We will need your consent to use or share it. However, in some cases it will be lawful for us to do so, for example where it necessary as part of our, or a third party’s, statutory or public function or because the law permits or requires us to.

You have the right to object to us using your data on grounds relating to your particular situation.

How we use personal information

This notice applies to information we collect set out below:

visitors to our website
complaints about us
to enable us to open our files
to contact you during your matter with us
debt collection for non-payment of our invoices
people who make enquiries through our website or ask for general help
others connected to our work such as barristers, estate agents etc.
Job applicants

How long we keep information

We keep personal information for as long as necessary to ensure we can fulfil our regulatory role in the public interest and in line with our retention and destruction procedures.

We retain personal information if we need it to meet our legal and operational requirements.

How we keep information secure

We are under a general duty to keep personal data and information confidential. Where we share information we take all reasonable steps to keep it secure, use it fairly and ensure that data protection safeguards are in place. We will not share your information without your consent.

For the purposes of the GDPR which came into force on the 25th May 2018, Peace Legal Limited is the data controller, however, Peace Legal Limited agrees not to access certain data and information to protect the rights of those whose information we hold and so as not to cause prejudice to our regulatory work.

We operate procedures within our company that set out and advise staff about how we collect, handle and keep information secure to ensure we meet the our data protection obligations as well as how we maintain the confidentiality, accessibility and integrity of information we hold.

How you find out about information we hold about you

GDPR gives you a right of access to personal data we hold about you. These are called subject access requests. In some cases we are not required to provide you with information we hold about you. Where this is the case we will let you know.

If you wish to make a Subject Access Request (SAR) you will need to complete our request form and post this back to us with the relevant supporting documentation.

If you need any help making a subject access request our Data Protection Officer will be able to help you.

We need to satisfy ourselves as to your identity and your address. Please therefore send us proof of who you are so that know we are sending the information to the right person.

We accept the following as proof:

your birth certificate
your passport
your driving licence
a utility bill or bank statement showing your current address

We ask that you mark the covering envelope or email as ‘Confidential’ and address this to Fay Jones, Data Protection Officer, 6 Barnsley Road, Wombwell Barnsley S73 8DD.

How we provide the information

We usually send a hard copy by special delivery post to your residential address or by email. We can make other arrangements in some cases. Please ask our Data Protection Officer if you would like to agree alternative arrangements.

Can I see all the information held about me?

You may not be entitled to see all the information held about you if an exemption under the GDPR applies.

Examples of exemptions include information that:

is about another person
may prejudice our regulatory work
If an exemption applies we will explain which exemption applies and we tell you if we have removed any information from the copy we send you

Changes to this Privacy Notice

We keep this Notice under regular review and any changes will be noted within the footer of the document

How to contact us

If you would like to ask for information about our Privacy Notice you can email us or write to us.

If you would like a copy of the Privacy Notice in an alternative format please ask our Data Protection Officer.

Cookies

We also use cookies on this site. Cookies are small text files used on the internet for a variety of purposes. We use cookies to make your use of the website more efficient. You have a right to refuse this and can modify your browser accordingly. Although the cookie may provide an automated identification of your computer to our workstation, no personal data is stored in the cookie.

This means we automatically collect and store only the following information about your visit:-

The internet domain and IP address from where you access our website;
The type of browser software and operating system used to access our website;
The date and time you access our website;
If you linked to our Website from another website, the address of that website; and
The pages you enter, visit and exit our website from.

You may adjust your computer’s settings to block cookies, or to accept them only on confirmation from you. Because of the wide variety of browsers and operating systems used by our customers we cannot provide detailed instructions for this; however, your browser should contain details in its help facility.

More information about cookies

To learn more, including how to manage cookies, visit www.aboutcookies.org. If you have any questions or concerns about cookies set by us, please ask to speak to Steve Corry, Practice Manager.

The type of information we may collect and process about you is varied and may include:

your name
your e-mail address
your home address
your area of work
case related information, such as who at our office is acting for you

In appropriate cases, personal information may be disclosed to our regulators, the Legal Ombudsman, enforcement or government agencies, other regulators or others with a legitimate interest who may keep a record of that information.

We only share information where it is lawful for us to do so, such where it is necessary to do so as part of our, or a third party’s, statutory or public function or because the law permits or requires us to.

We may also share personal information with selected third parties which provide relevant services to us, such as outsourced debt collectors, barristers, IT services or other legal support but only where this helps us to fulfil effectively our statutory and regulatory functions.

In appropriate cases, personal information may be disclosed to other regulators, the Legal Ombudsman, enforcement or government agencies, other regulators or others with a legitimate interest who may keep a record of that information.

We may also prepare and publish or share statistics obtained from data we collect on our website, such as the number and types of complaints we receive but not in a form that identifies anyone.

Others connected to our work

The nature of our work means that we handle personal information about third parties who are, in some way, connected to the work we do.

This category is broad and examples include witnesses to an investigation, opposing clients of those we represent etc.

We may use personal information to further our regulatory work which may include using information in investigations, enforcement and applications made through us.

Job Applicants

When people apply to work with us, we use the information sent us to process applications and to monitor our recruitment.

To ensure we are an equal opportunities employer we collect information about age, disability, ethnicity, sex, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, religion or belief, pregnancy and maternity.

This information is not used in relation to the application itself and is treated with strict confidence.

It does not form part of the job application and is used to monitor our recruitment.

We may use the information to help us deliver equal opportunity measures.

Successful applicants who secure fixed term or permanent contracts are asked (where necessary) to agree to an appropriate criminal records check.

Once a person is employed by us, we compile a file relating to their employment. We keep this information secure and only use it for purposes directly related to their employment.

When a person’s employment ends with us we destroy the file in line with our retention and destruction procedures.

Peace Legal Privacy Notice