Privacy Policy

Your information, how we use it and your rights

Who we are

This is the privacy statement of Hall Morrice LLP.  This privacy statement explains how we collect and use personal information about you.  Our Privacy Policy contains important information about what personal details we collect; what we do with that information; who we may share it with and why; and your choices and rights when it comes to the personal information you have given us.

How the law protects you

Data Protection law says that we are allowed to use personal information only if we have a proper reason to do so.  This includes sharing it outside of Hall Morrice.  The reasons we collect and use your data are:

• To fulfil our contract to provide services to you
• When you consent to it – when you agree for us to contact you to advise you of events, or products and services from us or other organisations or send Client Briefings
• When we have a legal duty – to obey laws and regulations that apply to us
• When it’s in the legitimate interest of the firm or of a third party – to run our business in an efficient and proper way

What personal information we collect

We collect personal data as is required to fulfil our contract with you when you sign an engagement letter or request advice, products or services and, if you agree consent, to email you about other products and services we think may be of interest to you.

Information we may collect includes:

• Contact details – names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses
• Financial details – employment details, bank details
• Data classified as 'sensitive' personal information e.g. relating to your health, marital or civil partnership status and national identifiers.  This information will only be collected and used where it's needed to provide the product or service you have requested or to comply with our legal obligations
• Open data and public records
• Documentary data – passport, drivers licence
• Information on children e.g. where a child is named as a beneficiary for Inheritance Tax planning or on the policy taken out by a parent or guardian on their behalf. In these cases, we will collect and use only the information required to identify the child (such as their name, age, gender)
• Information that is automatically collected e.g. via cookies when you visit our website

Where we collect personal information from

Information may be obtained from you face to face, through e-mail or telephone calls, from public information sources such as Companies House, or completion of online documentation.  We may also receive information from your previous advisers such as accountants or lawyers.

As the information is required to enable us to provide our services if you opt not to provide it we may not be able to continue to advise you.

How we use your personal information

We will collect and use your information only where:

• It's necessary to provide the service or product you have requested i.e. to fulfil the Terms of our Engagement with you
• You have given us your permission (consent) e.g. when you agree for us to contact you to advise you of events, or general communication including bulletins and industry insights, or to pass on your personal information to our group of companies so that they may offer you their products and services
• It's necessary for us to meet our legal or regulatory obligations – to obey laws and regulations that apply to us.
• We will use your information to verify identity where this is required
• We will communicate with you by your preferred means - post, email or telephone
• We will use your information to process financial transactions and prevent and detect crime, fraud or corruption

There may be situations where the information we require is a special category of personal data under the legislation.  In this case we will explain why we need it and obtain your consent to obtain the data. This situation most commonly occurs where we are arranging life assurance products and need to obtain medical information from you.

Who we share your personal information with

We may share your data with these organisations but only for the reasons outlined in "How the law protects you":

• Companies we, or you, have chosen to support us in the delivery of products and services we offer
• Our Regulators and Supervisory Authorities
• HMRC
• Law enforcement for the prevention and detection of crime

We periodically check that these third parties have appropriate safeguards in place to protect your data and that they are compliant with Data Protection Regulations.

Holding personal information outside the EEA

The majority of your information is processed in the UK and European Economic Area (EEA).  However, as part of the services offered to you, some of your information may be transferred to countries outside the EEA.

Where your information is being processed outside of the EEA we will take steps to ensure that appropriate security measures are taken with the aim of ensuring that your privacy rights continue to be protected as outlined in this Policy.  We will put in place legal agreements with said parties to ensure they meet these obligations.

If you use our services while you are outside the EU, your information may be transferred outside the EU in order to provide you with those services.

Using our website

What personal information do we collect from the people that visit our website?

When submitting an enquiry via our website, you may be asked to enter your name, email address, phone number or other details to help us with your enquiry.

When do we collect information?

We collect information from you when you fill out a form or enter information on our site.

How do we use your information?

