Privacy Policy | Home Care Service Group

1. Introduction and Overview

Home Care Service Group (“we”, “us”, “our”, or the “Company”) is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy and personal data. We understand that your personal information is valuable, and we take our responsibility to protect it seriously.

This Privacy Policy (“Policy”) explains in detail how we collect, use, store, share, and protect your personal information when you visit our website at homecareservicegroup.co.uk (“Website”), use our services, or otherwise interact with us. This Policy applies to all users of our Website and services, regardless of how they access or use them.

This Policy is designed to comply with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018, the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (PECR), and other applicable data protection legislation in the United Kingdom.

By accessing our Website or using our services, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with any part of this Policy, you should not access our Website or use our services.

We encourage you to read this Privacy Policy in full to understand our practices regarding your personal data. We have tried to make this Policy as clear and accessible as possible, but if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us using the details provided at the end of this document.

2. Data Controller Information

For the purposes of data protection legislation, Home Care Service Group is the data controller responsible for your personal data. As the data controller, we determine the purposes and means of processing your personal data and are responsible for ensuring that such processing is carried out in compliance with applicable data protection laws.

Our contact details are as follows:

Company Name: Home Care Service Group
Website: homecareservicegroup.co.uk
Contact Method: Via our online contact form

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, wish to exercise any of your data protection rights, or have any concerns about how we handle your personal data, please contact us using the methods described above. We aim to respond to all legitimate requests within one month, although this period may be extended by a further two months where necessary, taking into account the complexity and number of requests.

You also have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues. We would, however, appreciate the opportunity to address your concerns before you approach the ICO, so please contact us in the first instance.

3. Information We Collect

We collect and process various types of personal data depending on how you interact with our Website and services. Personal data means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person. We collect this information in different ways and for different purposes as described below.

3.1 Information You Provide Directly

When you use our services, particularly when requesting quotes or contacting us, you may provide us with the following categories of personal data:

Identity Data: This includes your full name, title, and any other identifying information you choose to provide. We use this information to identify you as a user of our services and to personalise our communications with you.
Contact Data: This includes your email address and postal code. Your email address allows us to communicate with you about your enquiry and send you relevant information. Your postal code helps us match you with service providers in your local area.
Service Request Data: This includes detailed information about your home service requirements, including the type of service needed, job descriptions, project specifications, preferred timelines, budget considerations, and any other details you provide about the work you need completed.
Communication Data: This includes any correspondence, messages, or communications you send to us, including feedback, complaints, and support requests. We retain this information to provide you with customer support and to improve our services.
Preference Data: This includes your preferences and settings related to our services, such as communication preferences and any customised settings you choose.

3.2 Information Collected Automatically

When you visit our Website, we automatically collect certain information about your device and your use of our Website. This information is collected using various technologies as described in more detail below:

Technical Data: This includes your Internet Protocol (IP) address, browser type and version, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform, device type and identifier, screen resolution, time zone setting, and other technology on the devices you use to access our Website.
Usage Data: This includes information about how you use our Website, including the pages you visit, the time and date of your visits, the time spent on each page, the links you click, the features you use, your navigation paths through our Website, and other actions you take while on our Website.
Location Data: We may collect information about your general location based on your IP address. This helps us understand where our users are located and to provide location-relevant services.
Referral Data: This includes information about how you arrived at our Website, including the referring website or source, search terms used, marketing campaigns that led you to us, and other attribution data.

3.3 Information from Third Parties

We may receive personal data about you from various third parties and public sources, including:

Analytics providers: Such as Vercel Analytics, which provide us with aggregated and anonymised data about Website usage patterns.
Advertising networks: Who may provide us with information about the effectiveness of our marketing campaigns.
Partner organisations: With whom we work to provide our services, who may share information about your interactions with them in connection with our services.

4. Legal Basis for Processing Your Personal Data

Under UK GDPR, we must have a valid legal basis to process your personal data. The legal basis we rely on depends on the specific purpose for which we are processing your data. We will only process your personal data when the law allows us to. Below we set out the legal bases we rely on for each processing activity:

4.1 Performance of a Contract (Article 6(1)(b) UK GDPR)

We process your personal data where it is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are a party, or to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract. This includes:

Processing your quote requests and matching you with appropriate service providers
Communicating with you about your enquiries and service requests
Providing you with the services you have requested
Managing our relationship with you as a user of our services

4.2 Legitimate Interests (Article 6(1)(f) UK GDPR)

We process your personal data 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. Our legitimate interests include:

Improving and developing our Website and services
Analysing how our Website and services are used to enhance user experience
Ensuring the security and integrity of our Website and systems
Preventing fraud and other illegal activities
Administering and protecting our business
Marketing our services to existing users (where permitted)

We have conducted legitimate interest assessments for each of these processing activities to ensure that the processing is necessary and that your rights do not override our interests.

