Privacy Policy

G TAYLOR & SON LIMITED

(REGISTERED NUMBER: 05378413)

GDPR DATA PROTECTION POLICY

1. Overview

This policy sets out how G Taylor & Son Limited  (“we”, “our”, “us”, “the Company”) handle the Personal Data of our clients and customers, prospective clients and customers, suppliers, employees, workers, officers, volunteers, work experience, apprentices, consultants, job applicants and other third parties.

The Company takes the security and privacy of Personal Data seriously. We need to gather and use information or ‘data’ about individuals and businesses as part of our business. We intend to comply with our legal obligations under the UK Data Protection Legislation and the EU General Data Protection Regulation (‘GDPR’) in respect of data privacy and security.

This policy applies to all Personal Data we process regardless of the media on which that data is stored or whether it relates to past or present employees, workers, consultants, job applicants, clients, volunteers, work experience, prospective clients, suppliers, website users or any other Data Subject.

This policy applies to all the Company’s personnel, including employees, officers, consultants, workers, volunteers, and apprentices (“you”, “your”). You must read, understand and comply with this policy when Processing Personal Data on our behalf.

This policy sets out what we expect from you in order for the Company to comply with the applicable legislation. Your compliance with this policy is mandatory. Any breach of this policy may result in disciplinary action.

We recognise that the correct and lawful treatment of Personal Data will maintain public confidence in the Company and protect the Company from financial and legal exposure.

Protecting the confidentiality and integrity of Personal Data is a critical responsibility that we take seriously at all times. The Company is exposed to potential fines of up to EUR20 million (approximately £18 million) or 4% of total worldwide annual turnover, depending on the breach, for failure to comply with the provisions of the GDPR. Loss of data would also be very detrimental to our public image.

All managers, department heads, and supervisors are responsible for ensuring all personnel comply with this policy.

This policy does not form part of your contract of employment (or contract for services if relevant) and can be amended by the Company at any time. It is intended that this policy is fully compliant with UK Data Protection Legislation and the GDPR. If any conflict arises between those laws and this policy, it is our intention that the Company fully complies with the UK Data Protection Legislation and the GDPR.

2   Data Protection Principles

 Personal Data must be processed in accordance with six ‘Data Protection Principles.’ It must:

• be Processed fairly, lawfully and transparently;
• be collected and Processed only for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes;
• be adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary for the purposes for which it is processed;
• be accurate and kept up to date. Any inaccurate data must be deleted or rectified without delay;
• not be kept for longer than is necessary for the purposes for which it is processed; and
• be Processed securely.

We are accountable for these principles and must be able to show that we are compliant.

3  Basic Definitions

  For the purposes of this policy, the following terms are as defined below:

‘Automated Decision-Making’ means when a decision is made which is based solely on Automated Processing (including profiling) which produces legal effects or significantly affects an individual.

• ‘Automated Processing’ means any form of automated processing of Personal Data consisting of the use of Personal Data to evaluate certain personal aspects relating to an individual, in particular to analyse or predict aspects concerning that individual’s performance at work, economic situation, health, personal preferences, interests, reliability, behaviour, location or movements. Profiling is an example of Automated Processing.

‘Consent’ means agreement which must be freely given, specific, informed and be an unambiguous indication of the Data Subject’s wishes by which they, by a statement or by a clear positive action, signify agreement to the Processing of their Personal Data.

‘Data Controller’ means the person or organisation that determines when, why and how Personal Data is Processed. The Company is the Data Controller of all Personal Data Processed in connection with our business.

‘Data Subject’ means a living, identified or identifiable individual about whom we hold Personal Data.

• ‘Data Privacy Impact Assessment (DPIA)’ are tools and assessments used to identify and reduce risks of a data processing activity.

 

‘Explicit Consent’ means consent which requires a very clear and specific statement (not just an action).

‘Personal Data’ means information which relates to a living person who can be identified from that data (a ‘Data Subject’) on its own, or when taken together with other information which is likely to come into our possession. It includes any expression of opinion about the person and an indication of the intentions of us or others, in respect of that person. It does not include anonymised data. This policy applies to all Personal Data whether it is stored electronically, on paper or on other materials.

‘Personal Data Breach’ means any act or omission that compromises the security, confidentiality, integrity or availability of Personal Data. The loss, or unauthorised access, disclosure or acquisition, of Personal Data is a Personal Data Breach.

‘Privacy Notices’ are separate notices setting out information that may be provided to certain Data Subjects when the Company collects information about them. These notices may take the form of general privacy statements to a specific group of individuals (e.g. clients/ customers or website users) or they may be standalone one-time statements relating to a specific purpose.

