Unless otherwise agreed in our engagement letter, our work will commence when we receive implicit or explicit acceptance of this letter. Except as stated in that letter, we will not be responsible for periods before that date.
For the avoidance of doubt, should we start work on the Services with your prior knowledge, this agreement will commence immediately thereon.
You confirm that you have all the necessary powers and have obtained all the necessary authorisations, consents and approvals to enable you to enter into this engagement letter in a valid and lawful manner.
Under the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, if you are instructing us as an individual, you have the right to cancel this agreement without providing a reason for your decision or incurring any liability within the relevant cancellation period. The cancellation period will expire after 14 calendar days from the date on which you receive this letter. In order to exercise your right to cancel, you should notify us of your decision within the cancellation period. You can do this using the cancellation form attached (if applicable), or by making a clear statement setting out your decision. The contract and any obligations of both parties to the contract will come to an immediate end. If, within 14 calendar days, you have given us express permission to commence work on your matter, we will reserve the right to render a bill.
We will observe and act in accordance with the bye-laws, regulations, code of ethics, standards and guidance of the ICAEW and will accept instructions to act for you on this basis. The requirements are available on-line at www.icaew.com/regulations-standards-and-guidance and the Ethical Standards for auditors can be found at www.frc.org.uk/auditors/audit-assurance/standards-and-guidance.
We will not be liable for any loss, damage or cost arising from our compliance with statutory or regulatory obligations.
Our fee notes will be due for payment within 30 days. We reserve the right not to undertake further work on your behalf if we do not receive payment of our fees in accordance with these terms. In certain circumstances, we may offer you the facility to pay our professional fees by monthly instalments. We do not charge any interest or make any charge. As these terms have been agreed after 18 March 2015, any instalment agreement is not a regulated credit agreement. In the event of non-payment we shall be entitled to charge interest at the rate set by law. We may use any money we, or our related entities, may hold on your behalf as payment (whether in whole or in part) of any sum that you owe us under this agreement. We will, however, advise you in writing before taking such action.
If we need to do work involving responsibilities in addition to those set out in our engagement letter, we will advise you in advance. Such work will involve additional fees.
If we provide you with an estimate of our fees for any specific work, then the estimate will not be contractually binding unless we explicitly state that that will be the case.
Unless otherwise agreed to the contrary our fees do not include the costs of any third party, counsel or other professional fees.
To ensure that the VAT status of our services is classified correctly you will provide us with such evidence (e.g. proof of registration for VAT) as we may request for this purpose. You will indemnify us for any interest, penalties or legal costs as a result of any information on your VAT status not being correct.
In some cases, you may be entitled to assistance with your professional fees, particularly in relation to any investigation into your tax affairs by HMRC. Assistance may be provided through insurance policies you hold or via membership of a professional or trade body. Other than where such insurance was arranged through us you will need to advise us of any such insurance cover that you have. You will remain liable for our fees regardless of whether all or part are liable to be paid by your insurers.
We shall not be obliged to accept any payment in relation to any matter other than via bank transfer from a UK bank account of yours or of an appropriate third party acceptable to us, or credit card payment. In exceptional circumstances we may in our absolute discretion agree to accept payment by some other method. Under no circumstances will we be obliged to accept payments from third parties who are not, in our view, properly involved with the relevant matter. We shall have no liability for any delay to your Services or other consequences arising from any non-compliance by you with these provisions.
If you do not accept that an invoiced fee is fair and reasonable you must notify us within 21 days of receipt, failing which you will be deemed to have accepted that payment is due.
Compliance Surcharge and disbursements
Our fees will be subject to the addition of an automatic surcharge of 2.5% of fees for Services, to cover a proportion of our indirect costs of meeting legislative, regulatory and compliance obligations in relation to our engagement with you. Such obligations include, but are not limited to, compliance with anti-money laundering, anti-bribery and data protection legislation, maintaining high level IT security and meeting the requirements of our professional regulators. Where we engage with complex and/or overseas structures, requiring significant Anti-money laundering procedures, we reserve the right to charge additional onboarding fees. These will be subject to prior approval by you.