4.3 Consent (Article 6(1)(a) UK GDPR)

In some circumstances, we may rely on your consent to process your personal data. Where we rely on consent, you have the right to withdraw it at any time. Withdrawing your consent will not affect the lawfulness of any processing we conducted prior to your withdrawal, nor will it affect the processing of your personal data conducted in reliance on other lawful grounds. You can withdraw your consent by contacting us using the details provided in this Policy.

4.4 Legal Obligation (Article 6(1)(c) UK GDPR)

We may process your personal data where it is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject. This includes retaining records for tax purposes, responding to lawful requests from law enforcement or regulatory bodies, and complying with court orders.

5. How We Use Your Personal Data

We use your personal data for the following purposes, each of which is supported by one or more legal bases as described above:

5.1 Service Delivery

To receive, process, and respond to your quote requests for home services
To match you with qualified and vetted service professionals who can meet your needs
To facilitate communication between you and service providers
To provide customer support and respond to your enquiries
To send you service-related notifications and updates

5.2 Business Operations

To administer and manage our Website and services
To improve, personalise, and develop our Website and services
To understand how users interact with our Website and services through analytics
To conduct research and analysis to better understand our users' needs
To measure and improve the effectiveness of our marketing efforts

5.3 Security and Compliance

To protect our Website, services, and users from fraud, abuse, and other harmful activities
To ensure the security and integrity of our systems and data
To enforce our terms of service and other policies
To comply with applicable laws, regulations, and legal processes
To respond to lawful requests from public authorities

5.4 Communications

To send you important information about your enquiries and our services
To notify you of changes to our services, policies, or terms
To respond to your feedback, complaints, or support requests
To send you marketing communications (where you have consented or where we have a legitimate interest to do so)

6. Data Sharing and Disclosure

We may share your personal data with third parties in certain circumstances. We require all third parties to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes and only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.

6.1 Service Provider Matching Partners

When you submit a quote request, we share your enquiry details with our trusted service provider matching partners, including Checkatrade, to connect you with qualified tradespeople who can fulfil your requirements. These partners act as independent data controllers and process your data in accordance with their own privacy policies. We encourage you to review their privacy policies to understand how they will use your data.

6.2 Technology and Analytics Providers

We work with third-party technology providers who help us operate our Website and analyse its usage:

Vercel: Provides our website hosting and analytics services. Vercel processes data in accordance with their privacy policy and data processing agreements.
Other analytics providers: We may use additional analytics tools to understand Website usage patterns. This data is typically anonymised and aggregated.

6.3 Legal and Regulatory Disclosures

We may disclose your personal data to third parties where required by law or where necessary to:

Comply with any court order, legal process, or request from competent authorities
Enforce our terms of service and other agreements
Protect our rights, property, or safety, or that of our users or others
Detect, prevent, or otherwise address fraud, security, or technical issues

6.4 Business Transfers

If we are involved in a merger, acquisition, reorganisation, sale of assets, or bankruptcy, your personal data may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will notify you of any such change in ownership or control of your personal data and will provide you with choices about how your data will be used.

6.5 With Your Consent

We may share your personal data with third parties where you have given us specific consent to do so.

Important: We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal data to third parties for their marketing purposes without your explicit consent.

7. Data Retention

We retain your personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, including to satisfy any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. We have implemented data retention policies and procedures to ensure that personal data is not kept for longer than necessary.

To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure, the purposes for which we process the data, whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal, regulatory, tax, accounting, or other requirements.

7.1 Specific Retention Periods

Quote Request Data: We retain your quote request information for a period of 2 years from the date of your last interaction with us. This enables us to provide follow-up services, maintain records of our services, and improve our offerings.
Communication Records: Correspondence and communications are retained for 3 years to enable us to provide ongoing support and maintain accurate records of our interactions.
Analytics Data: Aggregated and anonymised analytics data may be retained indefinitely for statistical and research purposes as it no longer constitutes personal data.
Legal and Compliance Records: We retain certain records as required by applicable laws, regulations, and professional requirements, which may exceed the standard retention periods.