‘Processing’ and ‘Processed’ means any operation which is performed on Personal Data such as:

• collection, recording, organisation, structuring or storage;
• adaption or alteration;
• retrieval, consultation or use;
• disclosure by transmission, dissemination or otherwise making available;
• alignment or combination; and
• restriction, destruction or erasure,

including Processing Personal Data which forms part of a filing system and any automated Processing.

• ‘Pseudonymisation’ means replacing information that directly or indirectly identifies an individual with one or more artificial identifiers or pseudonyms so that the person, to whom the data relates, cannot be identified without the use of additional information which is meant to be kept separately and secure.

‘Sensitive Personal Data’ means information revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or similar beliefs, trade union membership, physical or mental health conditions, sexual life, sexual orientation, biometric or genetic data, and Personal Data relating to criminal offences and convictions.

4 Lawfulness, fairness, transparency

• Lawfulness and fairness

Personal Data must be Processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner in relation to the Data Subject.

We may only collect, process and share Personal Data fairly and lawfully and for specified purposes. The GDPR restricts our actions regarding Personal Data to specified lawful purposes. These restrictions are not intended to prevent Processing, but ensure that we process Personal Data fairly and without adversely affecting the Data Subject.

The GDPR allows Processing for specific purposes, some of which are set out below:

• the Data Subject has given his or her consent;
• the Processing is necessary for the performance of a contract with the Data Subject;
• to meet our legal compliance obligations.;
• to protect the Data Subject’s vital interests; or
• to pursue our legitimate interests for purposes where they are not overridden because the Processing prejudices the interests or fundamental rights and freedoms of Data Subjects.

We must identify and document the legal ground being relied on for each Processing activity.

(b) Consent

We must only process Personal Data on the basis of one or more of the lawful bases set out in the GDPR, which include Consent.

A Data Subject consents to Processing of their Personal Data if they indicate agreement clearly either by a statement or positive action to the Processing. Consent requires affirmative action so silence, pre-ticked boxes or inactivity are unlikely to be sufficient. If consent is given in a document which deals with other matters, then the Consent must be kept separate from those other matters.

Data Subjects must be easily able to withdraw Consent to Processing at any time and withdrawal must be promptly honoured. Consent may need to be refreshed if we then intend to process Personal Data for a different and incompatible purpose which was not disclosed when the Data Subject first consented.

Unless we can rely on another legal basis of Processing, Explicit Consent is usually required for Processing Sensitive Personal Data, for Automated Decision-Making and for cross border data transfers. Usually we will be relying on another legal basis (and not require Explicit Consent) to process most types of Sensitive Personal Data. Where Explicit Consent is required, a Privacy Notice must be issued to the Data Subject to capture Explicit Consent.

(c) Transparency (notifying data subjects)

The GDPR requires us to provide detailed, specific information to Data Subjects depending on whether the information was collected directly from Data Subjects or from elsewhere. Such information must be provided through appropriate Privacy Notices which must be concise, transparent, intelligible, easily accessible, and in clear and plain language so that a Data Subject can easily understand them.

Whenever we collect Personal Data directly from Data Subjects, we must provide the Data Subject with all the information required by the GDPR including the identity of the Data Controller, how and why we will use, process, disclose, protect and retain that Personal Data through a Privacy Notice which must be presented when the Data Subject first provides the Personal Data.

When Personal Data is collected indirectly (for example, from a third party or publically available source), you must provide the Data Subject with all the information required by the GDPR as soon as possible after collecting/receiving the data. You must also check that the Personal Data was collected by the third party in accordance with the GDPR and on a basis which contemplates our proposed Processing of that Personal Data.

(d) Purpose limitation

Personal Data must be collected only for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes. It must not be further Processed in any manner incompatible with those purposes.

We cannot use Personal Data for new, different or incompatible purposes from that disclosed when it was first obtained unless we have informed the Data Subject of the new purposes and they have consented where necessary.

(e)  Data minimisation

Personal Data must be adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary in relation to the purposes for which it is Processed.

You may only process Personal Data when performing your job duties requires it. You cannot Process Personal Data for any reason unrelated to your job duties.

You may only collect Personal Data that you require for your job duties: do not collect excessive data. Ensure any Personal Data collected is adequate and relevant for the intended purposes.

You must ensure that when Personal Data is no longer needed for specified purposes, it is deleted or anonymised.

(f) Accuracy

Personal Data must be accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date. It must be corrected or deleted without delay when inaccurate.

