McCreath Mediation Ltd - Privacy notice

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Personal information

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Personal information (personal data) means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person.

The personal information that we collect includes:

• Identity and contact data – including name, date of birth, email address, postal address and telephone numbers 

• Financial and transaction data – including bank account details, payment card details and details of payments from and to individuals

• Technical and usage data – including information about how individuals use our website

• Marketing data – including individuals’ preferences in receiving marketing from us and information provided to us for the purpose of attending events such as dietary information and accessibility requirements

• Information used to provide our services – including information provided to us by or on behalf of our clients/mediation participants or otherwise provided to us or generated by us in the course of providing services to our clients/mediation participants

In particular in order to provide our services, we collect special category data such as personal data which reveals racial or ethnic origin, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, data concerning health and data concerning a person’s sex life or sexual orientation. In some circumstances, we may also collect data concerning criminal offences and/or convictions.

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Collection of personal information

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 We collect personal information in different ways, including through:

• Direct contact – individuals may give us their personal information by corresponding with us by post, email or telephone or otherwise.

• Clients/mediation participants – our clients/mediation participants may give us personal information of individuals (for example a mediation participant’s employees) to enable us to provide our services.  

• Third parties or publicly available sources – we may receive personal information of individuals from third parties in connection with the provision of services by us to our clients/mediation participants. We may also receive information from publicly available sources such as Companies House.

• Our website – we use cookies to help us to provide users with a good experience when browsing the website and allow us to improve the site. Details of the cookies we use, the information we gather and how cookies can be blocked can be found in our Cookie Policy on our website.

 

Use

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We use personal information in a variety of ways including:

• To provide our services to our clients/mediation participants

• To promote our services

• To meet our legal obligations

• To meet our audit and insurance obligations

 

Basis of use

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We will only use personal information (including special category data and data relating to criminal convictions and offences) when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use personal data in the following circumstances:

• Where we need to do so to perform a contract we are about to enter into or have entered into – for example a mediation agreement.

• Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party such as one of our clients/mediation participants) and the interests and fundamental rights of the individual whose personal information we are using do not override those interests – for example when we use personal information which is disclosed to use in the course of a mediation, for the purposes of the mediation.

• Where it is necessary to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation.

• When we use special category data and data relating to criminal convictions and offences it will normally be when this is necessary for the purposes of a mediation.

Generally, we do not rely on consent as a legal basis for processing personal information other than in relation to sending direct marketing communications. Consent to receiving direct marketing communications can be withdrawn at any time.

 

Retention

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 We will keep personal information in accordance with our data retention practices, which apply appropriate retention periods for each category of personal information. In setting retention periods we take account of the purposes for which the personal information was collected, legal obligations on us to retain information, limitation periods for legal action and our business purposes.

Who we share personal information with

We may share personal information with third parties including:

• In the course of providing services to our clients/mediation participants;

• Our professional advisers – for example, our accountants and insurers;

• To regulatory authorities, courts, tribunals and law enforcement agencies – for example HMRC

Third parties to whom we transfer personal information are required to respect the security of the information and treat it in accordance with the law. We do not sell personal data to third parties.

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Transfer to other countries

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In providing services to our clients/mediation participants we may need to transfer personal information to countries other than the UK, for example where one of more mediation participants is based outside the UK.

Whenever we transfer personal information outside the UK, we ensure that at least one of these conditions applies:

• The transfer is to a country that is recognised by the UK as providing an adequate level of protection for personal information; 

• If transferring personal information to the US, the transfer is to organisations that are part of the Privacy Shield;

• Approved standard data protection clauses are used; or

• The transfer is necessary for the conclusion or performance of a contract between us and the individual whose personal information is being transferred

 

Protection

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We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent personal information from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed.

We will notify relevant individuals and the Information Commissioner of a personal information breach when we are legally required to do so.

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Legal rights of individuals

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 Individuals have the rights set out below. If you wish to exercise any of these rights please contact us using the contact details given below.

• Request access to their personal information (commonly known as a "data subject access request"). This enables individuals to receive a copy of the personal data we hold about them and to check that we are lawfully processing it.

• Request correction of the personal information that we hold about them. This enables individuals to have any incomplete or inaccurate information we hold corrected, although we will need to verify the accuracy of the new information provided to us.

• Request erasure of their personal information. This enables individuals to ask us to delete or remove personal information where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. Individuals also have the right to ask us to delete or remove their personal information where they have successfully exercised their right to object to processing (see below), where we may have processed their information unlawfully or where we are required to erase their personal information to comply with local law. Note, however, that we may not always be able to comply with a request of erasure for specific legal reasons which will be notified to the individual, if applicable, at the time of their request.

• Object to processing of personal information where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or that of a third party) and there is something about the individual’s particular situation which makes her/him want to object to processing on this ground as she/he feels it impacts on her/his fundamental rights and freedoms. In some cases, we may demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate grounds to process the information which overrides those rights and freedoms. Individuals also have the right to object where we are processing their personal information for direct marketing purposes.

• Request restriction of processing of their personal information. This enables individuals to ask us to suspend the processing of their personal information in the following scenarios: (a) if the individual wants us to establish the information's accuracy; (b) where our use of the information is unlawful but an individual does not want us to erase it; (c) where the individual needs us to hold the information even if we no longer require it as she/he needs it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims; or (d) the individual has objected to our use of their information but we need to verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds to use it.

• Withdraw consent at any time where we are relying on consent to process the personal information. However, this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before consent is withdrawn.

 

Complaints

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Individuals have a right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues (www.ico.org.co.uk). We would, however, appreciate the opportunity to deal with any concerns before the ICO is approached. So, in the first instance, please contact us using the contact details given below.

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Changes to this privacy notice

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We keep our privacy notice under regular review. This privacy notice was last updated in October 2020.

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If you need further information or have any questions or complaints about our privacy notice or privacy practices please contact us at rob.mccreath@mccreathmediation.com