Privacy Policy - Cleaners Tockwell

This Privacy Policy explains how Cleaners Tockwell collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. It applies to all Cleaners Tockwell customers in the area, including current, former, and prospective customers, as well as individuals who make enquiries or otherwise interact with our services. We are committed to handling personal data lawfully, fairly, and transparently, and to respecting your privacy at every stage of our service relationship.

1. Personal Data We Collect

We only collect personal data that is necessary for providing and managing our cleaning services, communicating with customers, meeting legal obligations, and improving our operations. The categories of information we may collect include:

Identity details such as your name and title.
Contact details such as your address, phone number, and email address.
Service information such as cleaning preferences, booking history, instructions, and property access requirements.
Payment-related data such as billing records, invoice details, and payment status. We do not store card details unless a secure payment service provider does so on our behalf.
Communication records including emails, messages, feedback, complaints, and service notes.
Technical and usage data if you interact with us online, such as device information, browser data, or limited usage information collected through standard website or system logs.
Special category data only where necessary and only in limited circumstances, for example where you voluntarily provide health-related access information that affects service delivery. Such data is handled with additional safeguards.

We do not intentionally collect more data than needed. If you provide information about other people, such as household members or occupants, you should ensure that you have permission to share it where appropriate.

2. How We Use Personal Data

We use personal data for specific and legitimate purposes related to our cleaning services. These include:

Managing enquiries and setting up customer accounts or service arrangements.
Delivering cleaning services and following customer instructions.
Scheduling appointments, confirming bookings, and handling changes or cancellations.
Processing payments, issuing invoices, and maintaining financial records.
Responding to complaints, requests, or customer support issues.
Meeting legal, regulatory, insurance, and tax obligations.
Protecting against fraud, misuse, or security incidents.
Improving service quality, training staff, and maintaining internal records.

We will only use your personal data in ways that are compatible with the original purpose for which it was collected, unless we reasonably believe another lawful basis applies and the new use is permitted by law.

3. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under GDPR, we must have a lawful basis for processing your personal data. Depending on the circumstances, Cleaners Tockwell relies on one or more of the following:

Contract

We process personal data when it is necessary to perform a contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract. This includes managing bookings, delivering cleaning services, and handling payments.

Legal Obligation

We may process personal data where required to comply with legal obligations, such as tax, accounting, employment, safeguarding, or regulatory requirements.

Legitimate Interests

We may process personal data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided those interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. Examples include maintaining service records, improving operations, preventing misuse, and communicating about existing services.

Consent

In limited situations, we may rely on your consent, particularly where this is required for certain optional communications or specific types of processing. Where consent is used, you have the right to withdraw it at any time, without affecting the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.

Vital Interests

In rare circumstances, we may process personal data where necessary to protect someone’s life or physical safety.

4. Sharing Personal Data and Processors

We may share personal data only when necessary and only with trusted third parties that help us deliver our services or meet our obligations. These third parties act as processors or, in some cases, independent controllers. We require appropriate data protection arrangements to be in place before sharing data.

Examples of processors and recipients may include:

Payment processors who handle secure payment transactions.
IT and hosting providers who store systems, records, or communications securely.
Accounting and bookkeeping providers who support invoicing and financial administration.
Customer management or scheduling tools that help organise bookings and service records.
Professional advisers such as lawyers, insurers, or auditors, where necessary.
Public authorities or regulators where disclosure is required by law.

We do not sell your personal data. Where data is transferred outside the UK or European Economic Area, we will ensure appropriate safeguards are in place in line with applicable data protection law.

5. Data Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, including any legal, accounting, reporting, or insurance requirements. Retention periods depend on the type of data and the reason we hold it.

Customer service records are retained for a period necessary to manage the relationship and resolve any disputes.
Financial and invoicing records are kept for the period required by tax and accounting laws.
Communication records may be retained for a reasonable period to support service continuity and complaint handling.
Security-related records may be retained for a period needed to investigate incidents, enforce policies, or protect our interests.

When personal data is no longer needed, we will securely delete, anonymise, or archive it in accordance with our internal retention practices. We regularly review the data we hold to ensure it is not kept longer than necessary.

6. Data Security

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data from loss, misuse, unauthorised access, alteration, or disclosure. These measures may include restricted access controls, secure storage, staff confidentiality obligations, and data minimisation practices. While no system can be guaranteed to be completely secure, we take reasonable steps to safeguard the information entrusted to us.

7. Your Rights Under GDPR

You have a number of rights in relation to your personal data. Subject to certain legal conditions and exemptions, these rights include:

The right of access to obtain a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
The right to rectification to correct inaccurate or incomplete data.
The right to erasure in certain circumstances, also known as the right to be forgotten.
The right to restrict processing in certain situations.
The right to object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing.
The right to data portability for data you provided to us where processing is based on consent or contract and carried out by automated means.
The right to withdraw consent where processing is based on consent.
The right not to be subject to solely automated decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects, where applicable.

If you wish to exercise any of these rights, we will respond in line with applicable data protection rules. We may need to verify your identity before acting on your request. In some cases, we may not be able to comply fully where legal obligations require us to keep certain information.

8. Cookies and Similar Technologies

If we use online systems or digital tools, limited technical information may be collected through cookies or similar technologies. These technologies are generally used to support basic functionality, improve performance, and help maintain secure and reliable services. Where required, appropriate notice and choices will be provided. You can usually control cookies through your browser settings, although disabling them may affect certain functions.

9. Children’s Data

Our services are intended for adults. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children unless it is necessary in connection with a household service request and only with appropriate authority from a parent, guardian, or responsible adult where required.

10. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, legal requirements, or data handling practices. Any revised version will apply from the date it is published or otherwise communicated. We encourage customers to review this Policy periodically to remain informed about how we protect personal data.

11. Summary of Our Commitment

Cleaners Tockwell is committed to processing personal data responsibly, securely, and only where necessary. We aim to be transparent about what we collect, why we collect it, how long we keep it, who may process it on our behalf, and what rights you have. Our approach is based on lawfulness, fairness, transparency, data minimisation, accuracy, storage limitation, integrity, and confidentiality. By maintaining these principles, we seek to provide a service that respects both customer privacy and legal compliance.