Privacy Notice

We are committed to respecting and protecting your privacy.  This privacy notice (together with any other documents referred to in it) sets out how we look after your personal data when you visit our website, and tells you about your privacy rights and how the law protects you.

If you have any queries about this policy or how we use your personal information, please contact us using the details below.

About us

This website, hwfisher.co.uk (the “site“), is operated by the HW Fisher group, which comprises HW Fisher Professional Services Limited and HW Fisher Business Solutions Limited. Together, these companies are referred to in this notice as “HW Fisher“, “we“, “us” and “our“.

HW Fisher is a data controller and we are responsible for any personal data collected from you when you use this site.

Our contact details are:

HW Fisher

Acre House, 11-15 William Road, London, NW1 3ER

Email: data.protection@hwfisher.co.uk

We have a compliance department which 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 us using the details set out above.

This privacy notice

You can use most of this website without giving us any personal data. However, if you wish to take advantage of some of the more personalised services that we make available (such as signing up to receive our updates, or contacting us), you will need to provide certain information. This privacy statement describes how we collect and use information collected through this site. Please read this privacy notice carefully.

In certain circumstances (for example, if you become our client), we may provide you with additional privacy notices which are relevant to you.

This site is not intended for children under the age of 18.

What information do we collect?

We collect different information depending on how you use our site and how you interact with us. ‘Personal data’ means any data which can be associated with you as an individual, either directly or indirectly.

The personal data we collect via this site may include:

• Identity information, such as your name, title, date of birth, gender, and organisation name and position.
• Contact data, such as your address and email and telephone details.
• Technical data, such as your internet protocol (IP) address, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform and other technology on the devices you use to access this website.
• Usage data includes information about how you use our website, products and services, and any communications we may receive from you.
• Marketing and communications data, including your preferences in receiving marketing and other communications from us.

We do not usually collect ‘special categories’ of personal data through our website. (‘Special categories’ of data include details about your race or ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, sex life, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership, health information, or criminal convictions and offences.) If we do collect any special categories of data, our reason for doing so will be made clear to you, and we will seek your explicit consent to this.

If you prefer not to provide any personal data whilst using this site (for example, if you adjust your web browser settings to refuse cookies), the functionality of the site should not be affected.

How we collect information

Different data is collected in different ways.

• Personal data you provide to us
  You may provide us with your identity and contact information; marketing and communications preferences; and usage data when you:
  • subscribe to our newsletters and updates;
  • register as a delegate for one of our events; or
  • contact us in respect of our services, or to provide feedback on our site.

Careers and job applications
If you apply for a graduate training contract or the AAT training scheme online you will need to complete an online application form. The form asks you to enter information including your identity, contact details, education, employment history and similar matters. This allows our recruitment personnel to make an informed decision as to whether to proceed with your application. Where the information provided is sensitive (such as your racial background or your state of health), you will need to expressly consent to our use of the information to assess your application and to allow us to carry out equal opportunities monitoring.

To apply for any other position with the firm, you may supply us with your email address. This will trigger an email from us to you inviting you to send your curriculum vitae. Any information you send us for the purpose of a job application will be treated by us with the greatest care and for that purpose only.

• Personal data we collect automatically
  As you interact with our site, we may also collect technical data including your browser type, the Internet Protocol (IP) address used to connect your computer to the internet, and your browsing habits, patterns and preferences. We collect this data using cookies. For further details, please see our Cookie Policy.

How and why we use information

We will only use your information where:

• We need it to perform a contract or provide a service you have asked for
  For example, if you have subscribed to one of our events, or requested some other services (including our accounting services), we will need your contact and identity data to be able to provide that service to you. Likewise, we may need your contact, identity, technical and/or usage information to respond to a question you have asked us.
• We have a legitimate interest (reasonable business purpose) for doing so
  We will use your information for our legitimate business reasons where our doing so will not unduly affect your rights. We use your identity, contact and usage information to:
  • keep our records up to date;
  • respond to and analyse the feedback and comments we receive via our site;
  • create a profile of your interests and preferences so that we can contact you in the most appropriate way and with the most relevant information; and
  • develop our marketing strategy by seeing which people are the most interested in our services.

We use your technical information to:

• provide and make improvements to our website;
• ensure that our site is secure;
• study how visitors interact with our site;
• tailor our website to your viewing preferences; and
• address any issues you may experience with our site. (For troubleshooting purposes, this may include personal details you have entered into one of our online forms, even if you do not “send” or “submit” the form.)

For further information, please see our Cookie Policy.

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.

If you feel that your interests and fundamental rights outweigh our business purposes, and that we should therefore stop processing your data, please let us know.

• You have consented to it
  If you sign up to our mailing lists, we will send you marketing information that you have consented to receive. Likewise, if you apply for a position with us, the process will involve our obtaining your consent to our use of your data for recruitment and diversity monitoring purposes.
• We need to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation
  In certain circumstances, we may need to retain or use your data to comply with regulations and/or the law.

How we share information

We take your privacy seriously, and we do not sell, share, or transfer this information, except as set out in this statement.

We may pass your information between the HW Fisher group of companies (as set out above).

We share your information with a very limited number of technical service providers. When we share your information with our service providers, we will ensure that your data is kept secure and used only in accordance with this notice.

International transfers

We do not transfer personal data collected via our website outside of the European Economic Area (EEA).

Data Security

The security of your personal information is important to us. 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 over the Internet or storing electronic data is completely secure. Therefore, while we strive to use reasonable and appropriate means to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee absolute security.

If we become aware of a data breach and think that it may pose a high risk your rights, we will notify you without undue delay.

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 line with our records retention schedule unless a valid business reason exists which means we need to retain personal data for longer. You can request a copy of our retention schedule by contacting us.

Third-party links

Our site contains links to third-party sites and/or applications whose information practices may be different than ours. Please consult all third party sites’ privacy notices as we have no control over information that is submitted to, or collected by, third parties.

Your Rights

The law gives you certain rights over your personal data. You may:

• require us to rectify the personal data we hold about you, where that data is incorrect;
• require that we restrict the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances;
• request access to the personal data that we hold about you;
• require that, in certain circumstances, we delete the personal information we hold about you;
• require that we provide you with the information that we hold about you in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format;
• withdraw your consent to our using your data for marketing purposes at any time; and/or
• lodge a complaint with the relevant supervisory authority.

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 refer a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (“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 may amend or modify this privacy notice from time to time. We will post any revised notice on this site, or a similar site that replaces this site. If you have consented to receiving our updates (or you are a current or former client), we will notify you of any changes.

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.