Data Privacy Policy

General

Matrix Legal and Forensic Services Ltd, Forensic Accountants and Legal Service providers, provides expert witness services based at Broomfield House, Northlew EX20 3NR.

This privacy notice provides information about the personal information we process about you as a data controller, in compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Our ICO registration number is ZA160363

Please contact Stephanie Kenyon at stephanie.kenyon@matrixlegalservices.co.uk  with any questions or requests about the personal information we process.

This Privacy Policy sets out how we, Matrix Legal & Forensic, obtain, store and use your personal information when you instruct us or use or interact with our website, http://www.matrixforensic.co.uk.

Please note that if you enlist our services, both parties may enter into a separate agreement that will govern the processing of all information and data collected by our firm in connection with the service, including some data collected through our website. Such agreement takes precedence over any conflicting provision in this Privacy Policy.

This Privacy Policy is effective from 10th May 2018.

Your rights

We are committed to protecting your rights to privacy. They include:

• Right to be informed about what we do with your personal data.

• Right to have a copy of all the personal information we process about you;

• Right to rectification of any inaccurate data we process, and to add to the information we hold about you if it is incomplete;

• Right to be forgotten and your personal data destroyed;

• Right to restrict the processing of your personal data;

• Right to object to the processing we carry out based on our legitimate interest;

The personal data we process, why we process it, where it comes from and the legal basis for doing so

Legal cases and Accountancy and Tax Services

We process the personal data of individuals who are obtaining legal advice or are engaged in a legal dispute, and also the personal data of witnesses and others with links to the issues in the case.

The personal data may include:

• Names, contact details and dates of birth;

• Financial information and bank details;

• Health information;

• Information about race, ethnic origin and sex;

The personal data are generally provided by the person instructing us in relation to the legal issues, who is usually a solicitor.

We process the data because it is in our legitimate interests as expert witnesses to do so. We need to see and analyse documents containing this information in order to provide our expert advice.

In relation to any special category personal data, such as health records or information concerning, race, ethnic origin, or sex is, we rely on the legal claims basis for processing this data, in addition to our legitimate interest.

In many cases, an individual has consented to the transfer of their personal data to us. Where an individual has consented, he or she may easily withdraw it by notifying Stephanie Kenyon at stephanie.kenyon@matrixlegalservices.co.uk.

Other personal data

We also process personal data pursuant to our legitimate interests in running our business such as:

• Invoices and receipts;

• Accounts, VAT and tax returns;

• Insurance policies and related documents;

As an employer, we process personal data further to contracts of employment with our employees. The information includes:

• Names, addresses and contact details;

• Pay and bank details, pay slips;

• Curricula vitae, contracts of employment, references and appraisals;

• Health information (in reliance on the occupational health exemption contained in the Data Protection Act 2018)

Finally, we run a client relationship management system. Any personal data on the system is held in accordance with the consent of the data subject which can be withdrawn at any time by contacting Stephanie Kenyon above.

Retention period

Personal data in legal cases is retained, where necessary, for a minimum of six years in compliance with our professional indemnity obligations. Where this is not necessary, it is destroyed on the conclusion of the case.

Administrative data is retained for up to six years as necessary, in the unlikely event there are queries from HMRC and the VAT commissioner. Where it is not necessary to retain the data for six years, it is destroyed as soon as possible.

Personal data relating to employees who have left our employment is also retained for up to six years as necessary. This is the time limit for bringing a breach of contract claim. In some cases, we destroy it as soon as the employee leaves.

Whom do we share personal data with

We share personal data internally strictly on a need to know basis.

Special category data and personnel files held electronically have restricted access. Hard copy special category and other personal data is stored securely with restricted access.

We do not share personal data with anyone external to the organisation, other than with:

Those who have instructed us as an expert witness

• Outsourced service providers such as photocopying companies and digital dictation services, pursuant to GDPR compliant written contracts

• HMRC and the VAT Commissioner as they require

• With others pursuant to a court order

Information Commissioner’ s Office

If you have any concerns about the way your personal information has been processed, please contact Stephanie Kenyon above. Alternatively, you may contact the Information Commissioner’ s Office on 0303 123 1113.

When using our website

We use non-personally identifiable information to analyse site usage (such as aggregated information on the pages visited by our users), which allows us to improve the design and content of our site.

We may do the following with your personal information:

• to respond to your inquiry or form you have completed on various sections of our Website;

• use it to provide legal services;

• use it to engage in marketing and business development activity in relation to our legal services. This may include sending you newsletters, legal updates, marketing communications and other information that may be of interest to you;

• to comply with legal and regulatory obligations that we have to discharge; and

• use it for our legitimate business interests, such as undertaking business research and analysis, managing the operation of our websites and our business.

Grounds for using your personal information

We rely on the following legal grounds to process your personal information, namely:

• Consent– we may (but usually do not) need you consent to use your personal information. You can withdraw your consent by contacting us (see below).

• Performance of a contract– we may need to collect and use your personal information to enter into a contract with you or to perform our obligations under a contract with you.

• Legitimate interest– we may use your personal information for our legitimate interests, some examples of which are given above.

• Compliance with law or regulation– we may use your personal information as necessary to comply with applicable law/regulation.

How we share information with third parties

We do not sell or rent your personal information to third-parties.

We may share your personal information with third parties, only to the extent necessary to run our business, provide a service to you, comply with the law, enforce our legal rights or because you have provided consent.

This may include the following.

• Third party agents/suppliers or contractors, in connection with the processing of your personal information for the purposes described in this Policy. This may include, but is not limited to, website hosting, IT and communications service providers.

• Third parties relevant to the services that we provide.

• To the extent required by law, regulation or court order, for example, if we are under a duty to disclose your personal information in order to comply with any legal obligation.

• Where it is reasonably necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of a legal or equitable claim, or for the purposes of a confidential alternative dispute resolution process.

Links to other websites

Our website may contain links to other websites run by other organisations. This privacy policy applies only to our website‚ so we encourage you to read the privacy statements on the other websites you visit. We cannot be responsible for the privacy policies and practices of other sites even if you access them using links from our website.

In addition, if you linked to our website from a third-party site, we cannot be responsible for the privacy policies and practices of the owners and operators of that third party site and recommend that you check the policy of that third party site.

Website forms

Any forms which are available on our website are powered by Jotforms also bound by the EU General Data Protection Regulations.

When you fill out a form, the data that you submit will be forwarded to Jotforms and will be collated into an email and sent to us.

The data that you submit via the form will not be stored within this website’s own database or in any of our internal computer systems.

Your data will remain within Jotform’s secure database in the EU for as long as we continue to use Jotform’s services or until you specifically request removal by emailing us.

We consider JotForm to be a third party data processor. For more information, please see https://www.jotform.com/privacy/

Transferring your information outside of Europe

We may transfer your personal information outside of the European Economic Area.

If we do transfer your personal data outside the EEA:

• it will be because you have consented or because we have a legal reason to do so; and

• we will take steps to ensure that appropriate security measures are taken with the aim of ensuring that your privacy rights continue to be protected as outlined in this Policy.

16 or Under

We are concerned to protect the privacy of children aged 16 or under. If you are aged 16 or under‚ please get your parent/guardian’s permission beforehand whenever you provide us with personal information.

Keeping your information and information security

How long we hold your personal information for will vary and will depend principally on:

• the purpose for which we are using your personal information – we will need to keep the information for as long as is necessary for the relevant purpose, and

• legal obligations – laws or regulation may set a minimum period for which we have to keep your personal information.

We will ensure that the personal information that we hold is subject to appropriate security measures.

Cookies

A cookie is a piece of data stored on a user’s hard drive containing information about the user. The information below explains the cookies we use on our website and why we use them:

• Google Analytics cookies: we use these cookies to collect information about how visitors use our website, including details of the site where the visitor has come from and the total number of times a visitor has been to our website. We use the information to improve our website and enhance the experience of its visitors.

You can enable or disable cookies by modifying the settings in your browser. You can find out how to do this, and find more information on cookies, at: www.allaboutcookies.org.

• The following first party Cookies may be placed on your computer or device:

  Name of Cookie	Purpose	Strictly Necessary?
  XSRF_TOKEN matrixforensic_session	This cookie is provided by the Laravel framework in order to prevent cross-scripting attacks This cookie is provided by the Laravel framework in order to handle sessions	Yes Yes

• The analytics service(s) used by Our Site use(s) the following Cookies:

  Name of Cookie	Name of Provider	Purpose
  _gat UA-213657310-1 _ga	Google Google	Used for Google Analytics Used for Google Analytics.
  _gid	Google	Used for Google Analytics.

Your choices and rights

You have a number of legal rights in relation to the personal information that we hold about you and you can exercise your rights by contacting us using the details set out below.

These rights include:

• Obtaining information regarding the processing of your personal information and access to the personal information which we hold about you. Please note that there may be circumstances in which we are entitled to refuse requests for access to copies of personal information. In particular, information that is subject to legal professional privilege will not be disclosed other than to our client and as authorised by our client.

• Requesting that we correct your personal information if it is inaccurate or incomplete.

• Requesting that we erase your personal information in certain circumstances. Please note that there may be circumstances where you ask us to erase your personal information but we are legally entitled to retain it.

• Objecting to, and requesting that we restrict, our processing of your personal information in certain circumstances. Again, there may be circumstances where you object to, or ask us to restrict, our processing of your personal information but we are legally entitled to refuse that request.

• In some circumstances, receiving some personal information in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and/or requesting that we transmit those information to a third party where this is technically feasible. Please note that this right only applies to personal information which you have provided to us.

• Withdrawing your consent, although in certain circumstances it may be lawful for us to continue processing without your consent if we have another legitimate reason (other than consent) for doing so.

• Lodging a complaint with the relevant data protection authority, if you think that any of your rights have been infringed by us. We can, on request, tell you which data protection authority is relevant to the processing of your personal information.

Changes to our privacy policy

This privacy policy may change from time to time inline with legislation or industry developments. We will not explicitly inform our clients or website users of these changes. Instead, we recommend that you check this page occasionally for any policy changes.

14. How to contact us and other important information

If you would like further information on the collection, use, disclosure, transfer or processing of your personal information or the exercise of any of the rights listed above, please contact us. You can do this by writing to us at enquiries@matrixforensic.co.uk.