YOUR PRIVACY & DATA PROTECTION
Gardner Wildblood LLP is committed to respecting and protecting your privacy. This privacy notice below explains how Gardner Wildblood LLP will collect, store, use and share the personal information you provide. It also tells you how to contact us in the event you need further information. Please read the following information carefully.
Gardner Wildblood LLP collects, uses and is responsible for personal information about you or parties you are representing. We are the ‘controller’ of this information for the purposes of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (“UK GDPR”) and the Data Protection Act 2018. By giving us personal information, you agree to the use of it as set out in this notice.
Gardner Wildblood LLP needs to collect and hold a range of personal information about clients in order to carry out mediation work. We also have to keep some information by law. We make sure that your information is stored safely and is only shared with people who need to know the information and with whom there is a lawful basis for doing so.
Information that Gardner Wildblood LLP collects
Gardner Wildblood LLP receives data from the legal representatives of parties to mediations and/or directly from those parties.
Information is collected for the following activities:
The management and administration of mediation work
We may obtain your personal data, including special categories of personal data as defined in the UK GDPR, for the purpose of arranging or potentially arranging mediation work. This could include contact via telephone, email or other electronic correspondence. If you seek an estimate of costs for a mediation or become a client of the company, we will also need information about your matter and circumstances as well as contact information for you and other parties to the matter. The information that we need will be explained to you when confirming the mediation. Further information may be requested throughout the course of mediation work as deemed necessary to complete the work and provide resolution.
Contact forms
We may collect any personal information which you choose to provide when you fill in forms onhttps://www.gardnerwildblood.com/start-the-process. This may include your name, email address and your message, which may include personal information and specific requirements. We will use this personal data to respond to your enquiry.
We collect the following personal information that you provide to us:
Your name and title
Contact information, including telephone number, postal address and email address
In certain circumstances, your and others’ signature(s) and financial details
In certain circumstances, data relating to health (including disabilities), ethnicity, race, religious beliefs, trade union membership and other ‘special category personal data’
The content of any enquiry submitted over our website or information provided verbally over the telephone
Any other personal data we collect in the course of operating our business
Any other information relating to you which you may provide to us
Information collected from other sources:
Your name and title
Contact information, including telephone number, postal address and email address
In certain circumstances, your and others’ signature(s) and financial details
In certain circumstances, data relating to health (including disabilities), ethnicity, race, religious beliefs, trade union membership and other ‘special category personal data’
Any other personal data we collect in the course of operating our business
Other personal information relevant to instructions to provide mediation services, including information specific to the instructions in question
If you give us personal information about another person, you should ensure that:
You are legally entitled to give us that information
The disclosure is in accordance with the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018
Such other person has also read this privacy policy
How we use your information
Gardner Wildblood LLP may use your personal information for the following purposes:
To provide the requested service to you
To respond to any query that you may submit to us
To manage our relationship with you, including by maintaining our database of contacts and other third parties for
administration, and financial purposes
To complete our contractual obligations to you
To carry out any relevant conflict checks
To keep accounting records
To fulfil equality and diversity and other regulatory requirements
To manage matters relating to employment, including payroll and pensions
To respond to requests for references
To respond to potential complaints or make complaints
To comply with any other professional, legal or regulatory obligations which apply to us or policies that we have in place
To establish, exercise or defend our legal rights or for the purpose of legal proceedings
For our legitimate business interests, such as undertaking conflict checks
To prevent and respond to actual or potential fraud or illegal activities
As we feel is necessary to prevent illegal activity or to protect our interests
We do not use automated decision-making in the processing of your personal data.
Please bear in mind that if you choose not to provide personal data requested by us, or if you object to our processing your personal data, we may not be able to provide you with the information and/or services you have requested or otherwise fulfil the purpose for which we have asked for the personal data.
Our legal bases for processing (using or storing) your personal information
The UK GDPR requires all those that process personal data to have a legal basis for doing so.
The lawful bases identified in the UK GDPR, and which provide our legal bases for processing your personal data, are:
Performance of a contract with the data subject or to take steps to enter into a contract. We would not be able to provide
services for you without this personal data.
Compliance with a legal obligation.
The legitimate interests of ourselves, or a third party, except where such interests are overridden by the interests, rights
or freedoms of the data subject.
Where we are otherwise required or authorised by law.
Where processing of ‘special category data’ is necessary in the context of the establishment, exercise or defence of legal
claims.
In certain circumstances, where we need to process ‘special category data’ in the context of our legal work but outside the scope of the point above, we will gain your express consent to do so. As we will explain at the time we collect your consent, you may withdraw it at any time in accordance with the information we provide to you at that time.
Legitimate interests as follows:
The legitimate interest purposes for which we process personal data are as follows:
To administer the mediation services provided by Gardner Wildblood LLP.
