Privacy Policy

Please read the following information carefully. This privacy notice contains information about what data we collect and store about you and why. It also tells you who we share this information with, the security mechanisms we have put in place to protect your data and how to contact us if you have a complaint

The Planning Bee takes your privacy very seriously and will always ensure that the information you provide to us is held by us and processed with your informed consent and in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

The Planning Bee Ltd is subject to the same data protection requirements as all other data controllers. For more information about your rights in relation to your data including your rights under the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) please visit the Information Commissioner’s Office’s website at www.ico.org.uk.

It is important we hold accurate personal data to provide you with the services you have instructed us to undertake. Without comprehensive accurate details of your circumstances the advice given to you may be inaccurate despite our best efforts.

We will also use your information to contact you from time to time by phone or email to remind you that your will should be regularly reviewed and to notify you of our services in general.

Most personal data we keep for 6 years. Some data we retain indefinitely this includes data relating to trusts set up in life, wills, powers of attorney and any original documents such as deeds for properties not registered with the land registry.

This Privacy Notice explains, in detail, the types of personal data we may collect about you when you interact with us. It also explains how we’ll store and handle that data and keep it safe.  

Conditions for Processing Data 

We only hold and process your data where the law allows us to. The current law on data protection sets out a number of different reasons for which a law firm may collect and process your personal data.  

These include: 

Contractual obligations 

The main purpose for holding your data is subject to a mutual agreement where we are providing you with either a Will, Lasting Power of Attorney or Trust service.

We may, depending on your circumstances, recommend you take additional legal and/or financial advice in relation to the administration of your estate or tax affairs and, where instructed, we may need to pass your details onto a third party such as a Conveyancing Solicitor or Tax Specialist to assist you. This agreement is a contract between us and the law allows us to process your data for the purposes of performing a contract (or for the steps necessary to enter in to a contract).  

Legitimate Interests

If our business is subsequently sold or we merge with another entity, to ensure our business can be continued and in order that services can continue to be provided to you, we will transfer your personal data to a third party or that data will be one of the assets transferred to a purchasing entity. You would be advised of this at the time.

Legal compliance 

If the law requires us to, we may need to collect and process your data. For example, we can pass on details of people involved in fraud or other criminal activity. 

Consent 

In some situations, we may collect and process your data with your consent.  For instance, where you have opted in to receive marketing communications from us or from third parties we select (such as providers of financial services), we will process your personal data in such a way as to provide you with marketing communications and effect any transfer of your personal data to third parties in line with the preferences you have provided. 

Transparency

The Planning Bee is transparent over how we use your personal data and fair processing of your information:

  • how we access your personal information and other supplementary information;

  • we will correct any mistakes or complete missing information we hold on you;

  • we will erase your personal information in certain circumstances and on written request;

  • We will send a copy of the personal information you have provided to us or have sent to a third party on written request;

  • You may object at any time to processing of your personal information for The Planning Bee direct marketing purposes;

When do we collect your data? 

We collect your data when you provide it to us. You may give us your data through the completion of appointments by telephone, video call; face to face; or by post. 

What sort of data do we collect? 

Information you provide to us: 

You may voluntarily give us your personal information for instance when: 

  • you correspond with or contact us  

  • provide a comment on our website 

  • write a review 

  • sign up to any newsletters  

  • interact with us on social media platforms, and/or  

  • use our services 

The Planning Bee Ltd will routinely ask for sensitive personal information from you in order to provide accurate drafting services and/or legal advice.  This will include your name, address, date of birth and details of your assets, liabilities and income. It may also include similar details for your children or those for whom you are a legal guardian, carer, attorney or court appointed deputy. We will also ask for some personal information about others connected to you such as the names and addresses of beneficiaries under your will or beneficiaries of lifetime trusts.

What information do we process? 

