Privacy Policy - Cleaner Westhampstead

Cleaner Westhampstead is committed to protecting the privacy and personal data of all customers in the Westhampstead area. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, share, and protect personal data in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. It applies to all Cleaner Westhampstead customers in the area, including individuals who request domestic, commercial, one-off, or recurring cleaning services.

1. Who We Are

For the purposes of data protection law, Cleaner Westhampstead acts as the data controller for personal data collected in connection with our cleaning services. This means we determine the purposes and means of processing your personal information. We are responsible for ensuring that your data is handled lawfully, fairly, and transparently.

2. Data We Collect

We collect only the personal data necessary to provide and manage our services, communicate with customers, and meet legal obligations. The types of data we may collect include:

Identity information such as your name and title.
Contact details such as your phone number and email address.
Address details for service delivery and billing purposes.
Service information including cleaning preferences, property access instructions, booking history, and special requests.
Payment-related information such as transaction status and payment confirmations. We do not store card details unless clearly necessary and securely processed through an authorised payment provider.
Communication records including enquiries, complaints, appointment changes, and feedback.
Technical information if you contact us electronically, such as basic message metadata or device-related details needed to maintain service security.

We do not intentionally collect special category data unless you choose to provide it and it is necessary for a specific service need, such as allergy-related cleaning instructions or accessibility requirements. Where this occurs, we will handle such data with extra care and only where permitted by law.

3. How We Use Your Data

We use personal data for the following purposes:

To manage bookings and deliver cleaning services.
To communicate with you about appointments, service changes, and updates.
To process payments and maintain records of transactions.
To respond to enquiries, complaints, or requests.
To personalise services based on your preferences and instructions.
To meet legal, tax, accounting, and regulatory obligations.
To improve service quality, training, operational planning, and customer satisfaction.
To protect against fraud, misuse, or unauthorised access.

We always aim to ensure that any use of your personal data is proportionate, relevant, and limited to what is necessary for the intended purpose.

4. Lawful Basis for Processing

We only process your personal data when we have a valid lawful basis under UK GDPR. Depending on the context, we may rely on one or more of the following legal bases:

Contract

We process personal data when it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. This includes handling bookings, delivering cleaning services, confirming appointments, and processing payments.

Legal Obligation

We may process data where required to comply with legal duties, including tax, accounting, insurance, and record-keeping obligations.

Legitimate Interests

We may process data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided your rights and freedoms do not override those interests. This may include service administration, operational improvement, customer support, fraud prevention, and internal record management. We always assess the balance between our interests and your privacy rights.

Consent

Where required, we will ask for your consent before processing your data, especially for optional communications or non-essential processing. You may withdraw consent at any time, without affecting the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.

5. Data Sharing and Processors

We do not sell your personal data. However, we may share limited information with trusted third parties who act as processors on our behalf or with independent parties where necessary. These may include:

Payment service providers for secure transaction processing.
IT and cloud service providers for data storage, security, and communication tools.
Booking or scheduling systems that help manage appointments.
Professional advisers such as accountants, insurers, or legal advisers where needed.
Regulatory or law enforcement bodies if disclosure is required by law.

Where third parties process data on our behalf, they are required to act only on our instructions, keep the data secure, and comply with applicable data protection laws. We use contracts and appropriate safeguards to ensure processors protect your personal data.

In some situations, your data may be shared with cleaners or staff members who need the information to perform the service you requested. They are required to handle your data confidentially and only for legitimate business purposes.

6. Data Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purpose it was collected, and no longer than required by law. Retention periods may depend on the type of information and the reason for processing. In general:

Booking and service records are kept for as long as needed to manage the customer relationship and handle follow-up issues.
Financial and accounting records are retained for the period required by tax and accounting laws.
Communication records may be retained for a reasonable period to support customer service, dispute resolution, and quality control.
Consent-based records are kept until consent is withdrawn or the purpose ends.

When data is no longer needed, we will delete it securely or anonymise it so that it can no longer identify you.

7. Data Security

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data from unauthorised access, accidental loss, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, encryption where appropriate, and staff confidentiality obligations. While no system can be guaranteed completely secure, we regularly review our safeguards to keep them effective and proportionate.

8. International Transfers

If any processor or service provider stores or accesses data outside the UK, we will ensure appropriate safeguards are in place so that your personal data remains protected in line with UK GDPR requirements. These safeguards may include adequacy regulations or approved contractual protections.

9. Your Rights

Under data protection law, you have a number of rights regarding your personal data. These rights may not always apply in every situation, but we will assess each request carefully and respond as required by law.

Right of access – you may request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
Right to rectification – you may ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data.
Right to erasure – in some circumstances, you may request deletion of your personal data.
Right to restriction – you may ask us to limit how we use your data in certain situations.
Right to object – you may object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing.
Right to data portability – where applicable, you may request your data in a structured, 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 may need to verify your identity before responding. This is to protect your privacy and prevent unauthorised disclosure. We will aim to respond within the legal timeframe set by UK GDPR.

10. Children’s Data

Our services are not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect personal data from children except where it is necessary in connection with a household service and authorised by a parent or guardian. If we become aware that we have collected data inappropriately, we will take steps to delete it promptly.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in law, operations, or data processing practices. Any revised version will apply to future use of our services and will remain relevant to all Cleaner Westhampstead customers in the area. We encourage you to review the policy periodically so that you remain informed about how your data is handled.

12. Complaints

If you are concerned about how your personal data is handled, you have the right to raise a complaint with the relevant data protection authority. You may also contact us directly so that we can review and address your concerns. We take privacy issues seriously and will do our best to resolve them fairly and promptly.

Summary of our commitment: We collect only the data needed to provide our cleaning services, use it for lawful and limited purposes, retain it securely for appropriate periods, share it only with trusted processors or where required by law, and respect your privacy rights at every stage.