In addition our fees may include an amount of “disbursements” which will cover payments made to third parties, which are directly attributable to the provision of the Services
We are regulated by the ICAEW to provide certain credit-related services where these are complimentary to or arise out of the professional services we are providing to you. Such services may include referral to a lender in order to assist with the payment of our fees. If, during the provision of professional services to you, you need advice beyond what we are permitted to do, we may have to refer you to someone who is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority, as we are not.
To enable us to provide you with a proper service, there may be occasions when we will need to contact you without your express permission concerning credit-related matters. We may therefore contact you if appropriate. We would however only do so in our office hours of 8am-6pm. We shall, of course, comply with any restrictions you may wish to impose which you notify to us in writing.
Our duty of care is to you as our client, not to any third party, unless we have agreed in writing to accept a duty to the third party. If you ask us to take instructions on your behalf from a third party then until you notify us in writing to the contrary, we will be entitled to act on any instructions given by that third party as if they were given by you; and you will indemnify us against any claim that the third party was not entitled to act or give instructions on your behalf or that we were not entitled to act on any such instructions.
We reserve the right to outsource professional services if this is commercially viable. Our Outsource Partners, mainly based in India, with whom we contract, are professional organisations who only work under our strict instructions and supervision, in accordance with contractual terms and conditions, and in compliance with professional standards that we set. The final review and advice will always be from this firm.
We agree to use any information concerning your affairs only in relation to the Services. We agree not to disclose, and to take such steps as we, in good faith, think fit to preserve the confidentiality of any confidential information held in connection with the Services. This is, however, subject to applicable legal, regulatory or professional disclosure requirements relevant to the Services.
As part of the performance of the Services, we may take specialist advice from, or otherwise use the services of, a third party. Additionally, our files may be independently reviewed for quality control purposes. In each case, we may disclose information concerning you and/or your business to such third parties provided that they have agreed to maintain as confidential any information we give to them.
Unless required by law or regulation, we shall be under no obligation to disclose to you or take into consideration any fact, thing or matter the disclosure of which would or might be a breach of confidence or breach of duty to any other person.
You agree that if we act for other clients who are or who become your competitors, to comply with our duty of confidentiality it will be sufficient for us to take such steps as we think appropriate to preserve the confidentiality of information given to us by you both, both during and after engagement. These may include taking the same or similar steps we take in respect of the confidentiality of our own information.
In addition, if we act for clients whose interests are or may be adverse to yours we will manage the conflict by implementing additional safeguards to maintain independence and confidentiality. Safeguards may include measures such as separate teams, physical separation of teams and separate arrangements for storage of and access to information.
You agree that effective implementation of such steps or safeguards as described above will provide adequate measures to avoid any real risk of confidentiality being impaired.
If you have made a public announcement about work we have undertaken for you, or if it otherwise comes into the public domain (other than by our default), we may make public our involvement, unless you expressly prohibit such disclosure. We will seek your permission if we wish to publicise other work we have done for you.
We may, in certain circumstances, have a right or a duty to disclose certain matters arising in the course of our professional work to relevant authorities under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 or other legislation without informing you of such disclosure. You agree that such disclosure will not amount to a breach of the confidentiality provisions above and you will have no claim against us in respect of anything we may do in good faith with a view to meeting our obligations in respect of any legislation in force from time to time.
If we put you in touch with any third party (whether in connection with the Services or otherwise), we do so on the basis that we are not acting as their agent or representative. You should satisfy yourself that any person referred to you adequately meets your requirements. We shall use reasonable care in selecting any such person, but we shall not be liable for their advice, opinions or the information supplied by them or for the payment of their fees or expenses and, in particular, we do not accept responsibility for any act or omission (including any negligence) on their part. Such third party may be an associate or a related entity of this firm.
Refer also to “Investment Business Services (Including Insurance Mediation Services) & Referrals” below for introductions to Permitted Third Parties.
Unless you instruct us otherwise we may, where appropriate, use electronic mail (e-mail) or other electronic means to communicate with you and/or other parties with whom we are in touch in connection with the Services. With electronic communication there is a risk of non-receipt, delayed receipt, inadvertent misdirection or interception by third parties. We use virus-scanning software to reduce the risk of viruses and similar damaging items being transmitted through emails or electronic storage devices. However electronic communication is not totally secure and we cannot be held responsible for damage or loss caused by viruses nor for communications which are corrupted or altered after despatch. Nor can we accept any liability for problems or accidental errors relating to this means of communication especially in relation to commercially sensitive material. These are risks you must agree to bear in return for greater efficiency. If you do not wish to accept these risks please let us know and we will communicate by paper mail, other than where electronic submission is mandatory.
