Privacy Policy

Privacy and Data Protection Policy

Privacy notice

The Company is aware of its obligations under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and is committed to processing your data securely and transparently. This privacy notice sets out, in line with GDPR, the types of data that we hold on you as a member or supplier of the Company. It also sets out how we use that information, how long we keep it for and other relevant information about your data.

This notice applies to current and former members and suppliers.

Data controller details

The Company is a data controller, meaning that it determines the processes to be used when using your personal data.

Data protection principles

In relation to your personal data, we will:

process it fairly, lawfully and in a clear, transparent way
collect your data only for reasons that we find proper for the course of your contract in ways that have been explained to you
only use it in the way that we have told you about
ensure it is correct and up to date
keep your data for only as long as we need it
process it in a way that ensures it will not be used for anything that you are not aware of or have consented to (as appropriate), lost or destroyed

Types of data we process

We hold many types of data about you, including some of the following:-

name, business address, contact numbers, email address
company credit history, purchasing and payment history
terms and conditions of engagement

How we collect your data

We collect data about you in a variety of ways and this will usually start when we undergo a contract where we will collect the data from you directly.

All of the processing carried out by us falls into one of the permitted reasons. Generally, we will rely on the first three reasons set out above to process your data. For example, we need to collect your personal data in order to:

carry out the contract that we have entered into with you and
to ensure the appropriate credit checks are performed.

We also collect data so that we can carry out activities which are in the legitimate interests of the Company. We have set these out below:

making decisions about rebates and other benefits
providing contractual benefits to you
maintaining comprehensive up to date records about you to ensure, amongst other things, effective correspondence can be achieved
business planning and forecasting exercises
dealing with legal claims made against us
preventing fraud
ensuring our administrative and IT systems are secure and robust against unauthorised access

If you do not provide your data to us

One of the reasons for processing your data is to allow us to carry out our duties in line with your contract. If you do not provide us with the data needed to do this, we will be unable to perform those duties. We may also be prevented from confirming, or continuing with, your contract with us in relation to our legal obligations if you do not provide us with this information.

Sharing your data

Your data will be shared with colleagues within the Company where it is necessary for them to undertake their duties. This includes, for example, your Business Development Manager for their management of you, the Accounts department for maintaining records and administering payments.

We share your data with third parties to undertake the following:-

Insurers and/or credit bureaus – for the provision of credit facilities.

We may also share your data with third parties as part of a Company sale or restructure, or for other reasons to comply with a legal obligation upon us.

Your rights in relation to your data

The law on data protection gives you certain rights in relation to the data we hold on you. These are:

the right to be informed. This means that we must tell you how we use your data, and this is the purpose of this privacy notice
the right of access. You have the right to access the data that we hold on you. To do so, you should make an enquiry on the web forms available
the right for any inaccuracies to be corrected. If any data that we hold about you is incomplete or inaccurate, you are able to require us to correct it
the right to have information deleted. If you would like us to stop processing your data, you have the right to ask us to delete it from our systems where you believe there is no reason for us to continue processing it
the right to restrict the processing of the data. For example, if you believe the data we hold is incorrect, we will stop processing the data (whilst still holding it) until we have ensured that the data is correct
the right to portability. You may transfer the data that we hold on you for your own purposes
the right to object to the inclusion of any information. You have the right to object to the way we use your data where we are using it for our legitimate interests
the right to regulate any automated decision-making and profiling of personal data. You have a right not to be subject to automated decision making in way that adversely affects your legal rights.

Where you have provided consent to our use of your data, you also have the unrestricted right to withdraw that consent at any time. Withdrawing your consent means that we will stop processing the data that you had previously given us consent to use. There will be no consequences for withdrawing your consent. However, in some cases, we may continue to use the data where so permitted by having a legitimate reason for doing so.

If you wish to exercise any of the rights explained above, please contact us using the web contact us forms.

Making a complaint

The supervisory authority in the UK for data protection matters is the Information Commissioner (ICO). If you think your data protection rights have been breached in any way by us, you are able to make a complaint to the ICO.