Please read this Privacy Notice. It relates to how we hold and process your information (data) and your rights. We recommend that you retain this Privacy Notice for future reference.
Harvey Baker is registered with the Information Commissioners Office. Our registration number is 12924970 . Our registered office is at Ty Antur, Abercynon , CF45 4SN. The person responsible for data protection at Harvey Baker is Helen Francis-Trowe (Data Compliance Manager).
Harvey Baker Solicitors is a “data controller”. This means that we are responsible for deciding how we hold and use data about you. We are required under data protection legislation to notify you of the information contained in this privacy notice. We have a duty to keep your data secure and maintain your confidentiality and we will do so.
Our data protection manager is Gareth Harvey, he can be contacted on 01443 565693 or via the contact link on this website.
The data we will process includes your name, email address, contact telephone numbers, address, and date of birth. We will also process any other data that you provide to us or that we ask you to provide which is relevant to and required for us to properly deal with the matter in which you have instructed us to act. We may also process documents which evidence your identity and which may include your passport or driving licence numbers, bank or utility information, place of birth and photograph.
Harvey Baker will process your data on the lawful basis that it is necessary for us to do so to perform the contract between you as our client and us as your legal adviser in relation to your instructions. In relation to identity documents, we must obtain and process these as we have a legal obligation to obtain and retain these. We will process any special category data (being data relating to race, ethnic origin, political opinion, religious or similar beliefs, membership of trade unions, physical or mental health or condition, genetic data, biometric data, sexual life and orientation) or data relating to criminal convictions only if we are specifically required to do so for the purpose of your matter and then only with your specific written consent for us to do so. Please note however that if we ask for such consent and this is refused then we may no longer be able to deal with your matter as we will be unlikely to be able to act in your best interests.
We will only process and use your data for the purpose of undertaking the work you have asked us to do upon your behalf and not for any other purpose. Your data will be held both in a paper format on your client file and also on our computer systems. We have an obligation to keep this data accurate and we will endeavour to do so. Similarly, you are obliged to inform us if any data we hold may no longer be accurate and we ask that you do so.
We have other quality audits from other bodies on occasion and we are subject to a review from our own accountant auditors. All of these are obliged to maintain confidentiality. Your data may be released to them for such audit purposes only on the lawful basis that such audits are necessary in the legitimate interest of our business. However, if you would prefer that your data was not shared with them please notify the Data Compliance Manager.
Dependent upon the nature of your instruction, we may need to share your data with others, such as an expert, the court, and costs draftsmen. Our relations with such parties (save for the court) are regulated by written agreements between us and them for your protection. However, we will as a matter of course seek your consent before your data is passed to them. The data that we pass to them will only be as is reasonably necessary for the purpose of their instruction.
If we instruct a barrister to assist in your matter, then the barrister is a joint data controller of your data and has similar obligations to you as we do.
If we are dealing with a conveyancing transaction for you, and you are taking a mortgage, we have a duty to the mortgage lender to disclose any relevant facts which includes, but is not limited to, any differences between your application and information we receive during the transaction. We will firstly seek your consent before releasing this information to them but in the event that you should refuse to provide this consent then we are unlikely to be able to continue to act in the matter upon your behalf. You will still be liable to pay for any work we have undertaken up to that point.
For reasons of security and to maintain confidentiality, we may ask you to provide us with a password. We may at our discretion then ask that you use that password when telephoning us or engaging in email correspondence before we release any information to you. This will likely only be when we are not entirely certain that we are speaking with or engaging in email correspondence with the correct person.
Other than financial data, in line with the statutory limitation period, your data will be retained once your matter has concluded both electronically and in paper format for at least six years although it may be longer in some instances. You will be informed in writing at the end of the matter how long we will retain your data for. After that period, this will be destroyed.
Financial data means telegraphic transfer forms, BACs and CHAPs forms which may contain some of your financial information. In order to comply with the Solicitors’ Accounts Rules we will retain this data for two years. After that period it will be destroyed.
Your rights
We are obliged to ensure that the data we hold about you is correct. You have the right to ask for the data to be rectified if it is not and we will then take appropriate action to do so.
You have the right to restrict the processing of your data or to object to the processing of your data, as well as to ask that your data (or some of your data) be erased.
You have the right to ask that we transfer or copy your data to a third party.
You have the right to seek confirmation of the fact that we are processing your data, to ask what that data comprises, and also to ask for copies of your data.
If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please contact us via the contact page or write to us at the registered address given at the top of this Notice stating your full name and our reference number. We will then consider your request and action the same as necessary although in some circumstances we may have a legitimate reason for not being able to action your request. If this should be the case then we will notify you of the reason why.
If you have any cause for complaint, or do not believe that we are processing your data fairly or in line with our obligations as a data controller, then we would ask that you contact us in the first instance with your concerns although you are not obliged to do so and you may contact the Information Commissioner’s Office whose details can be found at www.ico.org.uk