Privacy policy

1. Who are we?

When we say “TCB”, “we”, “us” or “our” we are referring to The Consultancy Business Limited which is a company registered in Scotland (company number SC759516) with a registered office at 272 Bath Street, Glasgow, Scotland, G2 4JR. TCB respects your privacy (“you”) and is committed to protecting your Personal Data (defined below). This privacy policy will inform you as to how we look after your personal data when you visit our platform theconsultancybusiness.com (regardless of where you visit it from) and tell you about your privacy rights and how the law protects you.

When we, and our service providers, collect and use your Personal Data, we are the Data Controller for the purposes of Data Protection Legislation (defined below).

2. About this privacy policy

This privacy policy and the Cookies Policy, tells you how your Personal Data, which we collect from you or which you provide to us, will be processed by us.

It is important that you read this privacy policy together with any other privacy policy or fair processing policy we may provide on specific occasions when we are collecting or processing Personal Data about you so that you are fully aware of how and why we are using your data. This privacy policy supplements other notices and privacy policies and is not intended to override them.

Please see section 5 for an explanation of the capitalised terms used in this privacy policy.

This platform is not intended for children and we do not knowingly collect data relating to children.

3. How to contact us

If you have any questions about this privacy policy, our privacy practices or you which to exercise your legal rights, please contact our Director Phil Lewis in one of the following ways:

Email address: office@theconsultancybusiness.com

Postal address: 272 Bath Street, Glasgow, Scotland, G2 4JR

4. Letting each other know of any changes

We keep our privacy policy under regular review. This version was last updated in March 2023.

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.

5. Glossary

When we refer to Data Protection Legislation we mean the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.

Personal Data or Personal Information is any information identifying you as a specific individual. It can identify you directly from that information alone or indirectly in combination with other information we hold or can reasonably access. As well as identifying you as a specific individual, to be Personal Data, the data must also relate to you. Truly anonymous information is not Personal Data.

Processing is almost anything that can be done with Personal Data, including collecting, recording, storing, using, analysing, combining, disclosing or deleting it.

A Data Controller is someone who decides why Personal Data is to be collected and how it will be used and treated.

ICO means the UK Information Commission’s Office, the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues.

UK Addendum is the Information Commissioner’s standard data protection clauses to the EU Commission Standard Contractual Clauses for the transfer of Personal Data from the UK to controllers established in third countries (processor-to-controller transfer) issued under section 199A(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018.

Standard Contractual Clauses is the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses for the transfer of Personal Data from the European Union to controllers established in third countries (processor-to-controller transfers), as set out in the Annex to Commission Decision 2010/87/EU as adapted for the UK.

UK GDPR is as defined in section 3(10) (as supplemented by section 205(4)) of the Data Protection Act 2018.

To Process your Personal Data we need to be able to rely upon one of the following Legal Basis:

1. Consent: you have given your consent for us to process your Personal Data for that purpose.
2. Contract: the use of your Personal Data is necessary for the performance of a contract we have with you, or because you have asked us to take specific steps before entering into a contract.
3. Legal Obligation: the use of your Personal Data is necessary for us to comply with law.
4. Vital Interests: the use of your Personal Data is necessary to protect your vital interests e.g. your life.
5. Public Task: we need to process Personal Data (a) in the exercise of official authority (e.g. public functions and powers that are set out in law) or (b) to perform a specific task in the public interest that is set out in law.
6. Legitimate Interests: the use of your Personal Data is necessary for legitimate interests pursued by us or a third party. Before we rely on this legal basis we will balance your interests against the legitimate interests pursued by us. In particular, if you would not reasonably expect your Personal Data to be used in a certain way, or it would cause unwarranted harm, your interests are likely to override the legitimate interests. However, your interests do not always have to align with the legitimate interests.

6. What Personal Data do we process about you?

We may collect, use, store and transfer different types of Personal Data about you during your relationship with us. We have grouped together these types of Personal Data as follows:

• Contact Data includes personal or business contact details, such as address, email address, telephone number, billing address, social media account names, and contact preferences.
• Financial Data includes details of methods of payment to us including bank details.
  Transaction Data includes details of the services we provide to you and all other information in connection with the provision of services.
• Identity Data includes first name, last name or similar identifier and geographical location. This may disclose Special Category Personal Data.
• Marketing Data includes your preferences in receiving marketing from us and our third parties and your communication preferences.
• Profile Data includes your username and password, purchases or orders made by you, your interests, preferences, feedback and survey responses.
• Usage Data includes information about how you use our platform and services.
• Technical Data includes internet protocol (IP) address, your login data, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform and other technology on the devices you use to access our website, apps or other platforms.
• Other data includes any other information provided by yourself to us.
• We also collect, use and share Aggregated Data such as statistical or demographic data for any purpose. Aggregated data may be derived from your Personal Data but is not considered personal data in law as this data does not directly or indirectly reveal your identity. For example, we may aggregate your usage data to calculate the percentage of users accessing a specific website or platform feature. However, if we combine or connect aggregated data with your Personal Data so that it can directly or indirectly identify you, we treat the combined data as Personal Data which will be used in accordance with this notice.

