Privacy Policy

What is the purpose of this document?

Pierce Group Ltd, Pierce C A Ltd, Pierce Corporate Finance Ltd and Pierce Forensic Ltd are limited companies incorporated in England and Wales and trade collectively under the banner of Pierce.

Pierce is committed to protecting the privacy and security of your personal information.

This privacy notice describes how we collect and use personal information about you, in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Pierce is primarily a "data controller". This means that we are responsible for deciding how we hold and use personal information about you. We are required under data protection legislation to notify you of the information contained in this privacy notice.

For some client services we may be “data processors” and in such instances we will process such data on your behalf in accordance with relevant data protection legislation and in accordance with our engagement terms, in particular Clause 10.3 of our Standard Terms of Business.

We will comply with data protection law. This says that the personal information we hold about you must
be:

1. Used lawfully, fairly and in a transparent way.
2. Collected only for valid purposes that we have clearly explained to you and not used in any way that is incompatible with those purposes.
3. Relevant to the purposes we have told you about and limited only to those purposes.
4. Accurate and kept up to date.
5. Kept only as long as necessary for the purposes we have told you about.
6. Kept securely.

Personal data, or personal information, means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include data where the identity has been removed (anonymous data).

There are "special categories" of more sensitive personal data which require a higher level of protection.

We will collect, store, and use the following categories of personal information about you:

• Personal details
• Family, lifestyle and social circumstances
• Financial details
• Business activities of the person whose details we are processing.

We may also collect, store and use the following "special categories" of more sensitive personal information:

• Information about your race or ethnicity, religious beliefs, sexual orientation and political opinions.
• Information about your health, including any medical condition, health and sickness records.
• Information about criminal convictions and offences.

We will only use your personal information when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your personal information in the following circumstances:

1. You request a proposal from us for the services we provide
2. Where we need to perform the contract, we have entered into with you, or your employer i.e. for the provision of business, commercial, financial and tax advice
3. Where we need to comply with a legal obligation.
4. Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests.

We may also use your personal information in the following situations, which are likely to be rare:

1. Where we need to protect your interests (or someone else's interests).
2. Where it is needed in the public interest or for official purposes

We need all the categories of information in the list above (see the kind of information we hold about you) primarily to allow us to perform our contractual and commercial business relationship with you and to enable us to comply with legal obligations. In some cases, we may use your personal information to pursue legitimate interests of our own or those of third parties, provided your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests. The situations in which we will process your personal information are listed below.

• Administering any accounts
• Processing your bank/credit card details in order to obtain payment.
• The prevention and detection of fraud.
• Market research.
• Marketing.
• Credit reference checks.

Some of the above grounds for processing will overlap and there may be several grounds which justify our use of your personal information.

We may have to share your data with third parties, including third-party service providers.

We require third parties to respect the security of your data and to treat it in accordance with the law

We will share your personal information with third parties where required by law or where authorised by you, where it is necessary to administer the working relationship with you or where we have another legitimate interest in doing so.

Under our Code of Ethics there are very strict rules about who we can share your information with, usually subject to your written approval and authority, and this will normally be limited to other people who will assist with your matter or who we are authorised to communicate with (i.e. HMRC). This may include:

• HMRC.
• Professional Experts.
• IFA's and Pension providers or advisers.
• Mortgage providers.
• Lending Institutions.

Where you authorise us we may also disclose your information to your family, associates or representatives and we may also disclose your information to solicitors and/or debt collection agencies if you do not pay our bills.

How long will you use my information for?

We will keep your personal data only for as long as it is needed to achieve the reasons for which we collected it. In determining the suitable retention period for your personal data, we consider:

• the requirements of our business and the services provided;
• the purposes for which we originally collected the personal data;
• the lawful grounds on which we base our processing;
• any statutory or legal obligations;
• whether the purpose of the processing could reasonably be fulfilled by other means;
• the types of personal data we have collected; and
• the amount and categories of your personal data.

Your duty to inform us of changes

It is important that the personal information we hold about you is accurate and current.

Please keep us informed if your personal information changes during your working relationship with us.

Your rights in connection with personal information

Under certain circumstances, by law you have the right to:

• Request access to your personal information (commonly known as a "data subject access request"). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal information we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it
• Request correction of the personal information that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate information we hold about you corrected.
• Request erasure of your personal information. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal information 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 information where you have exercised your right to object to processing (see below).
• Object to processing of your personal information 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 ground. 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 information. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of personal information about you, for example if you want us to establish its accuracy or the reason for processing it.
• Request the transfer of your personal information to another party.

If you want to review, verify, correct or request erasure of your personal information, object to the processing of your personal data, or request that we transfer a copy of your personal information to another party, please contact our Data Protection Officer, Jimmy King.

If you are unhappy with how we are using your information then in the first instance you should contact our Data Protection Officer and if your complaint remains unresolved then you can contact the Information Commissioner's Office, details available at www.ico.org.uk