You must ensure that the Personal Data we use and hold is accurate, complete, kept up to date and relevant to the purpose for which we collected it. You must check the accuracy of any Personal Data at the point of collection and at regular intervals afterwards. You must take all reasonable steps to destroy or amend inaccurate or out-of-date Personal Data.

(g) Storage limitation

Personal Data must not be kept in an identifiable form for longer than is necessary for the purposes for which the data is processed.

You must not keep Personal Data in a form which permits the identification of the Data Subject for longer than needed for the legitimate business purpose or purposes for which we originally collected it including for the purpose of satisfying any legal, accounting or reporting requirements.

The Company will set-up and maintain retention policies and procedures to ensure Personal Data is deleted after a reasonable time for the purposes for which it was being held unless a law requires such data to be kept for a minimum time. You must comply with the Company’s guidelines on data retention.

We will take all reasonable steps to destroy or erase from our systems all Personal Data that we no longer require in accordance with all the Company’s applicable records retention schedules and policies. This includes requiring third parties to delete such data where applicable.

We will ensure Data Subjects are informed of the period for which data is stored and how that period is determined in any applicable Privacy Notice.

5 Protecting Personal Data

Personal Data must be secured by appropriate technical and organisational measures against unauthorised or unlawful Processing, and against accidental loss, destruction or damage.

We will develop, implement and maintain safeguards appropriate to our size, scope and business, our available resources, the amount of Personal Data that we own or maintain on behalf of others and identified risks (including use of encryption and Pseudonymisation where applicable). We will regularly evaluate and test the effectiveness of those safeguards to ensure the security of our Processing of Personal Data. You are responsible for protecting the Personal Data we hold. You must implement reasonable and appropriate security measures against unlawful or unauthorised processing of Personal Data and against the accidental loss of, or damage to, Personal Data. You must exercise particular care in protecting Sensitive Personal Data from loss and unauthorised access, use or disclosure.

You must follow all procedures and technologies we put in place to maintain the security of all Personal Data from the point of collection to the point of destruction. You may only transfer Personal Data to third-party service providers who agree to comply with the required policies and procedures and who agree to put adequate measures in place, as requested.

You must maintain data security by protecting the confidentiality, integrity and availability of the Personal Data, defined as follows:

(a)  Confidentiality means that only people who have a need to know and are authorised to use the Personal Data can access it.

(b)  Integrity means that Personal Data is accurate and suitable for the purpose for which it is processed.

(c)  Availability means that authorised users are able to access the Personal Data when they need it for authorised purposes.

You must comply with all applicable aspects of this policy and all related policies and not attempt to circumvent the administrative, physical and technical safeguards we implement and maintain in accordance with the GDPR and relevant standards to protect Personal Data.

6 Data we hold on you

If you are a current or former officer, employee, worker, volunteer, apprentice, consultant or job applicant then you are a ‘Data Subject’. The Company will hold Personal Data on you in accordance with our separate Privacy Notice.

7  Processing personal data for the company

How should you process Personal Data for the Company

Everyone who works for, or on behalf of, the Company has some responsibility for ensuring data is collected, stored and handled appropriately, in line with this policy.  The following principles apply:

• You should only access Personal Data covered by this policy if you need it for the work you do for, or on behalf of the Company and only if you are authorised to do so. You should only use the data for the specified lawful purpose for which it was obtained.
• You should not share Personal Data informally.
• You should keep Personal Data secure and not share it with unauthorised people.
• You should regularly review and update Personal Data which you have to deal with for work.
• You should not make unnecessary copies of Personal Data and should keep and dispose of any copies securely through confidential shredding.
• Personal Data must not be put in normal waste bins.
• Extra care should be taken when documents are taken out of the office for whatever reason. Documents should not be left unattended. You should not store documents in your car unattended. If documents are stored overnight at your home, you should ensure that they are stored securely.
• You should use strong passwords for your IT access. You must not share your password or display it visibly at your desk.
• You should lock your computer screens when not at your desk.
• You should keep documents which contain Personal Data locked in filing cabinets or drawers overnight.
• You must report immediately loss of individual storage devices e.g. mobile phone, tablet, laptop, etc containing data relating to the Company.
• Do not save Personal Data to your own personal computers or other devices.
• Do not send Personal Data to your personal (non-Company) email address or to unauthorised persons.
• Before sending Personal Data by post, or electronically by email, you should take appropriate steps to verify postal addresses, and email addresses.
• Personal Data should never be transferred outside the European Economic Area except in compliance with the law and authorisation of a Director.
• You should lock drawers and filing cabinets. Do not leave paper with Personal Data lying about.
• Personal Data should be shredded and disposed of securely when you have finished with it if it does not need storing on a client/ customer file.
• You should ask for help from a Director if you are unsure about data protection or if you notice any areas of data protection or security we can improve upon.