What happens if you don’t provide us with Personal Data

Where we need to collect Personal Data by law, or under the terms of a contract we have with you, and you fail to provide that data when requested, we may not be able to perform the contract we have or are trying to enter into with you (for example, to provide you with services). In this case, we may have to cancel a product or service you have with us but we will notify you if this is the case at the time.

7.  Collecting your Personal Data

Direct interactions. You may give us your Personal Data directly by letter, email, telephone, placing an order for services on our platform, filling in our forms (such as completing the ‘Contact Us’ section on our platform) or speaking with us in person for example where you request information about our services.

Indirect interactions. We may also receive Personal Data about you indirectly. For example:

• From your use of our website, apps or platforms (through, for example, use of cookies);
• From publicly available sources such as your personal social media accounts;
• From third parties who have your consent to share Personal Data with us.

8. How do we use your Personal Data and why?

Generally, we will use your Personal Data for the purposes of managing our relationship with you. We will only use your personal data when the law allows us to. We have set out in the table below further detail of all the ways we plan to use your Personal Data, and which of the Legal Basis and, if applicable, Additional Condition we rely on to do so.

We have also identified what our Legitimate Interests are where appropriate. Note that we may process your personal data for more than one lawful ground depending on the specific purpose for which we are using your data. Please contact us if you need details about the specific legal ground we are relying on to process your personal data where more than one ground has been set out in the table below.

Marketing

You can ask us to stop sending you marketing messages at any time by following any opt-out links on any marketing message sent to you or by contacting us at any time.

Where you opt-out of receiving these marketing messages, this will not apply to Personal Data provided to us for other purposes.

Promotional offers from us

We may use your Identity, Contact, Technical, Usage and Profile Data to form a view on what we think you may want or need, or what may be of interest to you. This is how we decide which products, services and offers may be relevant for you (we call this marketing).

You will receive marketing communications from us if you have requested information from us or purchased services from us and you have not opted out of receiving that marketing.

Business records

Your Personal Data may be included in business records e.g. voicemails, e-mails, correspondence, documents, and other work product and communications created, stored or transmitted using our networks, applications, devices, computers or communications equipment. We have this information as it is necessary for our business and therefore in our Legitimate Interests (and where we have a Contract in place with you, it is necessary for your Contract).

We require to use any or all types of your Personal Data for litigation purpose depending on the specific nature of the litigation. We rely on the Legal Basis of our Legitimate Interests for this purpose, and as necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of Legal Claims.

Opting out

You can ask us to stop sending you marketing messages at any time by contacting us at any time.

Where you opt out of receiving these marketing messages, this will not apply to Personal Data provided to us as a result of a service purchase, service experience or other transactions.

Change of purpose

We will only use your Personal Data for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose. If you wish to get an explanation as to how the processing for the new purpose is compatible with the original purpose, please contact us.

Please note that we may process your Personal Data without your knowledge or Consent, in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law.

9. How long we hold your Personal Data for

We will in many circumstances retain the Personal Data that we collect. Where we do, the length of time we shall retain it for shall be determined by a number of factors, including the type of data, the purpose for which we use that data including our legal and regulatory obligations which we must comply with when we collect and process Personal Data. We will also take into account the amount, nature and sensitivity of the Personal Data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of Personal Data. We will not retain personal data for longer than is necessary.

In some circumstances you can ask us to delete your data: please see section 13 below. We will only retain your Personal Data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.

In some circumstances we may anonymise your Personal Data so that it can no longer be associated with you, in which case we may use such information without further notice to you.

10. Who we share your Personal Data with

We share your Personal Data with others in certain circumstances as detailed below for the purposes set out in the table at section 7.