Any communication by us with you sent through the post system is deemed to arrive at your postal address two working days after the day that the document was sent to you.
You agree we may contact you without your express permission where we need to do so to provide you with a proper service. We shall of course comply with any restrictions of which you notify us in writing.
We are confident that we provide a high quality of service. However, if you are dissatisfied with the service you have received from us or have any query or concern about our work or would like to discuss with us how our service could be improved, please do not hesitate to let us know by first taking it up with the partner who is responsible for handling your affairs. If that does not resolve the problem to your satisfaction or you would prefer not to speak with that person, please take up the matter with Carolyn Hazard, our Compliance Partner. We undertake to look into any complaint carefully and promptly and to explain the position to you clearly. If for any reason we are unable to resolve the problem with you then you may subsequently contact the ICAEW.
HW Fisher Professional Services Limited and HW Fisher Business Solutions Limited are not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to conduct investment business services. We are licensed by the ICAEW to provide certain investment services which are complementary to or arise out of the professional services we are providing to you.
In particular, we may:
If, during the provision of professional services to you, you need advice on investments we may refer you to a person authorised by the FCA. Any such referral will be made with a view to your receiving independent advice or the independent exercise of discretion, in relation to investments generally.
Any work performed for you by the PTP will be conducted under separate terms of business. The PTP will issue you with its own terms and conditions, will be remunerated separately for its services and will take full responsibility for any services and advice provided and for compliance with the requirements of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 and of the FCA.
HW Fisher will not receive a commission for this introduction.
Any advice given is governed by the FCA rules and regulations and indemnity insurance, which meets all the requirements laid down by the FCA, is provided.
If, as a result of advice given by us or in connection with our involvement, you require us to effect a transaction, we shall require a written statement of your instructions. If it is outside our licence, we will immediately notify you.
HW Fisher Professional Services Limited and HW Fisher Business Solutions Limited are included on the register maintained by the FCA so that we can carry on insurance mediation activity, which is broadly the advising on, selling and administration of insurance contracts. This part of our business, including arrangements for complaints or redress if something goes wrong, is regulated by the ICAEW. The register can be accessed via the FCA website at http://www.register.fca.org.uk.
In the unlikely event that we cannot meet a liability to you arising from our undertaking investment business activities as a firm licensed by the ICAEW as a Designated Professional Body, you may be able to claim compensation under the Chartered Accountants’ Compensation Scheme.
In some circumstances we may receive commissions or other benefits for introductions to other professionals or in respect of transactions which we arrange for you.
If this happens, we will notify you in writing in advance of the amount and terms of payment and receipt of any such commissions or benefits. The same will apply if the payment is made to, or the transactions are arranged by, one of our related entities.
In circumstances where the fees you would otherwise pay will not be reduced by the amount of the commissions or benefits, we will seek your express written consent to retain the commission or other benefit.
In circumstances where we reduce the fees that we would otherwise charge by the amount of commission retained, we will apply the HMRC concession which allows VAT to be calculated on the net fee after deduction of the commission.
We may hold or receive money on your behalf only if agreed with us in advance. If you deposit money direct with our bank, we reserve the right to charge for any additional checks we deem necessary regarding the source of the funds.
Monies held on your behalf will be held in trust in a client bank account that is segregated from the firm’s funds. The account will be operated, and all funds dealt with, in accordance with the Clients’ Money Regulations of the ICAEW (the Regulations).
Client monies will normally be held in our general clients’ bank account. No interest shall be payable to you in respect of monies so held. However, such monies may be transferred to a designated account where it is considered appropriate, where required by the Regulations, or as a result of specific instructions to that effect being received. To avoid excessive administration, interest will be paid to you only where the amount earned on the balances in designated client accounts held on your behalf exceeds GBP 25.00 in any 12 month period. Subject to any tax legislation requirements, interest will be paid gross.
We will return monies held on your behalf promptly as soon as there is no longer a reason to retain those funds. If any funds remain in our client bank account and that are unclaimed and the client to which they relate has remained untraced for 5 years, then we may pay those monies to a registered charity.
