1. About this policy
Officium Business Services Ltd (“we”, “us”, “our”) is committed to protecting your privacy. This policy explains how we collect, use and protect personal information when you visit our website at www.officiumbusinessservices.co.uk or get in touch with us.
It applies to information collected through our website and our general communications with visitors and enquirers. If you become a client, the Privacy Notice in your engagement letter also applies — see our Client Privacy Notice.
2. Who we are
Officium Business Services Ltd is a limited company registered in England and Wales (company number 17464098). Our registered office and trading address is:
Top Floor, 108 Bradshawgate, Leigh, Greater Manchester, WN7 4NP
We are the data controller for personal information collected through this website. We are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) under registration number ZC251471.
Our application for anti-money laundering supervision with the Institute of Accountants and Bookkeepers (IAB) is in progress; our IAB licence number is pending.
3. Who is responsible for your data
Our Data Protection Officer is:
Dean Ainslie, Director
- Email: dean@officiumbusinessservices.co.uk
- Telephone: 01942 644864
- Post: Top Floor, 108 Bradshawgate, Leigh, Greater Manchester, WN7 4NP
You can contact us about anything relating to your personal data, including to make a subject access request or to raise a concern.
4. What information we collect
Information you give us
- Your name, email address, telephone number and the content of any message you send through our website contact form.
- Information you give us when asking for a quote, including details about your business and the services you’re interested in.
- Anything you share with us by email, phone or other channels linked from our website.
Information collected automatically
- Our website hosting provider keeps short-lived technical logs (such as IP address, browser type and the pages requested) to run and protect the site.
- We use only the cookies needed for the website to work. We do not use advertising or tracking cookies. If we ever add analytics or embedded third-party content that sets cookies, we will ask for your consent first and update this policy.
We do not knowingly collect special category data (for example health, ethnicity or religious beliefs) through our website. Please don’t include such information in messages through the contact form.
5. Why we use your information and our lawful basis
Under UK GDPR, we must have a lawful basis for processing your personal data. We rely on:
- Legitimate interests — to respond to your enquiries, provide quotes and talk to you about our services, and to keep our website and systems secure.
- Contract — to take steps at your request before entering into a contract for services, and to perform that contract if you become a client.
- Legal obligation — to meet our obligations under UK law, including anti-money laundering, tax and accountancy regulations once a business relationship is established.
- Consent — for any non-essential cookies or embedded content, if we use them in future.
We do not send marketing emails or newsletters.
6. Who we share your information with
We do not sell your personal information. We share it only where necessary with the following categories of recipient:
- Service providers who process data on our behalf, such as our website hosting provider, our email and cloud storage provider, and our IT, practice management, software and security providers.
- HMRC, our anti-money laundering supervisor, regulators, the police, courts or other public authorities, where we are legally required or permitted to share information.
- Our professional indemnity insurers and professional advisers (for example legal advisers), where necessary to protect our legal interests.
Service providers act only on our instructions and are bound by written contracts requiring them to keep personal data secure and to handle it in line with UK GDPR.
7. International transfers
Some of our service providers may store or process personal data outside the United Kingdom. Where this happens, we make sure appropriate safeguards are in place, such as transfers to countries with a UK adequacy decision (including the UK–US data bridge), the UK International Data Transfer Agreement, or the UK Addendum to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses. You can ask us for more information about these safeguards using the details in section 3.
8. How long we keep your information
- Contact form enquiries and quote requests: up to 2 years from the date of last contact, unless you become a client.
- Website technical logs: a short period, normally no more than 30 days.
- Client records (if you become a client): 7 years from the end of the relevant tax year, with anti-money laundering records kept for 5 years after the business relationship ends, as required by the Money Laundering Regulations 2017.
9. How we protect your information
Our security measures include:
- encrypted connections to our website and encrypted storage of personal data
- multi-factor authentication and strict access controls — only authorised staff can access personal data
- regular staff training on data protection and cyber security
- secure file exchange for client documents rather than ordinary email
No method of transmission over the internet is completely secure. If you become aware of a security concern, please contact us straight away using the details in section 3.
10. Your rights
Under UK GDPR you have the right to:
- access the personal data we hold about you
- have inaccurate or incomplete data corrected
- have your data erased in certain circumstances
- restrict how we use your data in certain circumstances
- object to processing based on legitimate interests
- data portability, where applicable
- withdraw consent at any time, where we rely on consent
To exercise any of these rights, contact us using the details in section 3. We will respond within one month and will not normally charge a fee. Some rights are subject to legal exceptions; if we can’t fulfil a request, we’ll explain why in writing.
11. Complaints
If you have a concern about how we handle your personal data, please contact us first — we will always try to resolve it.
If you remain unhappy, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO):
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Website: ico.org.uk · Helpline: 0303 123 1113
12. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy to reflect changes to our practices, our services or the law. The “Last updated” date at the top shows when it was last revised.
13. Contact us
Officium Business Services Ltd
Top Floor, 108 Bradshawgate, Leigh, Greater Manchester, WN7 4NP
- Email: hello@officiumbusinessservices.co.uk
- Telephone: 01942 644864
- Website: www.officiumbusinessservices.co.uk