We collect, store and use the following types of information: 

Data relating to the creation of your Will, Lasting Power of Attorney or Trust

This may include: 

  • your name(s) and date of birth 

  • your age and gender 

  • contact details including your email 

  • property address details  

  • business interest details 

  • other personal details about your assets for inclusion in your Will 

We also collect and hold information about Dependents, Beneficiaries, Attorney’s or Trustees named in your Will or associated trusts, including their names, dates of birth and address(es) and details of bequests to them.  Please see below about our obligations to beneficiaries. 

Data about the services provided 

We also collect and hold information about any associated legal matter we assist you with such as the drafting of associated trusts, registration of your Title Deeds or advice regarding Inheritance Tax solutions.  In particular, we may collect, store and process data relating to: 

  • the products and services we provide to you 

  • how you use our products and services 

  • correspondence you have had with us  

  • information provided when you use our products or services, including where you are seeking guidance or advice 

  • your contribution to any research you take part in 

  • details about you that are stored in documents in different formats, or copies of them 

Other data 

We may also collect, store and use: 

  • financial information such as bank details or credit/debit card details where you provide this to make a payment 

  • comments and reviews you have left on our website 

How do we use your personal data? 

We use the information collected for a number of purposes. 

Provision of services 

Primarily, we use your data to provide you with either a Will, Lasting Powers of Attorney or a Trust and any subsequent or additional legal advice and assistance and for reasons directly associated with those services. In particular:

  • to deliver our services  

  • to manage our relationship and communicate with you 

  • to provide you with advice or guidance about our services 

  • to make and manage payments 

  • to respond to complaints and seek to resolve them 

  • to train our staff and measure the quality of the service we give to client

The Estate Planning Consultant who will meet with you may be a self-employed adviser providing services on behalf of The Planning Bee.  They may hold data themselves or through their own service company. It is necessary to share data with the Estate Planning Consultant as they are meeting you face to face, by video call or via a telephone appointment and providing advice and assisting you, in the execution of documents.  We have agreed with all our Consultants that we will jointly control data with them regarding our clients. As part of this agreement we have agreed to undertake all compliance functions for them.  Should you wish to exercise any of your rights in respect of data held by the Estate Planning Consultant, please contact our Data Controller Araminta Jonsson.

Regulatory 

We also use data to communicate with our regulators or legislators and to obey laws, regulations and codes of conduct that apply to us. 

How do we protect your personal data? 

We take protecting your data very seriously. The data you give us may be subject to Legal Professional Privilege and is often extremely sensitive and confidential. 

With this in mind we will treat your data with the utmost care and take all appropriate steps to protect it. We have clear data protection and information security policies and procedures in place (along with regulatory and other legal obligations to keep your data safe) and these are regularly assessed as part of our compliance processes. 

We protect our IT systems from Cyber Attack. All information you provide to us is stored on secure servers.

We regularly monitor our system for possible vulnerabilities and attacks and we carry out penetration testing to identify ways to further strengthen security. 

How long will we keep your personal data? 

We only keep your data for as long as is necessary for the purpose(s) for which it was provided.  

Due to the nature of the services that we are providing to you and pursuant to Article 17(3) of the GDPR, when you complete a will using our services, we will securely store your data and keep this indefinitely. This is because we need to protect against legal claims, as well as to provide supporting information should your will ever be contested. 

In cases where we create your Will, we will retain your data for a period of six years.  This is because we are required to keep client files for that period by our Insurer and by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. This also protects you should you be unhappy with our services and want to complain.  For some cases we may decide that it is proper and appropriate to keep data for longer than six years, but we will notify you if we believe that your data falls into this category. 

Where we have processed your personal data to provide you with marketing communications with your consent, we may contact you periodically to ensure you are happy to continue receiving such communications. Where you inform us that you no longer wish to receive such communications, your personal data will be deleted. 

Who do we share your personal data with? 

We sometimes share your personal data with trusted third parties. We only do this where it is necessary for providing you legal services or for the effective operation of our legal practice. 

For example, we may share your data with experts; translators; mail processing and document scanning; database cleaning; secure file storage and destruction companies; and auditors. 