7.2 Data Deletion

At the end of the relevant retention period, your personal data will be securely deleted or anonymised. In some circumstances, we may anonymise your personal data (so that it can no longer be associated with you) for research or statistical purposes, in which case we may use this information indefinitely without further notice to you.

8. Data Security

We have implemented appropriate technical and organisational security measures designed to protect your personal data against accidental loss, unauthorised access, use, alteration, and disclosure. We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure and take the security of your data seriously.

8.1 Technical Security Measures

Encryption: We use SSL/TLS encryption to protect data transmitted between your browser and our servers. This ensures that your data is encrypted in transit and protected from interception.
Secure Infrastructure: Our Website is hosted on secure infrastructure provided by Vercel, which maintains industry-standard security certifications and practices.
Access Controls: We implement strict access controls to limit who can access personal data to only those employees, contractors, and partners who need access to perform their duties.
Regular Updates: We regularly update our systems and software to address security vulnerabilities and maintain the latest security patches.
Monitoring: We monitor our systems for potential security threats and unusual activity.

8.2 Organisational Security Measures

Staff training on data protection and security best practices
Data protection policies and procedures
Regular security assessments and reviews
Vendor security assessments for third-party service providers
Incident response procedures for handling data breaches

8.3 Data Breach Procedures

While we implement robust security measures, no system is completely secure. In the event of a personal data breach that is likely to result in a risk to your rights and freedoms, we will notify you and the Information Commissioner's Office in accordance with our legal obligations under UK GDPR. We maintain breach detection, investigation, and internal reporting procedures to ensure we can respond quickly and effectively to any incidents.

8.4 Your Responsibilities

You are also responsible for helping to keep your data secure. We recommend that you do not share any personal or sensitive information through unsecured channels and that you contact us immediately if you become aware of any unauthorised use of your data.

9. Your Rights Under UK GDPR

Under UK data protection law, you have certain rights in relation to your personal data. These rights are subject to certain exemptions and limitations. Below we explain each of these rights and how you can exercise them.

9.1 Right of Access (Article 15)

You have the right to request access to your personal data. This is commonly known as a “data subject access request” and enables you to receive a copy of the personal data we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it. You may also request information about the purposes of processing, the categories of personal data concerned, the recipients of your data, the retention period, and your other rights.

9.2 Right to Rectification (Article 16)

You have the right to request correction of any inaccurate personal data we hold about you and to have any incomplete personal data completed. It is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal data changes during your relationship with us.

9.3 Right to Erasure (Article 17)

You have the right to request the deletion or removal of your personal data in certain circumstances, commonly known as the “right to be forgotten”. This right applies where:

The personal data is no longer necessary for the purpose for which it was collected
You withdraw consent (where consent was the basis for processing) and there is no other legal ground for the processing
You object to the processing and there are no overriding legitimate grounds
The personal data has been unlawfully processed
The personal data must be erased to comply with a legal obligation

Please note that we may not be able to comply with your request for erasure if processing of your personal data is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation or for the establishment, exercise, or defence of legal claims.

9.4 Right to Restrict Processing (Article 18)

You have the right to request that we restrict the processing of your personal data in certain circumstances, including where:

You contest the accuracy of the personal data (restriction applies while we verify accuracy)
The processing is unlawful and you oppose erasure
We no longer need the data but you require it for legal claims
You have objected to processing (restriction applies pending verification of legitimate grounds)

9.5 Right to Data Portability (Article 20)

You have the right to receive your personal data in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format and to transmit that data to another controller. This right applies where the processing is based on consent or contract performance and is carried out by automated means.

9.6 Right to Object (Article 21)

You have the right to object to processing of your personal data based on our legitimate interests or those of a third party. We will cease processing unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds for the processing which override your interests, rights, and freedoms, or the processing is necessary for the establishment, exercise, or defence of legal claims.

You also have the absolute right to object to processing of your personal data for direct marketing purposes at any time.

9.7 Rights Related to Automated Decision-Making (Article 22)

You have the right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing, including profiling, which produces legal effects concerning you or similarly significantly affects you. We do not currently make any decisions based solely on automated processing that would fall within the scope of this right.

9.8 Right to Withdraw Consent

Where we rely on consent to process your personal data, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. Withdrawal of consent does not affect the lawfulness of processing based on consent before its withdrawal.