• Legal and regulatory. We will also provide your Personal Data to third parties where there is a legal obligation to do so, for example to regulators (such as the Health and Safety Executive), government departments, law enforcement authorities (such as Police Scotland, tax authorities and any relevant dispute resolution body or the courts).
• Change of structure. We may also provide your Personal Data to third parties in connection with any sale, merger, acquisition, disposal, reorganisation or similar change in our business or assets.
• Authorised third party. We will provide information about you to any person who is authorised to act on your behalf.
• Professional service providers. We may provide your Personal Data to our professional service providers such as accountants, professional advisors, insurance providers and lawyers.
• Service providers. We contract with third party service providers and suppliers to deliver certain services some of whom may store personal data in cloud-based data centres. Our service providers change from time to time and we will inform you if this is the case by updating this privacy policy. We currently use the following service providers:

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.

We will never, under any circumstances, sell your Personal Data.

11. International transfers

The Personal Data we collect from you will usually be stored inside the UK. However, we may transfer Personal Data outside the UK. Where we do this, we will ensure that the transfer is to a country covered by a decision of the ICO or is otherwise made in circumstances where we have put appropriate safeguards in place (such as Standard Contractual Clauses and/or the UK Addendum) to protect your Personal Data in accordance with the Data Protection Legislation.

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. Keeping your Personal Data secure

We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your Personal Data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. In addition, we limit access to your Personal Data to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your Personal Data on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected Personal Data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so.

13. Your legal rights

If you have any questions about our use of your Personal Data, you are welcome to contact us. You will find our contact details at the top of this page. If you notice any errors in your Personal Data, you have the right to have them corrected.

You have certain rights under the Data Protection Legislation which apply in certain circumstances:

• 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 Data that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate data we hold about you corrected, though we may need to verify the accuracy of the new data you provide to us.
• Request erasure of your Personal Data. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove Personal Data 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 Data where you have successfully exercised your right to object to Processing (see below), where we may have Processed your information unlawfully or where we are required to erase your Personal Data to comply with local law.
• Object to Processing of your Personal Data 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 as you feel it impacts on your fundamental rights and freedoms. You also have the right to object where we are Processing your Personal Data for direct marketing purposes. In some cases, we may demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate grounds to Process your information which override your rights and freedoms.
• Request restriction of Processing of your Personal Data. This enables you to ask us to suspend the Processing of your Personal Data in the following scenarios: (a) if you want us to establish the data’s accuracy; (b) where our use of the data is unlawful but you do not want us to erase it; (c) where you need us to hold the data even if we no longer require it as you need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims; or (d) you have objected to our use of your data but we need to verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds to use it.
• Request the transfer of your Personal Data to you or to a third party. We will provide to you, or a third party you have chosen, your Personal Data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format. Note that this right only applies to automated information which you initially provided Consent for us to use or where we used the information to perform a Contract with you.
• Withdraw Consent at any time where we are relying on Consent to Process your Personal Data. However, this will not affect the lawfulness of any Processing carried out before you withdraw your Consent. If you withdraw your Consent, we may not be able to provide certain products or services to you. We will advise you if this is the case at the time you withdraw your Consent.

If you wish to exercise any of the rights set out above, please contact us. However, you should note that, you are not always entitled to exercise each of these rights (except for the right of access). The rights which you are entitled to exercise depend on a number of factors including the lawful basis on which we rely to use your Personal Data. Therefore, if you make a request to exercise a right which is not available to you, we have the right to decline the request. You can request access to your Personal Data at any time and this does not depend on the lawful basis of our processing – we will explain to you if exemptions apply or if the right of access is not engaged. In some circumstances, you may be able to exercise your rights, but this will impair your ability to use the services we offer.

You will not usually 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 could refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances.

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. We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up our response.

We try to respond to all legitimate requests within one month. Occasionally it could take us longer than a month 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.

Further details about your rights can be found on the ICO’s website at https://ico.org.uk/.

14. Our use of 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 this platform may become inaccessible or not function properly. For more information about the cookies we use, please refer to our Cookies Policy.

15. Other websites or platforms

This platform may contain links to third-party websites, plug-ins and applications.. If you follow a link to or from any such website or app, please note that your use of such website/app will be subject to that website’s privacy policy and T&Cs and we do not accept responsibility or liability for your use of such website/app. Please check the terms of the third party website’s privacy policy before submitting any personal data to such a website/app.

16. How to make a complaint

You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the ICO, the UK regulator for data protection issues (www.ico.org.uk). If you are a customer located in the EU you can if you wish complain to your local data protection supervisory authority.

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

Last updated: March 2023.