You agree to provide us in a timely manner with all documents and information we may need to complete the Services and, unless stated otherwise, you confirm that the documents and information provided are correct and accurate.
Insofar as permitted to do so by law or professional guidelines, we reserve the right to exercise a lien over all funds, documents and records in our possession relating to all engagements for you until all outstanding fees and disbursements are paid in full.
We shall have the exclusive copyright in any letters, papers or other documents prepared by us during the course of carrying out the Services, save where the law specifically provides otherwise.
There may be occasions where you wish us to comment on the commercial aspects of legal documents. We will not be involved in their drafting or preparation as we consider this is the responsibility of lawyers. Whilst every care will be taken in the advice we give you in relation to any document, such advice and/or comments should not be taken as definitive. We cannot accept any liability or responsibility for any loss or damage suffered as a result of any defect in the drafting or preparation of any document or the completion of any mechanics adopted to give effect to it.
In this section, the Privacy Notice at Appendix III and in the Data Processing terms and conditions at Appendix IV, the following definitions shall apply:
‘Client Personal Data’ means any personal data provided to us by you, or on your behalf, for the purpose of providing our services to you, pursuant to our engagement letter with you;
‘Data Protection Legislation’ means all applicable privacy and data protection legislation and regulations including PECR, the UK GDPR and any other applicable national laws, regulations and secondary legislation in the UK relating to the processing of personal data and the privacy of electronic communications, as amended, replaced or updated from time to time;
‘Controller’, ‘Data Subject’, ‘Personal Data’, and ‘Process’, ‘Processing’ and ‘Processor’ shall have the meanings given to them in the data protection legislation;
‘UK GDPR’ means the Data Protection Act 2018 as amended by the Data Protection, Privacy and Electronic Communications (Amendments etc) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020; and
‘PECR’ means the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 (SI 2426/2003) as amended by the Data Protection, Privacy and Electronic Communications (Amendments etc) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020.
Our Privacy Notice is set out in Appendix III. This explains 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 the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) in the event you have a complaint. Please read it carefully.
Where we do not act directly for the Data Subject, we shall each be considered an independent Controller in relation to any Client Personal Data. Each of us will comply with all requirements and obligations applicable to us under the Data Protection Legislation in respect of any Client Personal Data.
You shall only disclose Client Personal Data to us where:
You agree to indemnify us, and defend at your own expense, against all costs, claims, damages or expenses incurred by us or for which we may become liable due to any failure by you or your employees or agents to comply with any of your obligations under this condition.
In respect of any Client Personal Data, provided that it is legally permissible do so, we shall promptly notify you and you shall promptly notify us, as the case may be, in the event that:
Upon the reasonable request of the other, we shall each co-operate with the other and take such reasonable commercial steps or provide such information as is necessary to enable each of us to comply with the Data Protection Legislation in respect of the services provided to you in accordance with our engagement letter with you in relation to those services.
You shall place no reliance on any reports or advice issued by us in draft, since such drafts are subject to revision and other factors that may result in them being substantially different from any final report or advice issued.
We will endeavour to record all advice on important matters in writing. Advice given orally is not intended to be relied upon unless confirmed in writing. Therefore, if we provide oral advice (for example during the course of a meeting or a telephone conversation) and you wish to be able to rely on that advice, you must ask for the advice to be confirmed by us in writing.
Our advice, reports and letters are confidential and are prepared only for you, as our client, and may not be used, reproduced or circulated, whether in whole or in part, for any other purpose, without our prior written consent. Under no circumstances, regardless of consent, will we assume any responsibility to any third party to whom disclosure may be made and you agree to indemnify us in respect of any claim against us, including the costs of defending such a claim, arising out of any disclosure whether by you or anyone engaged by you.
HMRC have moved most of their services online. This means that most returns including accounts, tax returns, PAYE, CIS and VAT returns are now made electronically via the HMRC website. Unless you instruct us otherwise in writing, we will assume you consent to online submissions and where possible, submit your returns electronically.
For most of these online submissions, we rely on third party software providers as well as HMRC software, to ensure that the returns are compatible with HMRC requirements and are delivered in a timely manner. We accept no liability for penalties incurred for late submission of returns due to the failure of either HMRC or of a third party software.
