Privacy Policy - Gardeners Stepney

This Privacy Policy explains how Gardeners Stepney collects, uses, stores, and protects personal data belonging to customers and prospective customers in the Stepney area. It applies to all Gardeners Stepney customers in the area, including anyone who requests a quotation, books a service, makes an enquiry, or otherwise interacts with our gardening services. We are committed to handling personal information in a lawful, fair, and transparent manner in line with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

1. Personal Data We Collect

We only collect personal data that is relevant to providing gardening services, managing customer relationships, meeting legal obligations, and improving the quality of our work. The type of information we may collect includes:

Identity information: name, title, and any other details needed to identify you.
Contact information: postal address, service address, email address, and telephone number.
Service information: details about the gardening services requested, property access notes, preferences, service history, and records of completed work.
Payment and billing information: payment status, invoicing details, and transaction records, where applicable.
Communications: emails, messages, notes from calls, complaints, feedback, and other correspondence.
Technical information: limited website or device information if you submit an online enquiry, such as IP address, browser type, and form submission timestamps.
Special category data: we do not intentionally collect sensitive personal data. If such information is shared with us accidentally, we will treat it with additional care and only process it where legally permitted and necessary.

We do not ask for more information than we need. Where possible, we keep data collection minimal and proportionate.

2. How We Collect Data

Personal data may be collected in several ways, including:

when you contact us to request a quote or service;
when you book or rearrange a visit;
when you provide instructions about work to be completed;
when we communicate with you about billing, scheduling, or service updates;
when you leave feedback or make a complaint;
when third parties provide details necessary to complete a service on your behalf, such as property managers or account holders.

We may also collect data indirectly from public sources or professional referrals where needed to manage a business relationship, but only in ways that are lawful and appropriate.

3. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under data protection law, we must have a lawful basis for every use of personal data. Gardeners Stepney relies on the following lawful bases:

Contract

We process personal data when it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. This includes handling service requests, confirming appointments, carrying out work, issuing invoices, and managing service records.

Legal Obligation

We may process personal data when required to comply with legal or regulatory duties, such as tax recordkeeping, fraud prevention, or responding to lawful requests from authorities.

Legitimate Interests

We may process certain data for our legitimate business interests, provided these interests do not override your rights and freedoms. This may include managing customer relations, improving services, preventing misuse, maintaining secure records, and handling internal administration. Where we rely on legitimate interests, we assess the impact carefully and only process data in a reasonable and necessary way.

Consent

Where consent is required by law, such as for certain optional communications or non-essential processing, we will ask for it clearly and you may withdraw it at any time.

4. How We Use Your Information

We use personal data for the following purposes:

to provide gardening services in Stepney and surrounding local areas;
to arrange appointments and manage schedules;
to respond to enquiries and customer requests;
to prepare quotations and invoices;
to keep accurate records of jobs, preferences, and outcomes;
to maintain business operations and internal reporting;
to meet legal, accounting, and insurance requirements;
to resolve disputes, complaints, or service issues;
to improve service quality and customer experience.

We do not use your personal data for unrelated purposes without a valid legal reason.

5. Data Sharing and Processors

We may share personal data with trusted third parties who help us operate our business. These organisations act as processors or, in some cases, independent controllers. We only share what is necessary and require appropriate safeguards.

Types of processors may include:

IT and hosting providers: to securely store data and support communications or records management.
Accounting and invoicing services: to manage payments, receipts, and financial records.
Scheduling or administration tools: to organise appointments and customer records.
Professional advisors: such as legal or insurance advisers, where needed to protect our interests or comply with obligations.
Subcontractors or service partners: only where required to complete a customer request and where they must follow privacy and confidentiality requirements.

Every processor is expected to handle data securely, process it only on our instructions, and protect it from unauthorised access, loss, or misuse. We do not sell personal data.

6. Data Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purpose it was collected. Retention periods may vary depending on the nature of the record and legal requirements.

Customer service records: kept for the duration of the relationship and for a reasonable period afterwards.
Financial and tax records: retained for the period required by law.
Enquiry records: stored long enough to respond, track follow-up, and manage business administration.
Complaint or dispute records: held for as long as needed to resolve the matter and satisfy legal or insurance obligations.

When information is no longer required, we will delete it securely or anonymise it so that it can no longer identify you. Retention is reviewed regularly to ensure we do not keep data longer than necessary.

7. Security of Your Data

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against accidental loss, unlawful access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, restricted permissions, password protection, and staff awareness of privacy responsibilities.

While no system can be guaranteed to be completely secure, we work to maintain a high standard of protection and review our practices from time to time.

8. Your Rights Under GDPR

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

Right of access: you can ask for a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
Right to rectification: you can ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data.
Right to erasure: in some cases, you can ask us to delete your data.
Right to restrict processing: you can ask us to limit how we use your information in certain circumstances.
Right to object: you can object to processing based on legitimate interests.
Right to data portability: where applicable, you can request that we provide your data in a commonly used format.
Right to withdraw consent: where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.

If you wish to exercise any of these rights, we will respond in accordance with applicable data protection law. We may need to verify your identity before acting on a request.

9. Children’s Data

Our gardening services are aimed at adults and property managers. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If we become aware that we have inadvertently collected such information, we will take appropriate steps to remove it where required.

10. International Transfers

If any service provider processes data outside the United Kingdom, we will ensure that suitable safeguards are in place so that your information remains protected in accordance with applicable law.

11. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in law, business practices, or service arrangements. Any revised version will apply from the date it is made available. We encourage customers to review it periodically so they remain informed about how personal data is handled.

12. Summary of Our Commitment

Gardeners Stepney is committed to respecting privacy, processing data lawfully, and keeping personal information secure. We collect only what we need, use it for clear and legitimate purposes, share it only with appropriate processors, and retain it only for as long as necessary. Customers in the Stepney area can expect transparent handling of their information and the ability to exercise their rights under GDPR.

This policy applies to all Gardeners Stepney customers in the area.