9.9 Exercising Your Rights

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us through our contact form. We will respond to your request within one month of receipt. This period may be extended by two further months where necessary, taking into account the complexity and number of requests. We will inform you of any such extension within one month of receipt of your request.

We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal data (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it.

You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal data (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive, or excessive. Alternatively, we may refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances.

10. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

Our Website uses cookies and similar tracking technologies to distinguish you from other users of our Website. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our Website and also allows us to improve our Website.

10.1 What Are Cookies?

A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers that we store on your browser or the hard drive of your computer if you agree. Cookies contain information that is transferred to your computer's hard drive.

10.2 Types of Cookies We Use

Strictly Necessary Cookies: These cookies are essential for the operation of our Website. They include cookies that enable you to use our Website and its features. Without these cookies, services you have asked for cannot be provided.
Performance/Analytics Cookies: These cookies allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around our Website when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our Website works, for example, by ensuring that users are finding what they are looking for easily. We use Vercel Analytics for this purpose.
Functionality Cookies: These are used to recognise you when you return to our Website. This enables us to personalise our content for you and remember your preferences.

10.3 Managing Cookies

You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when websites set or access cookies. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of our Website may become inaccessible or not function properly.

Most web browsers allow some control of most cookies through the browser settings. To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them, visit www.allaboutcookies.org.

11. International Data Transfers

Your personal data may be transferred to, and processed in, countries outside the United Kingdom. These countries may have data protection laws that are different from the laws of the United Kingdom.

Whenever we transfer your personal data out of the UK, we ensure a similar degree of protection is afforded to it by ensuring at least one of the following safeguards is implemented:

Adequacy Decisions: We may transfer your personal data to countries that have been deemed to provide an adequate level of protection for personal data by the UK Government.
Standard Contractual Clauses: Where we use certain service providers, we may use specific contracts approved by the UK Government (known as International Data Transfer Agreements or Standard Contractual Clauses) which give personal data the same protection it has in the UK.
Binding Corporate Rules: Where we use providers that are part of a group of companies, they may have internal rules (binding corporate rules) that have been approved by relevant data protection authorities.

Please contact us if you want further information on the specific mechanism used by us when transferring your personal data out of the UK.

12. Third-Party Links and Services

Our Website may include links to third-party websites, plug-ins, applications, and services. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy statements or practices.

When you leave our Website, we encourage you to read the privacy policy of every website you visit. This Privacy Policy does not apply to any third-party websites or services that may be linked from our Website.

13. Children's Privacy

Our Website and services are not intended for children under the age of 18 years. We do not knowingly collect, use, or disclose personal data from children under 18. If we become aware that we have collected personal data from a child under 18 without verification of parental consent, we take steps to remove that information from our servers.

If you believe we might have any information from or about a child under 18, please contact us immediately using the contact details provided in this Policy.

14. Marketing Communications

We may use your personal data to send you marketing communications about our services that we believe may be of interest to you. We will only send you marketing communications where you have provided your consent or where we have a legitimate interest to do so (such as to existing customers about similar services).

You have the right to opt out of receiving marketing communications at any time by:

Clicking the “unsubscribe” link in any marketing email we send you
Contacting us using the details provided in this Policy

Please note that opting out of marketing communications will not affect service-related communications that are necessary for the administration of your relationship with us.

15. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology, legal requirements, or other factors. We will post any changes on this page with an updated revision date.

Where changes are significant, we may also notify you by other means such as sending an email or posting a notice on our Website. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically to stay informed about how we are protecting your personal data.

The “Last updated” date at the top of this Privacy Policy indicates when it was last revised. Your continued use of our Website and services after any changes to this Privacy Policy constitutes your acceptance of the updated Policy.

16. Complaints and Supervisory Authority

If you have any concerns or complaints about how we handle your personal data, we encourage you to contact us first so that we can try to resolve your concerns. We take all complaints seriously and will investigate any issues you raise.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's supervisory authority for data protection. The ICO can be contacted at:

Website: ico.org.uk
Telephone: 0303 123 1113
Address: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF

We would, however, appreciate the opportunity to address your concerns before you approach the ICO, so please contact us in the first instance.

17. Contact Us

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or our data protection practices, please contact us:

Via our contact form: Contact Form
Website: homecareservicegroup.co.uk

We aim to respond to all legitimate enquiries within one month. Occasionally, it may take us longer if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, we will notify you and keep you updated.