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Privacy Policy

For clients of AIMS Accountants for Business in practice

1.   DEFINITION AND SCOPE

Accountant, accountancy firms/businesses trading as AIMS Accountants for Business (referred to as “AIMS Accountants”, “us” or “we” throughout this document)

Clients/potential clients/business contacts dealing with an AIMS Accountant: “you”

AIMS Accountants for Business is a network of independent accountancy practices operating under licence from AIMS Partnership Ltd. The communication details and legal status of each AIMS Accountant can be found here https://www.aims.co.uk/find-your-local-aims-accountant and can also be obtained by contacting Samantha Webber (samantha.webber@aims.co.uk, 020 7616 6629)

The trade names “AIMS Accountants for Business and “AIMS” are owned by AIMS Partnership Limited and used by us under licence.

AIMS Partnership Limited is not a party to any agreement between us or any AIMS Accountant and you.

2.   PURPOSE OF THIS NOTICE

This notice describes how AIMS Accountants collect and use personal data about you, in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018 and any other national implementing laws, regulations and secondary legislation, as amended or updated from time to time, in the UK (‘Data Protection Legislation’).

For the purpose of the Data Protection Legislation and this notice, AIMS Accountants are ‘data controllers’. This means that they are responsible for deciding how they hold and use personal data about you. They are required under the Data Protection Legislation to notify you of the information contained in this privacy notice.

The details (including contact details) of the Data Protection Point of Contact for your AIMS Accountant who is responsible for assisting with enquiries in relation to this privacy notice or our treatment of your personal data can be found here https://www.aims.co.uk/find-your-local-aims-accountant and can also be obtained by contacting Samantha Webber (samantha.webber@aims.co.uk, 020 7616 6629).

Please read the following carefully to understand our practices regarding your personal data and how we will treat it.

3.   HOW WE MAY COLLECT YOUR PERSONAL DATA

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

  • you ask us to provide you with a quote in respect of the services we could provide;
  • you engage us to provide our services and also during the provision of those services;
  • you contact us by email, telephone, post (for example when you have a query about our services); or
  • from third parties and/or publicly available resources (for example, from HMRC or from Companies House).

4.   THE KIND OF INFORMATION WE HOLD ABOUT YOU

The information we hold about you may include the following:

  • your personal details (such as your name and/or address);
  • details of contact we have had with you in relation to the provision, or the proposed provision, of our services;
  • details of any services you have received from us;
  • our correspondence and communications with you;
  • information about any complaints and enquiries you make to us;
  • information we receive from other sources, such as third parties and/or publicly available resources (for example, from HMRC or from Companies House).

5.   HOW WE USE PERSONAL DATA WE HOLD ABOUT YOU

We may process your personal data for purposes necessary for the performance of our contract with you and to comply with our legal obligations.

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. This includes processing for marketing, business development, statistical and management purposes.

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.

Situations in which we will use your personal 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);
  • provide you with information related to our services and our events and activities that you request from us or which we feel may interest you, provided you have consented to be contacted for such purposes; and
  • notify you about any changes to our services.

In some circumstances we may anonymise or pseudonymise the personal data so that it can no longer be associated with you, in which case we may use it without further notice to you.

If you refuse to provide us with certain information when requested, we may not be able to perform the contract 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.

Data retention

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.

Change of purpose

Where we need to use your personal data for another reason, other than for the purpose for which we 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.

6.   DATA SHARING

Why might you share my personal data with third parties?

We will share your personal data with third parties where we are required by law, where it is necessary for the performance of our contract with you, to administer the relationship between us or where we have another legitimate interest in doing so.

Which third-party service providers process my personal data?

“Third parties” includes third-party service providers. The following activities are carried out by third-party service providers: database hosting services, professional advisory services, administration services and marketing services.

All of our third-party service providers are required to take commercially reasonable and appropriate security measures to protect your personal data. We only permit our third-party service providers to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.

What about other third parties?

We may share your personal data with other third parties, for example in the context of the possible sale or restructuring of the business. We may also need to share your personal data with a regulator or to otherwise comply with the law.

7.   TRANSFERRING PERSONAL DATA OUTSIDE THE UNITED KINGDOM (UK)

We may transfer the personal data we collect about you outside of the UK for the purpose of the performance of our contract with you. If we do transfer that data outside the UK the transferee will have a contractual obligation to protect your data and only use it for the purposes for which it is transferred.

8.   DATA SECURITY

We continue to have 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, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal data on our instructions 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.

9.   RIGHTS OF ACCESS, CORRECTION, ERASURE, AND RESTRICTION

Your duty to inform us of changes

It is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current. Should your personal information change, please notify us of any changes of which we need to be made aware by contacting us, using the contact details at section 2.

Your rights in connection with personal data

Under certain circumstances, by law 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 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 (see below).
  • Object to processing of your personal data where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this basis. You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal information for direct marketing purposes.
  • Request the restriction of processing of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of personal data about you, for example if you want us to establish its accuracy or the reason for processing it.
  • 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 want to exercise any of the above rights, please use the contact details set out at section 2 above.

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.

10.   RIGHT TO WITHDRAW CONSENT

In the limited circumstances where you may have provided your consent to the collection, processing and transfer of your personal data for a specific purpose (for example, in relation to direct marketing that you have indicated you would like to receive from us), you have the right to withdraw your consent for that specific processing at any time. To withdraw your consent, please email the Data Protection Point of Contact for your AIMS Accountant (see section 2 above).

Once we have received notification that you have withdrawn your consent, we will no longer process your personal information (personal data) for the purpose or purposes you originally agreed to, unless we have another legitimate basis for doing so in law.

11.   CHANGES TO THIS NOTICE

Any changes we may make to our privacy notice in the future will be updated on our website at: https://www.aims.co.uk/privacy-policy/

This privacy notice was last updated on 03/08/2023.

12.   CONTACT US

If you have any questions regarding this notice or if you would like to speak to us about the manner in which we process your personal data, please email Data Protection Point of Contact for your AIMS Accountant (see section 2 above).

You also have the right to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues, at any time. The ICO’s contact details are as follows:

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
SK9 5AF

Telephone – 0303 123 1113 (local rate) or 01625 545 745

Website – https://ico.org.uk/concerns