We reserve the right at any time during or after our engagement with you to deliver services to other clients whose interests might compete with yours or are or may be adverse to yours subject to the obligations of confidentiality set out above.
We will disclose any material conflict of interest to you when it comes to our notice unless we are unable to do so due to confidentiality restrictions. If a conflict of interest should arise, either between two or more of our clients, or in the provision of multiple services to a single client, and it is capable of being addresses successfully by the adoption of suitable safeguards to protect your interests, we will adopt those safeguards. In resolving the conflict, we would be guided by the ICAEW’s Code of Ethics.
During and after our engagement, you agree that we reserve the right to act for other clients whose interests may compete with or be adverse to yours, subject of course, to our obligations of confidentiality and the safeguards set out in the Confidentiality paragraph above.
Where conflicts are identified which cannot be managed in a way that protects your interests then we regret that we will be unable to provide further services. If this arises, we will inform you as soon as reasonably practicable and we will endeavour to minimise any inconvenience to you.
If we become aware of a dispute between the parties who own or are in some way involved in the ownership and management of the business, it should be noted that our client is the business and we would not provide information or services to one party without the express knowledge and permission of all parties. Unless otherwise agreed by all parties we will continue to supply information to the normal place of business for the attention of the directors/proprietors. If conflicting advice, information or instructions are received from different directors/principals in the business we will refer the matter back to the board of directors/the partnership/the LLP and take no further action until the board of directors/partnership/LLP has agreed the action to be taken.
This engagement letter clarifies that we are engaged by you to provide advice or Services exclusively for your benefit and there are agreed restrictions on distribution of our advice or product of our Services to third parties. Our duties are owed to you alone and we will deny any responsibility or liability to any third party obtaining access to our advice without our written permission. Despite these safeguards, there is a risk that a third party might obtain unauthorised access to our advice or the product of our Services and rely on it and make claims against us. Recognising this risk, you agree that, to the fullest extent permitted by law, you will indemnify us and our partners and staff and hold us and them harmless against all actions, proceedings and claims brought or threatened against us or them by any third party, and all loss, damage and expense (including legal expenses) relating thereto, where such action, proceeding or claim by any third party in any way relates to or concerns or is connected with the provision of our advice pursuant to this engagement letter. Where two or more clients instruct us in respect of the same matter, each client shall be and remain jointly and severally liable to us.
In accordance with the disclosure requirements of the Services Regulations 2009, our leading professional indemnity insurer is Markel International Insurance Company Limited, of The Markel Building, 49 Leadenhall Street, London EC3A 2EA. The territorial coverage is worldwide.
Persons who are not party to this agreement shall have no rights under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 to enforce any term of this engagement. Such limitation does not affect any right or remedy of any person that exists or is available otherwise than pursuant to that Act.
We accept no responsibility to third parties, including any group company to whom the engagement letter is not addressed, for any advice, information or material produced as part of our work for you which you make available to them.
In common with other professional services firms, we are required to identify and verify the identity of our clients for the purposes of the UK anti-money laundering legislation. We may request from you, and retain, such information and documentation as we require for these purposes and/or make searches of appropriate databases. We may use electronic data sources to help us with the verification: such checks leave a different footprint to credit checks on electronic files.
Please note that we are unable to provide the Services until we have satisfactorily completed our client identification and verification procedures.
You shall notify us within 14 calendar days of any changes to your circumstances which we should reasonably be made aware of, including (i) changes of name, address, telephone or e-mail address (ii) (where you are a company, a group of companies or a trust or other entity) ownership changes and changes in directors or trustees and (iii) if you go into administration, receivership or liquidation or make any arrangement with your creditors.
If any provision of our engagement letter, schedule of services or standard terms of business is or becomes illegal, invalid or unenforceable in any jurisdiction, that shall not affect the legality, validity or enforceability in that or any other jurisdiction of the rest of that provision or of any other provision of our engagement letter.
Our engagement letter, the schedule of services and standard terms of business comprises the whole agreement between us relating to the Services and supersedes any previous letter of engagement relating to the same matter.
In the event of any conflict between these terms of business and our engagement letter or schedules, the relevant provision in the engagement letter or schedules will take precedence.