To make, investigate, respond to or address complaints or concerns, including any legal or regulatory action.
To ensure network and information security, including preventing unauthorised access to personal data.
To assess and improve our services.
Sharing your information
Your personal data will be accessible to employees and Partners on a need-to-know basis.
We have relationships with a limited number of third parties that we routinely share a limited amount of personal information with. This data may include contact data, financial data (for example for processing payroll) and technical data (for example IP address).
This data sharing enables us to:
Provide information to third parties if you specifically request this.
Provide our mediation services to you or to fulfil any contracts we enter with you.
Disclose or share your personal data if we are under a duty in order to comply with any legal obligation or to protect the rights, property or safety of our website, our customers, or others.
The third parties include:
Our professional advisers insofar as reasonably necessary for the purposes of obtaining professional advice and/or managing legal disputes.
Our data processors such as third-party technical service providers, mail carriers, hosting providers, IT companies, email security, and IT support services
Observers to mediations – only where appropriate and agreed with the parties in advance
Any third party you ask us to share your data with.
If Gardner Wildblood LLP is asked for information by the police or is ordered by the court to disclose information, then your personal information could also be used in this way.
In extreme circumstances and when legally able to do so, Gardner Wildblood LLP might share information with other people if we are worried that you or your family members are at risk or unsafe.
We will not sell our users’ or other contacts’ details to any other organisation or individual.
Storage and retention of personal information
If we collect your personal data the length of time for which it is retained is determined by a number of factors including the type of data, the purpose for which we use that data and our regulatory and legal obligations. Our data retention periods are outlined in our data retention policy, which can be requested by emailing info@gardnerwildblood.com
Gardner Wildblood LLP will normally keep information supplied to us for up to seven years (this is based on requirements from professional indemnity insurers), from the date on which your employment terminates, the date of the last provision of services or the date of the last payment received, whichever is the latest. At this point any further retention will be reviewed and the information will be marked for deletion or marked for retention for a further period. The latter retention period is likely to occur only where the information is needed for legal proceedings, regulatory matters, active complaints or technical reasons. Deletion will be carried out as soon as reasonably practicable after the information is marked for deletion.
Client data
Personal information supplied to us electronically (including email attachment) is kept for up to seven years after which time it is deleted. Information supplied to us in hard copy is scanned and converted to electronic data at the earliest opportunity, and then securely shredded.
Mediation information, whether at enquiry stage or confirmed mediation stage, is recorded electronically. Contact information, including name, email address and phone number as well as party names are kept to prevent conflicts of interest. We ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect privacy.
Mediation agreements, details, and invoices raised for each mediation are kept for seven years.
Recruitment data
Personal information held for recruitment purposes will be stored for six months after application or interview (whichever is latest).
The limited third parties we engage to provide services on our behalf will keep your data stored on their systems for as long as is necessary to provide the services to you.
You can request that Gardner Wildblood LLP suspend processing of your personal data or remove your personal data at any time. You can request rectification or erasure of your details. Please see Your Rights below for more information.
The personal data is processed at Gardner Wildblood LLP’s administration office and in any other places where the parties involved with the processing are located.
Data security
We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. To help protect your personal information from unauthorised access or disclosure, we have put in place reasonable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we hold.
Once we have received your information, we will use strict procedures and security features to try to prevent unauthorised access. Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure and although we do our best to protect your personal data, we cannot absolutely guarantee the security of your data.
Independent recording
Gardner Wildblood LLP does not allow any professional, client or other visitor to carry out independent recording during mediation.
Your rights
Under the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018, you have a number of rights that you can exercise. In summary, these rights are:
Transparency over how we use your personal data and fair processing of your information.
Access to your personal information and other supplementary information in certain circumstances.
Correction of any incorrect or incomplete information that we hold about you or have shared about you.
Erasure of your personal information in certain circumstances.
Access to a copy of the personal information you have provided to us or right to request that this information is
shared with a third party.
The right to object at any time to processing of your personal information for direct marketing.
The right to object in certain other situations to the continued processing of your personal information.
The right to restrict our processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.
If you want more information about your rights under the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018, please see the guidance from the Information Commissioners Office on Individual’s rights under the GDPR.
How to contact us
If you have any questions or concerns about how your information is collected or used, we will be happy to talk to you. Please email info@gardnerwildblood.com and we will aim to respond to you within three working days.
If you wish to exercise any of your rights with regarding to personal data as outlined above, please emailinfo@gardnerwildblood.com or call 01823 299585 and state the right or rights that you wish to exercise. We will ask you to provide us with information so that we can verify your identify, such as a copy of your passport. We will respond to your request within one month of receiving your request.
If you believe that Gardner Wildblood LLP has not complied with your data protection rights, you can raise your concerns with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) either on www.ico.org.uk or by writing to:
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF