How we use your data

We are registered as a Data Controller with the Information Commissioners Office. We will use the information that you give us to provide you with legal services, as per your instructions. We will keep your information confidential and will only use it for the purpose(s) for which it was provided or as is permitted in law (i.e. for dealing with complaints or regulatory investigations).

Sharing information

We may have to share some or all of your information with other third parties. This may include barristers, experts and other third parties who we need to instruct to assist us with your matter. We may also have to share information with the Legal Ombudsman (if you complain about our services) and the Solicitors Regulation Authority (the statutory body that regulates solicitors). In doing so we will always take care to ensure that your information remains confidential and safe. We will liaise with you during your case about which experts, barristers and other third parties we instruct on your behalf.

If you are or become a client under the legal aid scheme then we may be contractually required to share some or all of that information with the Legal Aid Agency and / or with our quality assurance auditors.

We may need to share some or all of your information with quality assurance auditors for the purposes of their assessment of whether we are adhering to quality standards. Any examination will be strictly controlled and will be shared for the sole purpose of ensuring that our handling of your matter meets the requirements of the quality standard.

Your Rights

For information on how your information is used, how we maintain the security of our information, and to exercise your rights to access information we hold on you, please contact us. Similarly, if you believe that the information we hold is wrong or out of date, please let us know and we will update it. The person in this firm responsible for data protection is our Data Protection Officer, Sarah Smith (Director) and enquires and requests can be sent to her by telephone; 01273 713600, by emailing; , or in writing to; Tildens Ltd, 43 New England Rd Brighton East Sussex BN1 4GG.

There are eight rights under the GDPR regulations. We will discuss them in more detail should you wish to exercise any of your rights under the legislation. In order to assist you in understanding what your rights are, so that you can make an informed decision in relation to exercising those rights, we have set out briefly below, in plain English, what those rights are:-

1. The right to be informed.
You have the right to be informed about the processing of your personal data in a clear manner and you must be told about the other rights set out below. You must be informed of any rectification or erasure of your personal data.

2. The right of access.
You have the right to request access to the data we hold about you and ordinarily we should do that within 30 days.

3. The right to rectification.
You have the right to ask us to rectify the data we hold about you, for example to rectify a mistake or to update incomplete information.

4. The right to erasure.
You have the right to tell us to stop processing your data and delete it.

5. The right to restrict processing
You have the right under certain circumstances to tell us to stop processing the data that we hold about you.

6. The right to data portability.
You have the right to request that a data file we hold about you can be sent electronically to a third party. This must be done in a machine readable, commonly used format if feasible.

7. The right to object
If a request to stop processing your personal data was rejected by us you would have the right to object to your rights being denied.

8. Rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling
You have the right to object to automated data processing of your personal data if that significantly affects you or produces legal effects.

The above rights are ordinarily exercisable without charge.

These rights are not absolute rights, there are circumstances where rights can be restricted.

How long will we hold your data?

We will only hold your information for as long as necessary to provide you with legal services and then for only so long as we are required either contractually or under our regulatory obligations. This will not be more than six years after the end of your case / matter unless you are under 18 in which case we will keep your data for 6 years beyond the end of your 18th birthday. After this time, we will confidentially destroy all information that we hold about you.

CONFIDENTIALITY

Occasionally, our files may need to be examined by our insurers, external auditors (for quality purposes) or external advisers (who assist the firm in maintaining quality and risk). In particular, our files may need to be assessed for quality purposes by the SRA and the Legal Aid Agency. Your file may be one of a sample which is to be assessed. These external firms or organisations are required to maintain confidentiality in relation to your files and any examination will be strictly controlled.

REGULATION

We are authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA).

We operate in accordance with a code of conduct and other regulations contained with the SRA’s Handbook. For further information or to see a copy of the Handbook, please visit the SRA website.

PROFESSIONAL LEGAL INDEMNITY

The Firm holds professional legal indemnity insurance, which is reviewed annually.

CONDUCT AND COMPLAINTS

We have a duty of confidentiality towards you which can only be waived in very rare circumstances.

Tildens operates an in-house complaints procedure. We aim to offer a first-class service, but we are aware that sometimes mistakes can be made or there can be misunderstandings. If you are unhappy about something, I suggest that at first you contact me so that I can try to sort the matter out. If you are still not happy, we will ask an independent solicitor to deal with your complaint.

We do have a complaints procedure in force and a copy is available on request.

If you do lodge a complaint, we will respond to you in writing to explain how the complaint will be handled and the timescales within which a response must be made. You will not be charged for the cost of handling any complaint.

Finally, if you are not happy with the firms’ internal complaint procedures, we are obliged to advise you of your rights to complain to the Legal Ombudsman. The Legal Ombudsman investigates complaints about poor service from Lawyers. The Legal Ombudsman can investigate complaints up to six years from the date of the problem happening or within three years of when you found out about the problem. If you wish to refer your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman this must be done within six months of our final response to your complaint. If you would like more information about the Legal Ombudsman their contact details are as follows:

Visit the Legal Ombudsman website.

Call 0300 555 0333 between 8.30am to 5.30 pm.

Calls to 03 numbers will cost no more than calls to national geographic numbers (starting 01 or 02) from both mobiles and landlines.

Calls are recorded and may be used for training and monitoring purposes.

For minicom call 0300 555 1777. Email enquiries .

Legal Ombudsman
PO Box 6806
Wolverhampton
WV1 9WJ

You will not have grounds to complain to the Legal Ombudsman in all cases. If you do wish to take the matter further, you will need to contact the Legal Ombudsman directly. Please do not send any original documents to the Legal Ombudsman. They will scan any documents you send us to make computer copies and then destroy the originals.

In addition, you will receive a questionnaire at the end of your case giving you the chance to comment on the service you have received. We will read these very carefully and use them to try and improve aspects of our service to you so we would be very grateful if you could try and return them to us.