We shall not be responsible for any failure on our part to perform any of our obligations under our engagement letter arising as a result of matters beyond our reasonable control, including (without limitation) any act of God, fire, riot, war, terrorism, civil commotion, act of state or government, prevention from or hindrance in obtaining any materials, energy or other supplies, or any labour dispute.
Each party agrees that our engagement letter, the schedule of services marked as “Appendix I” our general standard terms and conditions of business marked as “Appendix II” and our data protection clauses at Appendices III & IV, are governed by, and should be construed in accordance with, English law. Each party agrees that the Courts of England will have exclusive jurisdiction in relation to any claim, dispute or difference concerning our engagement letter, the schedule of services, the general terms and conditions of business and the data protection clauses, any matter arising from or under them. Each party irrevocably waives any right it may have to object to any action being brought in the English Courts (including but not exhaustively, by way of argument that the English Courts are an inconvenient forum), or to claim that the English Courts do not have jurisdiction.
We will not accept responsibility if you act on advice previously given by us without first confirming with us that the advice is still valid in light of any change in the law or in your circumstances. We will accept no liability for losses arising from changes in the law, or the interpretation thereof that occur after the date on which any advice is given.
We may transfer all or any of our rights and obligations under this engagement either to another appropriately authorised member of the group or to another person that succeeds to our business.
We will only assist with implementation of our advice if specifically instructed in writing.
We shall not be treated as having notice, for the purposes of our responsibilities, of information provided to members of our firm other than those engaged on specific assignments.
We may change these terms and conditions in this engagement by giving notice to you. For major changes, we will give at least four weeks’ notice unless any relevant law or regulation requires otherwise. Minor changes will be notified on our website.
Our engagement letter and associated terms and conditions shall remain in force until cancelled or superseded by agreement between us in writing. Either of us may terminate our engagement hereunder at any time by giving written notice to the other. Termination will not affect our rights of remuneration, indemnification or any contractual provision intended to survive termination or any other accrued rights.
In the event of termination of this engagement, we will endeavour to agree with you the arrangements for the completion of work in progress at that time, unless we are required for legal or regulatory reasons to cease work immediately. In that event, we shall not be required to carry out further work and shall not be responsible or liable for any consequences arising from termination.
Notwithstanding termination for any reason, we shall be entitled to retain one copy of any documents that we require in order to maintain a professional record of the Services we have provided.
Upon termination, you will pay forthwith upon request all fees and expenses due in respect of the Services provided up to the date of termination, together with our reasonable costs and expenses incurred in connection with the termination of our appointment.
If you are instructing us as an individual, additional statutory safeguards may apply. You may cancel your instructions by telephoning, emailing or otherwise contacting the appropriate fee earning partner, or by sending us a completed Cancellation Form enclosed with this engagement letter. Notwithstanding this, if you have asked us to start work and you subsequently cancel your instructions, you acknowledge and agree that we will be entitled to charge our fees for the work performed, plus any expenses incurred on your behalf, up to the date on which you cancel in accordance with the terms set out in this engagement letter.
Should we resign or be requested to resign we will normally issue a disengagement letter to ensure that our respective responsibilities are clear. Should we have no contact with you for a period of 2 years or more we may issue to your last known address a disengagement letter and hence cease to act.
During the course of our work we may collect information from you and others relevant to the Services. We will return any original documents to you if requested. Whilst certain documents may legally belong to you we may destroy correspondence and other papers that we store, electronically or otherwise, which are more than 7 years old. You must tell us if you require the return or retention of any specific documents for a longer period.
You may have a legal responsibility to retain documents and records relevant to the Services, for example for tax purposes, for specified periods as required by law. You are responsible for complying with any such record retention requirements.
HW Fisher Professional Services Limited and HW Fisher Business Solutions Limited collectively “HW Fisher”, “we”, “us” and “our”) are committed to respecting and protecting our clients’ privacy. This privacy notice (together with any other documents referred to in it) sets out how we look after our clients’ (“you” and “your”) personal data, and tells you about your privacy rights and how the law protects you.
The Controller is the HW Fisher entity or entities which you have engaged for the provision of Services. We are responsible for personal data collected from you when you engage with us to provide services.
