Privacy Policy

Who we are

Herts Accountants is a trading name of Sarah Christian BFP ACA an ICAEW Registered Firm of Chartered Accountants. Our registered office is in Hertfordshire, England. We are the data controller for the personal information we collect through this website and in the course of providing our services.

If you have any questions about this policy or how we handle your data, please contact us at info@hertsaccountants.co.uk.

What information we collect

We may collect the following categories of personal information:

• •Contact details — your name, email address, telephone number and postal address when you complete a contact form, book an appointment, or enquire about our services.
• •Business information — your business name, structure, turnover range and the services you are interested in, provided through our fee estimator or enquiry forms.
• •Communication records — emails, messages and notes from telephone calls relating to your enquiry or engagement with us.
• •Website usage data — anonymised analytics data (pages visited, session duration, device type) collected via Google Analytics 4 with your consent.
• •Appointment details — preferred dates, times and service types submitted through our booking system.

How we use your information

We use your personal information for the following purposes:

• •To respond to your enquiries and provide the accountancy services you have requested.
• •To send appointment confirmations and reminders.
• •To fulfil our legal and regulatory obligations as an ICAEW Registered Firm, including anti-money laundering (AML) checks.
• •To improve our website and services using anonymised analytics data.
• •To send you relevant updates or information about our services where you have given consent or where we have a legitimate interest to do so.

We will never sell your personal data to third parties.

Legal basis for processing

We process your personal data under the following lawful bases under UK GDPR:

• •Contract — where processing is necessary to perform a contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract.
• •Legal obligation — where we are required to process data to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations (e.g. HMRC reporting, ICAEW requirements, AML regulations).
• •Legitimate interests — where we have a legitimate business interest in processing your data, such as responding to enquiries, provided this does not override your rights.
• •Consent — where you have given explicit consent, such as for analytics cookies or marketing communications. You may withdraw consent at any time.

Cookies and analytics

Our website uses cookies. We use Google Analytics 4 to understand how visitors use our site. Analytics cookies are only placed with your consent, which you can give or withdraw at any time via the cookie banner on our site.

We do not use cookies for advertising or profiling purposes. For full details of the cookies we use, please see our Cookie Policy (available on request).

Who we share your data with

We may share your personal information with:

• •HMRC and other regulatory bodies — where we are legally required to do so.
• •ICAEW — as part of our regulatory obligations as a registered firm.
• •Our software and service providers — including our practice management software, email platform, and cloud storage providers, all of whom are bound by data processing agreements.
• •Professional advisers — such as solicitors or insurers, where necessary.

All third parties we work with are required to keep your information secure and to use it only for the purposes we specify.

How long we keep your data

We retain personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, and in accordance with our legal and regulatory obligations:

• •Client records are typically retained for a minimum of six years following the end of the client relationship, in line with HMRC requirements and ICAEW guidance.
• •Enquiry and contact form data from non-clients is retained for up to 12 months.
• •Analytics data is retained in accordance with Google Analytics' data retention settings.

After the applicable retention period, data is securely deleted or anonymised.

Your rights

Under UK GDPR, you have the following rights in relation to your personal data:

• •Right of access — to request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• •Right to rectification — to ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data.
• •Right to erasure — to request deletion of your data in certain circumstances.
• •Right to restrict processing — to ask us to limit how we use your data.
• •Right to data portability — to receive your data in a structured, machine-readable format.
• •Right to object — to object to processing based on legitimate interests.
• •Right to withdraw consent — where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at info@hertsaccountants.co.uk. We will respond within one month. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk.

Data security

We take the security of your personal data seriously. We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your information against unauthorised access, loss or disclosure. Our website uses HTTPS encryption, and access to client data is restricted to authorised personnel only.

Links to other websites

Our website may contain links to third-party websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of those sites and encourage you to read their privacy policies before providing any personal information.

Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The date at the top of this page shows when it was last revised. We encourage you to review this policy periodically.

Contact us

If you have any questions, concerns or requests relating to this Privacy Policy or how we handle your personal data, please contact us:

Herts Accountants Email: info@hertsaccountants.co.uk Telephone: 07405 767 923