GENERAL PRIVACY POLICY

We take your privacy very seriously. Please read this privacy policy carefully as it contains important information on who we are and how and why we collect, store, use and share your personal data. It also explains your rights in relation to your personal data and how to contact us or supervisory authorities in the event you have a complaint.

When we use your personal data we are regulated under the UK General Data Protection Regulation, as tailored by the Data Protection Act 2018 (UK GDPR) and we are responsible as ‘controller’ of that personal data for the purposes of UK GDPR. Our use of your personal data is subject to your instructions, the UK GDPR, other relevant UK and EU legislation and our professional duty of confidentiality.

Key terms

It would be helpful to start by explaining some key terms used in this policy:

We, us, our Cocks Lloyd Solicitors
Our data protection officer Matthew Blood
Personal data Any information relating to an identified or identifiable individual
Special category personal data Personal data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, philosophical beliefs or trade union membership

Genetic and biometric data

Data concerning health, sex life or sexual orientation

Personal data we collect about you

The table below sets out the personal data we will or may collect in the course of advising and/or acting for you.

Personal data we will collect Personal data we may collect depending on why you have instructed us
Your name, address and telephone number. Your National Insurance and tax details.
Information to enable us to check and verify your identity, e.g. your date of birth or passport details. Your bank and/or building society details.
Electronic contact details, e.g. your email address and mobile phone number. Details of your spouse/partner and dependants or other family members, e.g. if you instruct us on a family matter, care matter or a will or a matter involving a child.
Information relating to the matter in which you are seeking our advice or representation. Your employment status and details including salary and benefits, e.g. if you instruct us on a matter related to your employment or in which your employment status or income is relevant.
Your financial details so far as relevant to your instructions, e.g. the source of your funds if you are instructing on a purchase transaction. Your nationality and immigration status and information from related documents, such as your passport or other identification, and immigration information.
Details of your pension arrangements, e.g. if you instruct us on a pension matter or in relation to financial arrangements following breakdown of a relationship
Your employment records including, where relevant, records relating to sickness and attendance, performance, disciplinary, conduct and grievances (including relevant special category personal data), e.g. if you instruct us on a matter related to your employment or in which your employment records are relevant
Your racial or ethnic origin, gender and sexual orientation, religious or similar beliefs, e.g. if you instruct us on a discrimination claim.
Your trade union membership, e.g. if you instruct us on a discrimination claim or your matter is funded by a trade union
Your medical records, e.g. if we are acting for you in a personal injury claim.
Issues relating to your sex life which may be relevant to instructions concerning a family or criminal matter.
Details of any convictions you have been successfully convicted of or alternatively any criminal allegations made against you.
DNA or biometric data relating to family or criminal instructions received from you.
Depending on the instructions received from you we may collect the various categories of personal information in a number of circumstances.

This personal data is required to enable us to provide our service to you. If you do not provide personal data we ask for it may delay or prevent us from providing services to you.

How your personal data is collected

We collect most of this information from you, direct or via our secure online client portal. However, we may also collect information:

  • from publicly accessible sources, e.g. Companies House or HM Land Registry;
  • directly from a third party, e.g.
  • – sanctions screening providers;
  • – credit reference agencies;
  • – client due diligence providers;
  • from a third party with your consent, e.g.:
  • – your bank or building society, another financial institution or advisor;
  • – consultants and other professionals we may engage in relation to your matter;
  • – your employer and/or trade union, professional body or pension administrators;
  • – your doctors, medical and occupational health professionals;
  • via our website—we may use cookies on our website from time to time
  • via our information technology (IT) systems, e.g.:
  • – case management, document management and time recording systems;
How and why we use your personal data

Under data protection law, we can only use your personal data if we have a proper reason for doing so, e.g.:

  • to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations;
  • for the performance of our contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract;
  • for our legitimate interests or those of a third party; or
  • where you have given consent.

A legitimate interest is when we have a business or commercial reason to use your information, so long as this is not overridden by your own rights and interests.

The table below explains what we use (process) your personal data for and our reasons for doing so:

What we use your personal data for Our reasons
To provide legal services to you For the performance of our contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract
Conducting checks to identify our clients and verify their identity

Screening for financial and other sanctions or embargoes

Other processing necessary to comply with professional, legal and regulatory obligations that apply to our business, e.g. under health and safety regulations or rules issued by our professional regulator

To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations
Gathering and providing information required by or relating to audits, enquiries or investigations by regulatory bodies To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations
Ensuring business policies are adhered to, e.g. policies covering security and internet use For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e. to make sure we are following our own internal procedures so we can deliver the best service to you
Operational reasons, such as improving efficiency, training and quality control For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e. to be as efficient as we can so we can deliver the best service for you at the best price
Ensuring the confidentiality of commercially sensitive information For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e. to protect our intellectual property and other commercially valuable information

To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations

Statistical analysis to help us manage our practice For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e. to be as efficient as we can so we can deliver the best service for you at the best price
Preventing unauthorised access and modifications to systems For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e. to prevent and detect criminal activity that could be damaging for us and for you