We have a compliance department that is responsible for overseeing questions in relation to this privacy notice. If you have any questions about this privacy notice, including any requests to exercise your legal rights, please contact the compliance department using the details set out below.
Compliance Department, HW Fisher
Acre House, 11-15 William Road, London, NW1 3ER
Email: data.protection@hwfisher.co.uk
This privacy notice describes how we collect and use our clients’ Personal Data. Please read this privacy notice carefully.
In certain circumstances (for example, if you use our website), we may provide you with additional privacy notices which are relevant to you.
We do not provide services to persons under the age of 18.
We collect different information depending on the nature and scope of our engagement, and the services we provide to you. The Personal Data we collect from our clients (and, where applicable, their employees, officers, contractors, agents, professional representatives and other third parties) may include:
Identity data, such as name, title, place and date of birth, gender, nationality, marital status, organisation name and position, and information from photographic identity documents such as your driving licence or passport information.
Contact data, such as address and email and personal and business telephone details.
Financial and employment data including business activities, income, bank account details, National Insurance number, Unique Taxpayer Reference, and other financial and taxation information. If you ask us to perform specific tax, accounting, company secretarial and payroll services, we may also ask you for further information including your social security number, immigration and/or visa status, income, work hours, any sick leave or holidays you have taken, and retirement and pension information.
Marketing and communications data, including your preferences in receiving marketing and other communications from us.
Information about people connected with you, such as the names and ages of your spouse, partner or children, and details of their employment. We will only ask for this information if it is necessary for us to provide the services you have requested. Please ensure that you do not provide us with the Personal Data of any other individual without their permission.
Technical Data includes internet protocol (IP) address, your login data, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating systems and platform and other technology on the devices you use to access our website.
We search for actual or alleged criminal or civil convictions as part of our anti-money laundering checks. We may also collect information in respect of your marriage or civil or domestic partnership(s) if this is relevant to the services you have asked us to provide for you. Other than these, we do not usually collect “special category data” from our clients. (These are special categories of Personal Data that relate to information concerning racial or ethnic origin, religious or philosophical beliefs, sex life, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership, physical or mental health information). Similar conditions apply to data relating to “criminal convictions data”.
If you fail to provide Personal Data
Where we need to collect and process Personal Data by law, or under the terms of a contract we have with you and you fail to provide that data when requested, we may not be able to perform the contract we have or are trying to enter into with you (for example, to provide you with services). In this case, we may have to cease to act for you or cancel a service you have with us but we will notify you if this is the case at the time.
Different Personal Data is collected in different ways.
You may provide us with your identity and contact information; marketing and communications preferences; and financial data when you
We may obtain or verify information from public sources (such as Companies House) and/or third parties, search agencies for anti-money laundering and audit purposes. Information obtained from third parties may include your name (and other family names), address, any directorships you hold, and any alleged or actual civil or criminal offences.
We will only use your Personal Data when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your Personal Data in the following circumstances:
Generally we do not rely on consent as a legal basis for processing your Personal Data other than when we need to process special category data (as explained under “What information do we collect” above) or in relation to sending certain marketing communications to you via email in cases where we are not relying on the basis of legitimate interest.
If you sign up to our mailing lists, we will send you marketing information that you have consented to receive, including insights and invitations to events. You have the right to withdraw consent to marketing at any time by unsubscribing from our emails (via the preference centre in the footer) or contacting our Information Security Officer via data.protection@hwfisher.co.uk.
We have set out below, in a table format, a description of all the ways we plan to use your Personal Data, and which of the legal bases we rely on to do so. Where appropriate, we have also identified our legitimate interests.
Note that we may process your Personal Data for more than one lawful ground depending on the specific purpose for which we are using your data.
| Purpose/Activity | Data type | Lawful basis for processing including basis of legitimate interest |
| To register you as a new client
To Keep our records up to date |
· Identity
· Contact |
· Performance of a contract with you
· Necessary to comply with a legal obligation |
| To manage our relationship with you which will include:
· Providing accountancy and related services and advice · Monitoring quality control of our services provided · Collecting and recovering money owed to us · Notifying you about changes to our terms & conditions or privacy notice · Asking you to provide feedback or take a survey |
· Identity
· Contact · Profile · Marketing and Communications |
· Performance of a contract with you
· Necessary to comply with a legal obligation · Necessary for our legitimate interests (to keep our records updated) |
| To administer and protect our business and our website (including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, system maintenance, support, reporting and hosting of data) | · Identity
· Contact · Technical |
· Necessary for our legitimate interests (for running our business, provision of administration and IT services, network security, to prevent fraud)
· Necessary to comply with a legal obligation |
| To make suggestions and recommendations to you about services that may be of interest to you. | · Identity
· Contact · Technical · Usage · Profile |
· Necessary for our legitimate interests (to develop our services and our business offering) |
We may use any or all of the information above to administer and manage our business in general, and in the context of a business reorganisation or group restructuring exercise.