We apply a strict policy to those recipients or data processors to keep your data safe and protect your privacy: 

  • we provide only the information they need to perform their specific services 

  • they may only use your data for the exact purposes we specify in our contract with them 

  • we work closely with them to ensure that your privacy is respected and protected at all time. 

  • if we stop using their services, any of your data held by them will either be deleted or rendered anonymous. 

Where is your data processed? 

Your data is stored within the Economic European Area (EEA) and cannot be stored or downloaded on any device or server outside of that area.  The EEA includes all EU Member countries as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.  

What are your rights? 

You have rights under the GDPR and these include the right to be informed what information we hold about you.   In particular, you have the right to: 

  • request access to the personal data we hold about you, free of charge in most cases 

  • request the correction of your personal data when incorrect, out of date or incomplete, for example, when you withdraw consent, or object and we have no legitimate overriding interest, or once the purpose for which we hold the data has come to an end that we stop any consent-based processing of your personal data after you withdraw that consent 

  • request the deletion all your personal information in certain circumstances, for instance, if the information is no longer necessary for the purposes for which it was collected 

  • object to us processing your personal information in certain circumstances 

  • ask for a copy of any information about you that we hold at any time 

  • You can opt-out at any time by contacting support@theplanningbee.co.uk.

To ask for your information or to discuss any aspect of our Privacy Notice, please contact us by email at info@theplanningbee.co.uk. If we choose not to action your request, we will explain to you the reasons for our refusal. 

We will respond to you within one month from when we receive your request. In order to exercise these rights or enquire about any other aspect of our data retention and privacy policy please email support@theplanningbee.co.uk marked for the attention of the Data Protection Officer who is Araminta Jonsson.

Your right to withdraw consent 

Whenever you have given us your consent to use your personal data, you have the right to change your mind at any time and withdraw that consent. 

Where we rely on our legitimate interest 

In cases where we are processing your personal data on the basis of our legitimate interest, you can ask us to stop for reasons connected to your individual situation. We must then do so unless we believe we have a legitimate overriding reason to continue processing your personal data. 

The Regulator 

For further details about your rights as a data subject, we would invite you to visit the Information Commissioner’s Office website: www.ico.org.uk  

If you feel that your data has not been handled correctly, or you are unhappy with our response to any requests you have made to us regarding the use of your personal data, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office.  You can contact them by calling 0303 123 1113 or go online to www.ico.org.uk/concerns  

Rights of Beneficiaries  

When producing a Will on a testator’s behalf, the Information Commissioner’s Office has confirmed that we do not have to contact any of the named beneficiaries when the Will is written, but only when it comes into effect on the death of the testator and the estate begins to be administered by us.  Under Article 14(5)(d) of the GDPR, as a data controller, we need not comply with a request by a beneficiary for information where the personal data concerned must remain confidential and subject to our professional obligations to the testator (who is our client).  We will therefore not release confidential information without our clients’ consent, or otherwise if required to do so by law.  We will not inform any beneficiaries named in a Will of their bequest whilst the testator is still alive, unless the testator expressly instruct us to do so. 

Should we be asked to obtain probate and/or oversee the administration of the estate following the death of the testator (our former client), we will follow the ICO’s guidance at the time with regard to our obligations to any beneficiaries named in the Will.

The Planning Bee Ltd is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office under registration number ZB041412.

You can contact us by writing to:

The Planning Bee Ltd
The OId Vicarage, 22 Hanley Road
Malvern
WR14 1PH

info@theplanningbee.co.uk
Tel: 01905 885259

Changes to this privacy notice

This privacy was published on 31st March 2021

We constantly review our internal privacy practices and may change this policy from time to time. When we do we will inform you by post or by email.

Get in touch

If you have any questions about this privacy notice or the information we hold about you, please contact us on 01905 885259.

The best way to reach us is to write to us at the office address or alternatively, please email on support@theplanningbee.co.uk