Here at Lewis & Co we take our clients privacy very seriously and have revised our company Policy Statement accordingly to reflect the recent changes through GDPR (replacing the previous Data Protection Act 1998). GDPR is the most significant piece of privacy legislation within the last twenty years.

As always, if you have any queries regarding the security of your information or indeed any questions on our internal systems or policies, please do not hesitate to contact us.

About Us

GNC Accounting Services Ltd t/a Lewis & is a firm of Accountants and Tax Advisers providing accountancy, business and tax advisory services. We are registered in England and Wales under the Company Registration Number of 10018104. Our Registered Office Address is at 134 London Road, Southborough, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, TN4 0PL. Our VAT Registration Number is 233 9077 04.

Privacy Policy Statement

This statement informs our clients of the various areas of information we, the service provider, will collect from you or which is provided by you and how it will be processed. If you choose to use our services then you agree to the collection of data in accordance with this policy. We will not use or share your personal information with anyone except as described within this policy. We respect your personal data and have never and will never sell it to third parties.

We collect your data in order to fulfil the services under the terms of the Letter of Engagement which you sign with us. To enable us to perform the services required we require two forms of personal identifiable information about you, our client. By providing us with such information you accept that we have collected this data for the purposes intended, will retain this data until further notice and may/will contact you to use the data you have provided. No data collection will be excessive and we will collect exactly what we need in order to comply with our legal requirements.

We obtain personal data about you, for example, when:-

• you request a proposal from us in respect of the services we provide;
• you engage us to provide our services and also during the provision of those services;
• you communicate this information to our staff in meetings or you contact us by email, telephone, post or social media (e.g. if you have a query about our services);
• from third parties and/or publicly available resources (e.g. either from your Employer, from Social Media or from Companies House); or
• you contact us regarding apprenticeships, training positions or job vacancies within our organisation.

The information we hold about you may include the following:-

• your personal details (such as your name and address);
• details of contact we have had with you in relation to the provision of our services;
• details of any services you have received from us in the past;
• information provided for us to provide any of our services;
• our correspondence and communications with you;
• information about any complaints and enquiries you make to us;
• information we receive from other publicly available sources.

We may process your personal data for purposes necessary for the performance of our agreement with you and to comply with our legal obligations. This may include processing your personal data where you are an employee, subcontractor, supplier or customer of our client.

We may process your personal data for the purposes of our own legitimate interests provided that those interests do not override any of your own interests, rights and freedoms which require the protection of personal data.

We may process your personal data for certain additional purposes with your consent, and in these limited circumstances where your consent is required for the processing of your personal data, then you have the right to withdraw your consent to processing for such specific purposes.

Please note that we may process your personal data for more than one lawful basis depending on the specific purpose for which we are using your data.

We may use your personal data in order to:

• carry out our obligations arising from any agreements entered into between you and us (which will most usually be for the provision of our services);
• where you may be a subcontractor, supplier or customer of our client;
• provide you with information relating to our services that you request from us or which we feel may interest you; and
• notify you about any changes to our services.

Should you refuse to provide us with certain information when requested, we may not be able to perform the agreement we have entered into with you. Alternatively, we may be unable to comply with our legal or regulatory obligations.

We may also process your personal data without your knowledge or consent, in accordance with this notice, where we are legally required or permitted to do so.

We will only retain your personal data for as long as is necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it is collected.

When assessing what retention period is appropriate for your personal data, we take into consideration:

• the requirements of our business and the services provided;
• any statutory or legal obligations;
• the purposes for which we originally collected the personal data;
• the lawful grounds on which we based our processing;
• the types of personal data we have collected;
• the amount and categories of your personal data; and
• whether the purpose of the processing could reasonably be fulfilled by other means.

Where we need to use your personal data for another reason, other than for the purpose for which we initially collected it, we will only use your personal data where that reason is compatible with the original purpose. Should it be necessary to use your personal data for a new purpose, we will notify you and communicate the legal basis which allows us to do so before starting any new processing.

The information that we collect from you is stored on our secure servers. We have strict access controls over who can see your data and for what reason. Your data will only be stored for as long as is necessary to perform the services we provide to you or to conform to any legal or regulatory requirements. We have put in place commercially reasonable and appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. In addition, we limit access to your personal data to those employees, subcontractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal data upon our instructions to do so and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality. We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected data security breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected breach where we are legally required to do so.

Under certain legal circumstances, you have the right to:

• Request access to your personal data. This enables you to receive details of the personal data we hold about you and to check that we are processing it satisfactorily and lawfully.
• Request correction of the personal data that we hold about you.
• Request erasure of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal data where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal data where you have exercised your right to object to processing.
• Object to processing of your personal data where we are relying on a legitimate interest and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this basis.
• Request the restriction or suspension of processing of your personal data if inaccurate, for example.
• Request the transfer of your personal data to you or another data controller if the processing is based on consent, carried out by automated means and this is technically feasible.

If you wish to exercise any of the above rights, please email our data protection point of contact. You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal data (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request for access is clearly unfounded or excessive. Alternatively, we may refuse to comply with the request in such circumstances. We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access the information (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is another appropriate security measure to ensure that personal information is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it.

We may alter our Privacy Policy Statement from time to time. This may be necessary, for example, if the law changes, or if we change our business in a way that affects personal data protection. We recommend that you check back regularly to ensure that you are aware of any updates.

Data Controller & Data Processor

We are classified as a Data Controller which means that we are responsible for deciding how we hold and use your personal data. We are legally required to notify you of the information contained within this privacy notice.

The Data Controller and Data Processor for GNC Accounting Services Ltd t/a Lewis & Co is:-

Mr Gary Cornwell, Managing Director

134 London Road
Southborough
Tunbridge Wells
Kent
TN4 0PL

01892 513515

Supervisory Authority Registration

We are registered with the ICO (Information Commissioners Office) and comply with the General Data Protection Regulation 2018. You have the right to make a complaint to the ICO at any time.

Contact and Communications

It is important that the personal data we hold for you is accurate and current. Should your personal information change at any point, please notify us of any changes of which we need to be made aware by contacting us, using the contact details above.

You have the right to withdraw your consent to be contacted by us at any time, simply by emailing info@lewisandco.biz.