We may use the information we collect from you when you browse the website, sign up to our newsletter, submit an enquiry, or use certain other site features in the following ways:

• To allow us to better service you in responding to your enquiry

• To send you our newsletter if you have opted to receive it

• To follow up with you after correspondence (email or phone enquiries)

Do we use 'cookies'?

Yes. Cookies are small files that a website transfers to your computer's hard drive through your web browser that enables the website to recognise your browser and capture and remember certain information. They are also used to help us understand your preferences based on previous or current site activity, which enables us to provide you with improved services. We also use cookies to help us compile aggregate data about site traffic and site interaction so that we can improve our website in the future. The cookies we use do not store or remember any personally identifiable information. 

You can choose to have your computer warn you each time a cookie is being sent, or you can choose to turn off all cookies. You do this through your browser settings. Since each browser is a little different, look at your browser's settings to learn the correct way to modify your cookies.

Third-party disclosure

We do not sell, trade, or otherwise transfer to outside parties any information you submit to us via our website.

Third-party links

We do not include or offer third-party products or services on our website.

Your rights

The accuracy of your information is important to us and we will update the information as appropriate.  If you change your contact information please notify us and we will update our records.

You have a number of specific rights, these are summarised below:

• Access to your information - You have the right to request a copy of the personal information about you that we hold.

• Correcting your information – We want to make sure that your personal information is accurate, complete and up to date and you may ask us to correct any personal information about you that you believe does not meet these standards.

• Deletion of your information –You have the right to ask us to delete personal information about you where:
  • You consider that we no longer require the information for the purposes for which it was obtained.
  • We are using that information with your consent and you have withdrawn your consent – see Withdrawing consent to using your information below.
  • You have validly objected to our use of your personal information – see Objecting to how we may use your information below.
  • Our use of your personal information is contrary to law or our other legal obligations.

• Objecting to how we may use your information – You have the right at any time to require us to stop using your personal information for direct marketing purposes.  In addition, where we use your personal information to perform tasks carried out in the public interest then, if you ask us to, we will stop using that personal information unless there are overriding legitimate grounds to continue.

• Restricting how we may use your information – In some cases, you may ask us to restrict how we use your personal information.  This right might apply, for example, where we are checking the accuracy of personal information about you that we hold or assessing the validity of any objection you have made to our use of your information.  The right might also apply where this is no longer a basis for using your personal information but you don't want us to delete the data.  Where this right to validly exercised, we may only use the relevant personal information with your consent, for legal claims or where there are other public interest grounds to do so.

• Portability – You have the right to have your data transferred to another service provider in an appropriate electronic format.  Please note that we will have regulatory obligations to retain copies of the information for specific periods of time.

• Automated processing – If we use your personal information on an automated basis to make decisions which significantly affect you, you have the right to ask that the decision be reviewed by an individual to whom you may make representations and contest the decision.  This right only applies where we use your information with your consent or as part of a contractual relationship with you.

• Withdrawing consent using your information – Where we use your personal information with your consent you may withdraw that consent at any time and we will stop using your personal information for the purpose(s) for which consent was given.

Please contact us in any of the ways set out in the Contact information and further advicesection if you wish to exercise any of these rights.

Changes to our privacy statement

We keep this privacy statement under regular review and will place any updates on this website.  If there are important changes such as changes to where your personal data will be processed; we will contact you to let you know.  Paper copies of the privacy statement may also be obtained from our Aberdeen Office.

This privacy statement was last updated on 25^th May 2018.

Contact information and further advice

Please contact us if you have any questions about our privacy policy or information we hold about you.

Please let us know if you believe we are not holding your information correctly, if you are unhappy with how we have used your personal information or have any questions about our privacy policy or information we hold about you. Our Data Protection Officer is Derek Mair who can be contacted at:

Hall Morrice LLP

Chartered Accountants

6&7 Queens Terrace

Aberdeen

AB10 1XL

We seek to resolve directly all complaints about how we handle personal information but you also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office, whose contact details are as follows:

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

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

Website - https://ico.org.uk/concerns