To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations

Updating client records For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, e.g. making sure that we can keep in touch with our clients about existing and new services
Statutory returns To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations
Ensuring safe working practices, staff administration and assessments To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations

For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, e.g. to make sure we are following our own internal procedures and working efficiently so we can deliver the best service to you

Marketing our services and those of selected third parties to:

  • existing and former clients;
  • third parties who have previously expressed an interest in our services;
  • third parties with whom we have had no previous dealings.
For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, i.e. to promote our business to existing and former clients
External audits and quality checks, e.g. for SQM, Lexcel ISO or Investors in People accreditation and the audit of our accounts For our legitimate interests or a those of a third party, i.e. to maintain our accreditations so we can demonstrate we operate at the highest standards

To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations

The above table does not apply to special category personal data, which we will only process with your explicit consent.

Who we share your personal data with

We routinely share personal data with:

  • professional advisers who we instruct on your behalf or refer you to, e.g. barristers, medical professionals, accountants, tax advisors or other experts;
  • other third parties where necessary to carry out your instructions, e.g. your mortgage provider or HM Land Registry in the case of a property transaction or Companies House;
  • our insurers and brokers;
  • external auditors, e.g. in relation to SQM, ISO or Lexcel accreditation and the audit of our accounts;
  • our bank;

We only allow our service providers to handle your personal data if we are satisfied they take appropriate measures to protect your personal data. We also impose contractual obligations on service providers to ensure they can only use your personal data to provide services to us and to you.

We may disclose and exchange information with law enforcement agencies and regulatory bodies to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations.

We may also need to share some personal data with other parties, such as potential buyers of some or all of our business or during a re-structuring. Usually, information will be anonymised but this may not always be possible. The recipient of the information will be bound by confidentiality obligations.

We will not share your personal data with any other third party.

Where your personal data is held

Information may be held at our offices, and those of our third party agencies, service providers, representatives and agents as described above (see ‘Who we share your personal data with’) above.

How long your personal data will be kept

We will keep your personal data after we have finished advising or acting for you. We will do so for one of these reasons:

  • to respond to any questions, complaints or claims made by you or on your behalf;
  • to show that we treated you fairly;
  • to keep records required by law;
  • to keep records for insurance purposes;
  • to keep records at your request.

We will not retain your data for longer than necessary for the purposes set out in this policy. Different retention periods apply for different types of data. Further details on this are available in our Information Retention and Destruction Policy.

When it is no longer necessary to retain your personal data, we will delete or anonymise it.

Your rights

You have the following rights, which you can exercise free of charge:

Access The right to be provided with a copy of your personal data
Rectification The right to require us to correct any mistakes in your personal data
To be forgotten The right to require us to delete your personal data—in certain situations
Restriction of processing The right to require us to restrict processing of your personal data—in certain circumstances, e.g. if you contest the accuracy of the data
Data portability The right to receive the personal data you provided to us, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and/or transmit that data to a third party—in certain situations
To object The right to object:

  • at any time to your personal data being processed for direct marketing (including profiling);
  • in certain other situations to our continued processing of your personal data, e.g. processing carried out for the purpose of our legitimate interests.
Not to be subject to automated individual decision-making The right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing (including profiling) that produces legal effects concerning you or similarly significantly affects you

For further information on each of those rights, including the circumstances in which they apply, please contact us or see the Guidance from the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) on individuals’ rights under the General Data Protection Regulation.

If you would like to exercise any of those rights, please:

  • complete a data subject request form; or
  • email, call or write to our Data Protection Officer — see below: ‘How to contact us’; and
  • let us have enough information to identify you (e.g. your full name, address and client or matter reference number);
  • let us have proof of your identity and address (a copy of your driving licence or passport and a recent utility or credit card bill); and
  • let us know what right you want to exercise and the information to which your request relates, this will assist us in processing your request as quickly as possible.
Keeping your personal data secure

We have appropriate security measures to prevent personal data from being accidentally lost, or used or accessed unlawfully. We limit access to your personal data to those who have a genuine business need to access it. Those processing your information will do so only in an authorised manner and are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

We also have procedures in place to deal with any suspected data security breach. We will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected data security breach where we are legally required to do so.

How to complain

We hope that our Data Protection Officer can resolve any query or concern you may raise about our use of your information.

The UK General Data Protection Regulation also gives you right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority. The supervisory authority is the Information Commissioner who may be contacted at https://ico.org.uk/concerns or telephone: 0303 123 1113.

Changes to this privacy policy

This privacy policy was published on 25 May 2018 and last updated on 17 May 2023.

How to contact us

Please contact us and/or our Data Protection Officer by post, email or telephone if you have any questions about this privacy policy or the information we hold about you.

Our contact details are shown below:

Our contact details Our Data Protection Officer’s contact details
Cocks Lloyd Solicitors
Riversley House
Coton Road
Nuneaton
CV11 5TX

Email : sol@cockslloyd.co.uk

Tel : 024 76 641642

Matthew Blood
Cocks Lloyd Solicitors
Riversley House
Coton Road
Nuneaton
CV11 5TX

Email : m.blood@cockslloyd.co.uk

Menu