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This Privacy Notice explains how we collect, use, store and share personal information when you use our website, contact us, make an enquiry or use our professional services.
Who we are
Baldwins Accountancy Limited is the data controller for the personal information covered by this Privacy Notice.
Baldwins Accountancy Limited
Trading as Baldwin’s Accountancy Services
The Old Station, Coastal Road
Hest Bank
Lancaster
LA2 6HN
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: 01524 969177
Our Data Protection Officer is Luke Baldwin, who can be contacted at [email protected].
Personal information we collect
The information we collect depends on your relationship with us.
If you contact us through our website enquiry form, we may collect:
- your name;
- your business or organisation name, where provided;
- your email address;
- your telephone number, where provided;
- the service you are interested in; and
- any information you include in your message.
If you become a client, we may collect additional information required to provide our professional services and comply with our legal and regulatory obligations. This may include identification information, contact details, financial and tax information, National Insurance numbers, Unique Taxpayer References and information relating to your business, employees or other individuals.
We may receive personal information directly from you or, where appropriate, from third parties including your other advisers, HM Revenue & Customs, Companies House, credit reference agencies, public registers, local authorities and other organisations relevant to the services we provide.
How we use your personal information
We may use personal information to:
- respond to enquiries and take steps at your request before entering into a contract;
- provide accountancy, taxation and related professional services;
- establish and manage our relationship with you;
- carry out identity verification, client due diligence and anti-money laundering checks;
- comply with legal, regulatory and professional obligations;
- communicate with HMRC, Companies House and other organisations where appropriate;
- maintain and improve our client records;
- administer our business and issue invoices;
- investigate or defend complaints, disputes or legal proceedings;
- prevent and detect fraud, crime or misuse of our services; and
- contact you about other services where we are permitted to do so.
Our lawful bases for processing
Depending on the circumstances, we process personal information because:
- it is necessary to take steps at your request before entering into a contract;
- it is necessary to perform a contract with you;
- it is necessary to comply with a legal obligation;
- it is necessary for our legitimate interests, or those of another person, where those interests are not overridden by your rights and interests; or
- you have given consent, where consent is the appropriate lawful basis.
For example, information submitted through our website enquiry form is generally processed so that we can respond to your enquiry and take steps at your request before potentially providing services.
Professional and legal obligations
As an accountancy practice, we are subject to legal and professional requirements, including anti-money laundering legislation.
We may therefore need to obtain and retain information and documentation to identify clients, conduct client due diligence and comply with our legal and professional obligations.
We are supervised for anti-money laundering purposes by AAT.
Who we share personal information with
Where necessary, we may share personal information with organisations including:
- HM Revenue & Customs;
- Companies House;
- our professional body and regulatory or supervisory authorities;
- third parties you ask or authorise us to communicate with;
- subcontractors and other professional advisers;
- providers of tax investigation or professional fee protection services where applicable;
- our professional indemnity insurers and their advisers;
- law enforcement agencies, courts and tribunals where required or permitted by law; and
- organisations that provide IT, cloud, communications and other services used in operating our practice.
We use cloud-based and third-party systems in delivering our services. These may include Microsoft 365, OneDrive, Engager.app, Sage, QuickBooks and other professional software appropriate to the services we provide.
Website and enquiry service providers
Our website is hosted using Cloudflare.
We use Cloudflare Turnstile on our enquiry form to help protect the website against spam, automated submissions and abuse. Turnstile processes security information needed to distinguish genuine visitors from automated traffic.
We use Resend to deliver emails generated by our website, including website enquiries and enquiry confirmations. Information submitted through the enquiry form may therefore be processed by Resend for email delivery.
Google Analytics
We use Google Analytics to help us understand how visitors use our website.
Where required, Google Analytics is only enabled after a visitor has given consent to optional analytics technologies through our cookie controls.
Google Analytics may collect information about how visitors interact with the website, such as pages viewed, approximate location derived from technical information, device/browser information and interactions with the website.
International transfers
Some of the service providers we use may process personal information outside the United Kingdom.
Where personal information is transferred internationally, we take steps to ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place as required by UK data protection law.
Resend’s primary processing operations may involve the United States. Appropriate transfer mechanisms and safeguards are used where required.
Google and other technology providers may also process information internationally. Appropriate safeguards are used where required.
How long we keep personal information
When we act as data controller, our general policy is:
- where tax returns have been prepared, information is normally retained for seven years from the end of the tax year to which it relates;
- where ad hoc advisory work has been undertaken, information is normally retained for seven years after the business relationship ends; and
- where we have an ongoing client relationship, information required across multiple years may be retained throughout the relationship and normally deleted seven years after the relationship ends, unless there is a reason to retain it for longer.
Information submitted through a website enquiry that does not result in a client relationship will only be retained for as long as reasonably necessary to deal with the enquiry and for appropriate business, security and record-keeping purposes.
Your data protection rights
Depending on the circumstances, you may have rights including:
- access to personal information we hold about you;
- correction of inaccurate or incomplete information;
- deletion of your information;
- restriction of processing;
- objection to processing;
- data portability; and
- withdrawal of consent where processing is based on consent.
These rights are subject to conditions and exemptions under data protection law.
To exercise your rights, contact our Data Protection Officer at [email protected].
We may need to ask for sufficient information to confirm your identity before responding to a request. We will only request information reasonably necessary for this purpose.
Automated decision-making
We do not use automated decision-making in relation to your personal information.
Complaints
If you have concerns about how we use your personal information, please contact our Data Protection Officer in the first instance.
You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office.
Changes to this Privacy Notice
We may update this Privacy Notice from time to time. The latest version will be published on this website with the date it was last updated.