Privacy Policy - Kingston Upon Thames Cleaners

Last updated: This Privacy Policy explains how Kingston Upon Thames Cleaners collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data. It applies to all Kingston Upon Thames Cleaners customers in the Kingston Upon Thames area, including anyone who enquires about, books, receives, or pays for our cleaning services.

1. Introduction

Kingston Upon Thames Cleaners is committed to handling personal data in a lawful, fair, and transparent way. We respect the privacy of every customer and visitor whose information we process in connection with our cleaning services. This policy is designed to meet the requirements of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

By personal data, we mean any information that can identify a living person directly or indirectly. This may include names, contact details, service addresses, booking information, payment references, communication records, and any other information provided to us in connection with our services.

2. Personal Data We Collect

We only collect personal data that is necessary to deliver our services, manage customer relationships, and meet our legal obligations. Depending on how you interact with us, we may collect the following categories of information:

Identity details: your name and, where relevant, the name of your household or business.
Contact information: telephone number, email address, and other communication details you choose to provide.
Service details: property address, cleaning instructions, preferred dates, access notes, and service history.
Billing and payment data: invoice details, payment confirmations, and limited transaction records.
Communication records: emails, messages, phone notes, complaints, feedback, and service-related correspondence.
Website or enquiry data: if you submit an enquiry, we may collect the information you enter in a form or share with us directly.

We do not intentionally collect special category data unless it is necessary and you have chosen to provide it. Special category data includes information about health, religious beliefs, political opinions, trade union membership, genetic data, biometric data, or sexual orientation. If such information is ever shared with us, we will only process it where a valid lawful basis exists and additional safeguards are in place.

3. How We Use Personal Data

We use personal data for the following purposes:

to provide quotes and respond to enquiries;
to arrange, deliver, and manage cleaning services;
to maintain booking records and customer preferences;
to process invoices and track payments;
to handle complaints, service issues, and follow-up communication;
to meet legal, tax, and accounting obligations;
to improve service quality and operational efficiency;
to protect against fraud, misuse, or unauthorised access.

We will only use your personal data for the purposes for which it was collected, unless we reasonably determine that we need to use it for a compatible purpose. Where we need to use data for a new purpose, we will explain this to you and ensure that there is a lawful basis to do so.

4. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under GDPR, every use of personal data must have a lawful basis. Kingston Upon Thames Cleaners relies on the following lawful bases depending on the context:

Contract

We process personal data when it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. This includes providing quotes, confirming bookings, delivering cleaning services, and handling payment-related administration.

Legal obligation

We may process personal data to comply with legal duties, such as maintaining tax records, accounting records, and other documents required by law.

Legitimate interests

We may process data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests and where those interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. Examples include improving customer service, managing service delivery, preventing fraud, and keeping internal records.

Consent

In limited situations, we may rely on your consent. If we do, you can withdraw that consent at any time. Withdrawal will not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before consent was withdrawn.

We do not rely on consent where another lawful basis is more appropriate, and we avoid collecting more information than is necessary.

5. Data Sharing and Processors

We may share personal data with trusted third parties only when necessary for service delivery, administration, or legal compliance. Where third parties process personal data on our behalf, they act as processors and are required to handle data securely and only under our instructions.

Examples of processors or categories of processors may include:

payment service providers who process card or electronic payments;
booking, scheduling, or administration software providers;
email or communication service providers;
cloud storage and data backup providers;
professional advisers such as accountants or legal advisers, where necessary;
IT support or security providers assisting with system maintenance.

We do not sell personal data. We also do not share data with unrelated third parties for their own marketing purposes. Where disclosure is required by law, such as in response to a lawful request from a public authority, we may be required to share information in accordance with applicable legal requirements.

6. Data Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, including any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. Retention periods may vary depending on the type of record and the reason for keeping it.

Customer and booking records: kept for the period needed to manage services and resolve disputes.
Invoices and financial records: retained for the duration required by tax and accounting laws.
Communication records: kept for a reasonable period to support service continuity and complaint handling.
Inactive records: deleted or anonymised when they are no longer needed.

When data is no longer required, we will securely delete, destroy, or anonymise it so that it cannot reasonably be linked back to you.

7. Data Security

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against accidental loss, misuse, unauthorised access, alteration, or disclosure. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, password protection, and limiting access to personal data to those who need it to perform their duties.

Although we work hard to safeguard information, no system can be completely secure. For that reason, we encourage customers to be cautious when sharing information and to notify us if they believe their personal data has been compromised in any way.

8. Your Rights Under GDPR

As a data subject, you have important rights regarding your personal data. Subject to certain legal conditions and exemptions, you may have the right to:

Access your personal data and receive a copy of the information we hold about you;
Rectification of inaccurate or incomplete personal data;
Erasure of your data in some circumstances, also known as the right to be forgotten;
Restriction of processing in certain situations;
Object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing;
Data portability for information you have provided to us, where applicable;
Withdraw consent at any time, where processing is based on consent.

If you exercise any of these rights, we may need to verify your identity before responding. We aim to handle valid requests within the time limits set by law. Some requests may be limited where we have a legal obligation to keep certain records or where another exemption applies.

9. Automated Decision-Making

Kingston Upon Thames Cleaners does not make decisions about customers based solely on automated processing in a way that produces legal or similarly significant effects. If this changes in the future, we will update this policy and explain the logic, significance, and potential consequences of any such processing.

10. Children’s Data

Our services are intended for adults and households arranging cleaning services. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children in the ordinary course of our business. If we become aware that we have inadvertently received information relating to a child, we will take appropriate steps to remove it unless there is a lawful reason to retain it.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect legal, operational, or service changes. Any revised version will apply from the date it is published or otherwise communicated. We encourage customers to review this policy periodically so they remain informed about how personal data is handled.

12. Summary of Our Commitment

Kingston Upon Thames Cleaners processes personal data responsibly, only where there is a lawful basis to do so, and with respect for your privacy rights. We collect only the information necessary to provide cleaning services, retain it only as long as required, and use trusted processors where needed to support our operations. Our privacy practices apply to all Kingston Upon Thames Cleaners customers in the Kingston Upon Thames area, and we remain committed to handling your information with care, transparency, and accountability.

This policy is intended to explain our data practices in plain language and support compliance with GDPR principles of lawfulness, fairness, transparency, purpose limitation, data minimisation, accuracy, storage limitation, integrity, confidentiality, and accountability.