Any deliberate or negligent breach of this policy by you may result in disciplinary action being taken against you in accordance with our disciplinary procedure.

It is a criminal offence to conceal or destroy Personal Data which is part of a subject access request (see below). This conduct would also amount to gross misconduct which could result in your summary dismissal.

8 How to deal with a Personal Data Breach

We have robust measures in place to minimise and prevent data breaches from taking place. Should a Personal Data Breach occur (whether in respect of you or someone else) then we must take notes and keep evidence of that breach. If the breach is likely to result in a risk to the rights and freedoms of individuals then we must also notify the Information Commissioner’s Office within 72 hours. We may also need to notify the Data Subject, but this will be determined by a Director.

If you are aware of a Personal Data Breach you must contact a Director immediately and keep any evidence you have in relation to the breach.

Concealing or not disclosing a breach would amount to gross misconduct which could result in your summary dismissal.

9  Subject access requests

 Data Subjects can make a ‘subject access request’ (‘SAR’) to find out the information we hold about them. This request must be made in writing. If you receive such a request you should forward it immediately to a Director who will coordinate a response.

We must normally respond within thirty days unless the request is complex or numerous in which case the period in which we must respond can be extended by a further two months.

There is no fee for making a SAR. However, if the request is manifestly unfounded or excessive we may charge a reasonable administrative fee or refuse to respond to the request.

10  Data Subject Rights

 Data Subjects have the right to information about what Personal Data we process, how and on what basis as set out in this policy.

Data Subjects can require us to correct any inaccuracies in their Personal Data.

Data Subjects have the right to request that we erase their Personal Data where we were not entitled under the law to process it or it is no longer necessary to process it for the purpose it was collected.

While a Data Subject is requesting that their Personal Data is corrected or erased or are contesting the lawfulness of our Processing, they can apply for its use to be restricted while the application is made.

Data Subjects have the right to object to data processing where we are relying on a legitimate interest to do so and the Data Subject thinks that their rights and interests outweigh our own and they wish us to stop.

Data Subjects have the right to object if we process their Personal Data for the purposes of direct marketing.

Data Subjects may have the right to receive a copy of their Personal Data and to transfer their Personal Data to another Data Controller. We will not charge for this and will in most cases aim to do this within one month.

With some exceptions, Data Subjects have the right not to be subjected to automated decision-making.

Data Subjects have the right to be notified of a data security breach concerning their Personal Data.

In most situations, we will not rely on consent as a lawful ground to process Personal Data. If we do however request consent from a Data Subject to the Processing of their Personal Data for a specific purpose, they have the right not to consent or to withdraw their consent later.

Data Subjects have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner.

If you receive any of the types of requests set out in this section from any person, whether from clients/customers, prospective clients/ customers, suppliers, officers, employees, workers, volunteers, apprentices, consultants, job applicants or other third parties, you must notify a Director immediately.

We must take steps to verify the identity of an individual requesting data under any of the rights listed above (do not allow third parties to persuade you into disclosing Personal Data without proper authorisation).

11  Automated Processing (including profiling) and Automated Decision-Making

Generally, Automated Decision-Making is prohibited when a decision has a legal or similarly significant effect on an individual unless:

• a Data Subject has Explicitly Consented;
• the Processing is authorised by law; or
• the Processing is necessary for the performance of or entering into a contract.

If certain types of Sensitive Data are being processed, then grounds (b) or (c) will not be allowed but such Sensitive Data can be Processed where it is necessary (unless less intrusive means can be used) for substantial public interest like fraud prevention.

If a decision is to be based solely on Automated Processing (including profiling), then Data Subjects must be informed when you first communicate with them of their right to object. This right must be explicitly brought to their attention and presented clearly and separately from other information. Further, suitable measures must be put in place to safeguard the Data Subject’s rights and freedoms and legitimate interests.

We must also inform the Data Subject of the logic involved in the decision making or profiling, the significance and envisaged consequences and give the Data Subject the right to request human intervention, express their point of view or challenge the decision.

A DPIA must be carried out before any Automated Processing (including profiling) or Automated Decision-Making activities are undertaken.

As a Company, we do not generally carry out Automated Processing or Automated Decision-Making.

12 Changes to this policy

We reserve the right to change this policy at any time.

This policy does not override any applicable national data privacy laws and regulations.

This policy does not set terms or conditions of employment or form part of an employment contract.

If you have any questions about this Data Protection Policy, please contact a Director.