We do not use your Personal Data for activities where our interests are overridden by the impact on you (unless we have your consent or are otherwise required or permitted to by law).
You can obtain further information about how we assess our legitimate interests against any potential impact on you in respect of specific activities by contacting our Information Security Officer via data.protection@hwfisher.co.uk.
HOW WE SHARE INFORMATION
We take your privacy seriously, and we do not, share, or transfer this information, except as set out in this statement.
If necessary, we may pass your information between our offices and between HW Fisher entities for administrative purposes and to provide professional services to you.
We share your information with our trusted third party service providers who support us in providing our professional services and who help provide and manage some of our internal IT systems. These may include providers of IT, cloud based software providers, identity checking, website hosting & management, data back-up, security and storage services.
When we share your information with our service providers, we will ensure that your Personal Data is kept secure and used only in accordance with this notice.
We may also share your information with:
We aim to require all third parties to respect the security of your Personal Data and to treat it in accordance with the law. We direct those third parties not to use your Personal Data for their own purposes and only permit them to Process your Personal Data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.
INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS
Some of the third parties to whom we disclose your Personal Data may be located outside the UK so their processing of your Personal Data will involve a transfer of data outside the UK. They may be inside or outside of the European Economic Area (EEA). We will only disclose your Personal Data to a third party (including a third party outside of the EEA) provided that the transfer is undertaken in compliance with Data Protection Legislation.
Whenever we transfer your Personal Data to a destination country within the EEA we are doing so on the basis that that country has been deemed to provide an adequate level of protection for Personal Data under Data Protection Legislation.
Whenever we transfer your Personal Data to countries outside the EEA, we aim to ensure a similar degree of protection is afforded to it by ensuring at least one of the following safeguards is implanted:
If you would like further information about the specific mechanism that we use when transferring your Personal Data to countries outside the EEA, please contact us at data.protection@hwfisher.co.uk.
DATA SECURITY
The security of your personal information is important to us. We have a framework of policies and procedures in place covering data protection, confidentiality and security which are subject to regular review. We seek to use reasonable physical (e.g. key card office entry, locking doors), technical (e.g. password protection, network firewalls, laptop encryption, authentication mechanisms), and administrative safeguards (e.g. confidentiality agreements, training, procedures that limit access to and use of data) to protect the information we Process. However, no method of transferring data is completely secure. Therefore, while we strive to use reasonable and appropriate means to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee absolute security.
We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected Personal Data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so.
HOW LONG WE KEEP YOUR DATA
We will only retain your Personal Data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.
We will retain your Personal Data in accordance with our retention policy.
In the absence of specific legal, regulatory or contractual requirements, our retention period for records created in the provision of services is 7 years.
Details of retention periods for different aspects of your Personal Data are available in our retention policy which you can request from us in respect of your Personal Data by contacting our Information Security Officer.
In some circumstances you can ask to delete your data: see below.
YOUR RIGHTS
The law gives you certain rights over your Personal Data. You may:
If you wish to exercise any of these rights, please contact us at data.protection@hwfisher.co.uk or by writing to us at our address set out above.
You also have the right to make a complaint to the ICO, which is the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues (www.ico.org.uk). We would, however, be grateful if you would contact us in the first instance so we can endeavour to deal with your concerns direct.
CHANGES TO THIS POLICY OR YOUR DATA
We keep this privacy notice under regular review and we may therefore amend or modify this privacy notice from time to time. We will notify you of any such changes.
This privacy notice was last updated on 25 May 2021.
It is important that the Personal Data we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your Personal Data changes during your relationship with us.
We’d love to hear from you. To book an appointment or to find out more about our services: