Website Policies

PLEASE READ THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS CAREFULLY BEFORE USING THIS SITE

Who we are and how to contact us

educationlegaladvice.co.uk is a site operated by Robertsons Legal Ltd (“We”). We are registered in England and Wales under company number 9645024 and have our registered office at 6 Park Place, Cardiff, CF10 3RS. Our VAT number is 359 4091 32.

We are regulated by Solicitors Regulations Authority (No 625915)

To contact us, please email law@educationlegaladvice.co.uk or telephone 029 20237777.

By using our site you accept these terms

By using our site, you confirm that you accept these terms of use and that you agree to comply with them.

If you do not agree to these terms, you must not use our site.

We recommend that you print a copy of these terms for future reference.

There are other terms that may apply to you

These terms of use refer to the following additional terms, which also apply to your use of our site:

• Our Privacy Policy.  See further under How we may use your personal information.
• Our Cookie Policy, which sets out information about the cookies on our site.

We may make changes to these terms

We amend these terms from time to time. Every time you wish to use our site, please check these terms to ensure you understand the terms that apply at that time.

We may make changes to our site

We may update and change our site from time to time to reflect the information provided about our services and areas of law.

We may suspend or withdraw our site

Our site is made available free of charge.

We do not guarantee that our site, or any content on it, will always be available or be uninterrupted. We may suspend or withdraw or restrict the availability of all or any part of our site for business and operational reasons.

You are also responsible for ensuring that all persons who access our site through your internet connection are aware of these terms of use and other applicable terms and conditions, and that they comply with them.

We may transfer this agreement to someone else

We may transfer our rights and obligations under these terms to another organisation. We will always tell you in writing if this happens and we will ensure that the transfer will not affect your rights under the contract.

Our site is only for users in England & Wales

Our site is directed to people residing in England & Wales as we only practice in law covering these jurisdictions. We do not represent that content available on or through our site is appropriate for use or available in other locations.

You must keep your account details safe

If you choose, or you are provided with, a username, password or any other piece of information for the portal powered by OneHub, as part of our security procedures, you must treat such information as confidential. You must not disclose it to any third party.

We have the right to disable any user identification code or password, whether chosen by you or allocated by us, at any time, if in our reasonable opinion you have failed to comply with any of the provisions of these terms of use.

If you know or suspect that anyone other than you knows your username or password, you must promptly notify us at law@educationlegaladvice.co.uk

How you may use material on our site

We are the owner or the licensee of all intellectual property rights in our site, and in the material published on it.  Those works are protected by copyright laws and treaties around the world. All such rights are reserved.

You may print off one copy, and may download extracts, of any page(s) from our site for your personal use and you may draw the attention of others within your organisation to content posted on our site.

You must not modify the paper or digital copies of any materials you have printed off or downloaded in any way, and you must not use any illustrations, photographs, video or audio sequences or any graphics separately from any accompanying text.

Our status (and that of any identified contributors) as the authors of content on our site must always be acknowledged.

You must not use any part of the content on our site for commercial purposes without obtaining a licence to do so from us or our licensors.

If you print off, copy or download any part of our site in breach of these terms of use, your right to use our site will cease immediately and you must, at our option, return or destroy any copies of the materials you have made.

Do not rely on information on this site

The content on our site is provided for general information only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site.

Although we make reasonable efforts to update the information on our site, we make no representations, warranties or guarantees, whether express or implied, that the content on our site is accurate, complete or up to date.

We are not responsible for websites we link to

Where our site contains links to other sites and resources provided by third parties, these links are provided for your information only. Such links should not be interpreted as approval by us of those linked websites or information you may obtain from them.

We have no control over the contents of those sites or resources.

Our responsibility for loss or damage suffered by you

Whether you are a consumer or a business user. We do not exclude or limit in any way our liability to you where it would be unlawful to do so. This includes liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence or the negligence of our employees, agents or subcontractors and for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation.

If you are a business user:

• We exclude all implied conditions, warranties, representations or other terms that may apply to our site or any content on it.
• We will not be liable to you for any loss or damage, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), breach of statutory duty, or otherwise, even if foreseeable, arising under or in connection with:
• use of, or inability to use, our site; or
• use of or reliance on any content displayed on our site.

In particular, we will not be liable for:

• loss of profits, sales, business, or revenue;
• business interruption;
• loss of anticipated savings;
• loss of business opportunity, goodwill or reputation; or
• any indirect or consequential loss or damage.

If you are a consumer user:

• Please note that we only provide our site for domestic and private use. You agree not to use our site for any commercial or business purposes, and we have no liability to you for any loss of profit, loss of business, business interruption, or loss of business opportunity.
• If defective digital content that we have supplied, damages a device or digital content belonging to you and this is caused by our failure to use reasonable care and skill, we will either repair the damage or pay you compensation.

How we may use your personal information

We will only use your personal information as set out in our Privacy Policy.

We are not responsible for viruses and you must not introduce them

We do not guarantee that our site will be secure or free from bugs or viruses.

You are responsible for configuring your information technology, computer programmes and platform to access our site. You should use your own virus protection software.

You must not misuse our site by knowingly introducing viruses, trojans, worms, logic bombs or other material that is malicious or technologically harmful. You must not attempt to gain unauthorised access to our site, the server on which our site is stored or any server, computer or database connected to our site. You must not attack our site via a denial-of-service attack or a distributed denial-of service attack. By breaching this provision, you would commit a criminal offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1990. We will report any such breach to the relevant law enforcement authorities and we will co-operate with those authorities by disclosing your identity to them. In the event of such a breach, your right to use our site will cease immediately.

Rules about linking to our site

You may link to our home page, provided you do so in a way that is fair and legal and does not damage our reputation or take advantage of it.

You must not establish a link in such a way as to suggest any form of association, approval or endorsement on our part where none exists.

You must not establish a link to our site in any website that is not owned by you.

Our site must not be framed on any other site, nor may you create a link to any part of our site other than the home page.

We reserve the right to withdraw linking permission without notice.

If you wish to link to or make any use of content on our site other than that set out above, please contact law@educationlegaladvice.co.uk

Which country’s laws apply to any disputes?

If you are a consumer, please note that these terms of use, their subject matter and their formation, are governed by English law. You and we both agree that the courts of England and Wales will have exclusive jurisdiction except that if you are a resident of Northern Ireland you may also bring proceedings in Northern Ireland, and if you are resident of Scotland, you may also bring proceedings in Scotland.

If you are a business, these terms of use, their subject matter and their formation (and any non-contractual disputes or claims) are governed by English law. We both agree to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

Introduction

This document sets out the obligations of Robertsons Legal Limited (our ‘Firm’) regarding data protection and your rights as our client (data subjects) in respect of your personal data under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) which sits alongside the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018).

We take your privacy very seriously. Please read this privacy notice carefully as it contains important information on who we are and how and why we collect, store, use and share your personal data. It also explains your rights in relation to your personal data and how to contact us or supervisory authorities in the event you have a complaint.

The UK GDPR defines “personal data” as any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (data subject); an identifiable natural person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier, or to one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural, or social identity of that natural person.

This document sets our Firm’s obligations regarding the collection, processing, transfer, storage, and disposal of your personal data. Our Firm has implemented procedures and policies for our employees, agents, contractors, or other parties working on behalf of our Firm to follow at all times. 

Our Firm is committed not only to the letter of the law, but also to the spirit of the law and places high importance on the correct, lawful, and fair handling of all personal data, respecting the legal rights, privacy, and trust of all individuals with whom it deals.

Lawful, Fair, and Transparent Data Processing

The UK GDPR seeks to ensure that personal data is processed lawfully, fairly, and transparently, without adversely affecting your rights as the data subject.

As you are a client of our Firm and have contracted with us to provide you with the necessary legal assistance, under the UK GDPR we are allowed to process your personal data as a necessity for the performance of the contract. 

We collect and use your personal data to provide legal services. If you do not provide personal data we ask for, it may delay or prevent us from providing those services.

The Data Protection Principles

The UK GDPR sets out the following principles with which any party handling personal data must comply. All personal data must be:

• Processed lawfully, fairly, and in a transparent manner in relation to the data subject.
• Collected for specified, explicit, and legitimate purposes and not further processed in a manner that is incompatible with those purposes. Further processing for archiving purposes in the public interest, scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes shall not be considered to be incompatible with the initial purposes.
• Adequate, relevant, and limited to what is necessary in relation to the purposes for which it is processed.
• Accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date. Every reasonable step must be taken to ensure that personal data that is inaccurate, having regard to the purposes for which it is processed, is erased, or rectified without delay.
• Kept in a form that permits identification of data subjects for no longer than is necessary for the purposes for which the personal data is processed. Personal data may be stored for longer periods insofar as the personal data will be processed solely for archiving purposes in the public interest, scientific or historical research purposes, or statistical purposes, subject to the implementation of the appropriate technical and organisational measures required by the UK GDPR in order to safeguard the rights and freedoms of the data subject.
• Processed in a manner that ensures appropriate security of the personal data, including protection against unauthorised or unlawful processing and against accidental loss, destruction, or damage, using appropriate technical or organisational measures.

Keeping You Informed

Our Firm shall provide the information set out below to every client: –

• Where your personal data is collected directly from you, you will be informed of its purpose at the time of collection; and
• Where your personal data is obtained from a third party, you will be informed of its purpose:
  • If the personal data is used to communicate with you, when the first communication is made; or
  • If the personal data is to be transferred to another party, before that transfer is made; or
  • As soon as reasonably possible and in any event, not more than one month after the personal data is obtained.

How Your Personal Data Is Collected

We collect most of this information from you, direct or via our secure online client portal. However, we may also collect information:

• From publicly accessible sources, eg Companies House or HM Land Registry;
• Directly from a third party, eg:
• Sanctions screening providers;
• Credit reference agencies;
• Client due diligence providers;
• From a third party with your consent, e.g.:
• Your bank or building society, another financial institution or advisor;
• Consultants and other professionals we may engage in relation to your matter;
• Your employer and/or trade union, professional body or pension administrators;
• Your doctors, medical and occupational health professionals;
• Via our website—we use cookies on our website (for more information on cookies, please see our Cookie Policy on our website);
• Via our information technology (IT) systems.

How and Why We Use Personal Data

Under data protection law, we can only use your personal data if we have a proper reason, e.g.:

• Where you have given consent;
• To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations;
• For the performance of a contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract; or
• For our legitimate interests or those of a third party.

A legitimate interest is when we have a business or commercial reason to use your personal data, so long as this is not overridden by your own rights and interests. We will carry out an assessment when relying on legitimate interests, to balance our interests against your own.

The table below explains what we use your personal data for and why.

What we use your personal data for	Our reasons
Providing services to you	To perform our contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract
Preventing and detecting fraud against you or us	For our legitimate interest, ie to minimise fraud that could be damaging for you and/or us
Conducting checks to identify our clients and verify their identity Screening for financial and other sanctions or embargoes Other activities necessary to comply with professional, legal and regulatory obligations that apply to our business, eg under health and safety law or rules issued by our professional regulator	To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations
To enforce legal rights or defend or undertake legal proceedings	Depending on the circumstances: —to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations; —in other cases, for our legitimate interests, ie to protect our business, interests and rights
Gathering and providing information required by or relating to audits, enquiries or investigations by regulatory bodies	To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations
Ensuring policies are adhered to, eg policies covering security and internet use	For our legitimate interests, ie to make sure we are following our own internal procedures so we can deliver the best service to you
Operational reasons, such as improving efficiency, training and quality control	For our legitimate interests, ie to be as efficient as we can so we can deliver the best service to you at the best price
Ensuring the confidentiality of commercially sensitive information	Depending on the circumstances: —for our legitimate interests, ie to protect trade secrets and other commercially valuable information; —to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations
Statistical analysis to help us manage our business.	For our legitimate interests, ie to be as efficient as we can so we can deliver the best service to you at the best price
Preventing unauthorised access and modifications to systems	Depending on the circumstances: —for our legitimate interests, ie to prevent and detect criminal activity that could be damaging for you and/or us; —to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations
Protecting the security of systems and data used to provide services	To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations We may also use your personal data to ensure the security of systems and data to a standard that goes beyond our legal obligations, and in those cases our reasons are for our legitimate interests, ie to protect systems and data and to prevent and detect criminal activity that could be damaging for you and/or us
Updating client records	Depending on the circumstances: —to perform our contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract; —to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations; —for our legitimate interests, eg making sure we can keep in touch with our clients about existing and new services
Statutory returns	To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations
Ensuring safe working practices, staff administration and assessments	Depending on the circumstances: —to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations; —for our legitimate interests, eg to make sure we are following our own internal procedures and working efficiently so we can deliver the best service to you
Marketing our services to: —existing and former clients; —third parties who have previously expressed an interest in our services; —third parties with whom we have had no previous dealings	For our legitimate interests, ie to promote our business to existing and former clients
Credit reference checks via external credit reference agencies where applicable	For our legitimate interests, ie to ensure our clients are likely to be able to pay for our services
External audits and quality checks.	Depending on the circumstances: —for our legitimate interests, ie to maintain our accreditations so we can demonstrate we operate at the highest standards; —to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations
To share your personal data with members of our group and third parties that will or may take control or ownership of some or all of our business (and professional advisors acting on our or their behalf) in connection with a significant corporate transaction or restructuring, including a merger, acquisition, asset sale or in the event of our insolvency. In such cases information will be anonymised where possible and only shared where necessary	Depending on the circumstances: —to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations; —in other cases, for our legitimate interests, ie to protect, realise or grow the value in our business and assets

 How and Why We Use Your Personal Data—Special

Certain personal data we collect is treated as a special category to which additional protections apply under data protection law:

• Personal data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, philosophical beliefs or trade union membership;
• Genetic data;
• Biometric data (when used to uniquely identify an individual);
• Data concerning health, sex life or sexual orientation.

Where we process special category personal data, we will also ensure we are permitted to do so under data protection laws, e.g.:

• We have your explicit consent;
• The processing is necessary to protect your (or someone else’s) vital interests where you are physically or legally incapable of giving consent; or
• The processing is necessary to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.

Sharing of Personal Data

During our retainer with you we may share your information with the following entities: –

• Courts and Tribunals;
• Experts required to advise or provide reports;
• Barristers & Barristers Chambers;
• Accountants;
• Our Professional Advisors;
• Opposing Lawyers and representatives;
• Solicitors Regulation Authority;
• Legal Ombudsman;
• Banks and Lenders;
• Mediation and Arbitration Service providers;
• Government Bodies;
• Auditors;
• IT support, infrastructure and system providers;
• Employees of the Firm;
• Contractors to the Firm working on your matter;
• Postal service providers, including couriers;
• Insurers and Brokers;
• HM Land Registry;
• Other third parties we use to help us run our business, e.g. marketing agencies or website hosts;
• Third parties approved by you, eg social media sites you choose to link your account to or third party payment providers;
• Credit reference agencies and card payment providers
• Our external auditors, e.g. in relation to the audit of our accounts or files, or systems and processes;
• Other parties that have or may acquire control or ownership of our business (and our or their professional advisers) in connection with a significant corporate transaction or restructuring, including a merger, acquisition or asset sale or in the event of our insolvency, usually, information will be anonymised but this may not always be possible. The recipient of any of your personal data will be bound by confidentiality obligations.

Where we outsource to third party providers, we only allow those organisations to handle your personal data if we are satisfied they take appropriate measures to protect your personal data. We also impose contractual obligations on them to ensure they can only use your personal data to provide services to us and to you.

Marketing

We will use your personal data to send you updates (by email, text message, telephone or post) about our services, including exclusive offers, promotions or new services.

We have a legitimate interest in using your personal data for marketing purposes. This means we do not usually need your consent to send you marketing information. If we change our marketing approach in the future so that consent is needed, we will ask for this separately and clearly.

You have the right to opt out of receiving marketing communications at any time by.

We may ask you to confirm or update your marketing preferences if you ask us to provide further services in the future, or if there are changes in the law, regulation, or the structure of our business.

We will always treat your personal data with the utmost respect and never sell OR share it with other organisations for marketing purposes.

Call Recordings

All calls from and to us are recorded. This is irrespective of whether you phone our main number or someone’s direct dial.

We record calls for our legitimate interests ie. to ensure that our staff are communicating in an appropriate manner, offering the correct advice and information to you and ensuring that there is mutual deference.

Call recordings are retained for a period of 30 days, behind a firewall and password protected, after which they are automatically deleted. The only authorised people with access to these recordings are the IT Manager and the Managing Director.

If our staff considers it appropriate to retain a recording of a phone conversation with you for a period longer than 30 days (to a maximum period of seven years in line with our file retention policy) a request is made to the IT Manager and/or Managing Director and the recording is first listened to by our Data Privacy Manager (DPM). The DPM will only authorise its retention if he believes it appropriate in line with the legitimate interest or for legal or regulatory purposes. The recording will then be retained in electronic form on your electronic file for a period set by the DPM (depending on the results of his assessment as to why the recording is retained) and secured in accordance with our IT Security Policy.

We will not inform you if a recording is retained but you can enquire as to whether any recordings are retained and be given a copy.

You may request a copy of a phone recording by contacting our DPM (details below) with the date and approximate time of the phone call, together with the name of the person you were speaking to.

Personal Data Collected, Held, and Processed

The following personal data is collected, held, and processed by our Firm:

Data Ref.	Type of Data	Purpose of Data
Client Name	Your Name	To identify you
Address	Your Address	To send letters to you
Email address	Your email address	To send communication via email
Mobile telephone	Your mobile telephone number.	To communicate with you by phone and/or by text.
Date of Birth	Your date of birth	To identify you
Passport Number	Your passport details	To identify you and comply with Anti-Money Laundering Regulations – where applicable
Driving licence number	Your driving licence details	To identify you and comply with Anti-Money Laundering Regulations – where applicable
Utility Bill	Your utility bill (s)	To identify you and comply with Anti-Money Laundering Regulations – where applicable
Matter Information	Matter history and associated information.	Information relating to the matter in which you are seeking our advice or representation
Credit Check	Your finance/credit information.	Information to enable us to undertake a credit or other financial checks on you
Financial Data	Your financial information.	Your financial details so far as relevant to your instructions, eg the source of your funds if you are instructing on a purchase transaction.
Client Service Data	Your access to our communication systems, including any designated username and password for our online client portal.	Information about your use of our IT, communication and other systems, and other monitoring information.

Personal Data Collected for Compliance with the Firm’s Regulatory Responsibilities

Pursuant to Regulation 41 of The Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 and The Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Amendment) Regulations 2019, the Firm will not use any personal data provided for the purpose of complying with the regulation for any purpose other than for the prevention of money laundering or terrorist financing. 

Where Your Personal Data Is Held

Personal data may be held at our offices and those of our third party agencies, service providers, representatives and agents as described above (see ‘Sharing of Personal Data’).

How Long Your Personal Data Will Be Kept For

We will not keep your personal data for longer than we need it for the purpose for which it is used or as agreed with you.

As a general rule, if we are no longer providing services to you, we will delete or anonymise your account data after six years. However, different retention periods apply for different types of personal data and for different services as set out in our Letter of Engagement and Terms of Business.

Following the end of the of the relevant retention period, we will delete or anonymise your personal data.

Transferring Your Personal Data Out of the UK

The EEA and other countries outside the UK and the UK have differing data protection laws, some of which may provide lower levels of protection of privacy.

It is sometimes necessary for us to transfer your personal data to countries outside the UK. In those cases we will comply with applicable UK laws designed to ensure the privacy of your personal data.

Under data protection laws, we can only transfer your personal data to a country outside the UK where:

1. In the case of transfers subject to UK data protection law, the UK government has decided the particular country ensures an adequate level of protection of personal data (known as an ‘adequacy regulation’) further to Article 45 of the UK GDPR. A list of countries the UK currently has adequacy regulations in relation to is available here.
2. In the case of transfers subject to EEA data protection laws, the European Commission has decided that the particular country ensures an adequate level of protection of personal data (known as an ‘adequacy decision’) further to Article 45 of the EU GDPR. A list of countries the European Commission has currently made adequacy decisions in relation to is available here.
3. There are appropriate safeguards in place, together with enforceable rights and effective legal remedies for you; or
4. A specific exception applies under relevant data protection law.

Where we transfer your personal data outside the UK, we do so on the basis of an adequacy decision. In the event we cannot or choose not to continue to rely on either of those mechanisms at any time, we will not transfer your personal data outside the UK unless we can do so on the basis of an alternative mechanism or exception provided by UK data protection law and reflected in an update to this notice.

Any changes to the destinations to which we send personal data or in the transfer mechanisms we rely on to transfer personal data internationally will be notified to you in accordance with the section on ‘Changes to this Privacy Notice’ below.

Transferring Your Personal Data Out of the UK – Further Information

If you would like further information about data transferred outside the UK, please contact us.

Your Rights (As a Data Subject)

The UK GDPR sets out the following rights applicable to data subjects (please refer to the parts of this notice indicated for further details):

• The right to be informed;
• The right of access;
• The right to rectification;
• The right to erasure (also known as the ‘right to be forgotten’);
• The right to restrict processing;
• The right to data portability;
• The right to object;
• Not to be subject to automated individual decision making;
• The right to withdraw consent.

Data Subject Access Requests

You may make Subject Access Requests (“SARs”) at any time to find out more about the personal data that our Firm holds about you, what it is doing with that personal data, and why.

If you wish to make a SAR you may do so in writing.  SARs should be addressed to the Firm’s Data Privacy Manager, who is Chris Barber.  You should send your request by:email to c.barber@robsols.co.uk or post to Chris Barber, Robertsons Legal Limited, 6 Park Place, Cardiff CF10 3RS

Responses to SARs shall normally be made within one month of receipt, however, we may extend by up to two months if the SAR is complex and/or numerous requests are made. If such additional time is required, you shall be informed.

All SARs received shall be handled by the Firm’s Data Privacy Manager.

Our Firm does not charge a fee for the handling of normal SARs. However, we reserve the right to charge reasonable fees for additional copies of information that has already been supplied to you, and for requests that are manifestly unfounded or excessive, particularly where such requests are repetitive.

Rectification of Personal Data

You have the right to require us to rectify any of your personal data that is inaccurate or incomplete.

Our Firm shall rectify the personal data in question, and inform you of that rectification, within one month of you informing our Firm of the issue. The period can be extended by up to two months in the case of complex requests. If such additional time is required, you shall be informed.

In the event that any affected personal data has been disclosed to third parties, those parties shall be informed of any rectification that must be made to that personal data.

Erasure of Personal Data

You have the right to request that our Firm erases the personal data it holds about you in the following circumstances:

• It is no longer necessary for our Firm to hold your personal data with respect to the purpose(s) for which it was originally collected or processed;
• You wish to withdraw your consent to our Firm holding and processing your personal data;
• You object to our Firm holding and processing your personal data (and there is no overriding legitimate interest to allow our Firm to continue doing so);
• The personal data has been processed unlawfully;
• The personal data needs to be erased in order for our Firm to comply with a particular legal obligation.

Unless our Firm has reasonable grounds to refuse to erase personal data, all requests for erasure shall be complied with, and you will be informed of the erasure, within one month of receipt of your request. The period can be extended by up to two months in the case of complex requests. If such additional time is required, you shall be informed.

In the event that any personal data that is to be erased in response to your request has been disclosed to third parties, those parties shall be informed of the erasure (unless it is impossible or would require disproportionate effort to do so).

Restriction of Personal Data Processing

You may request that our Firm ceases processing the personal data it holds about you. If you make such a request, our Firm shall retain only the amount of personal data concerning you (if any) that is necessary to ensure that the personal data in question is not processed further.

In the event that any affected personal data has been disclosed to third parties, those parties shall be informed of the applicable restrictions on processing it (unless it is impossible or would require disproportionate effort to do so).

Objections to Personal Data Processing

You have the right to object to our Firm processing your personal data based on legitimate interests and direct marketing (including profiling). 

Where you object to our Firm processing your personal data based on its legitimate interests, our Firm shall cease such processing immediately, unless it can be demonstrated that the Firm’s legitimate grounds for such processing override your interests, rights, and freedoms, or that the processing is necessary for the conduct of legal claims.

Where you object to our Firm processing your personal data for direct marketing purposes, our Firm shall cease such processing immediately.

Withdrawing Consent

If you have provided us with a consent to use your personal data you have a right to withdraw that consent easily at any time.

You may withdraw consents by contacting our Data Privacy Manager via email c.barber@robsols.co.uk or by post Chris Barber, Robertsons Legal Limited, 6 Park Place, Cardiff CF10 3RS

Withdrawing a consent will not affect the lawfulness of our use of your personal data in reliance on that consent before it was withdrawn.

More Information on How to Exercise Your Rights

To find more information on how you may exercise your rights as a Data Subject, please see the Guidance from the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) on individuals’ rights under the General Data Protection Regulation.

Keeping Your Personal Data Secure

We have appropriate security measures to prevent personal data from being accidentally lost, or used or accessed unlawfully. We limit access to your personal data to those who have a genuine business need to access it. Those processing your personal data will do so only in an authorised manner and are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

We also have procedures to deal with any suspected data security breach. We will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected data security breach where we are legally required to do so.

How to Complain

Please contact us if you have any queries or concerns about our use of your personal data (see below ‘How to Contact Us’). We hope we will be able to resolve any issues you may have.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner in the UK;

The UK’s Information Commissioner may be contacted using the details at https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or by telephone: 0303 123 1113.

Changes to this Notice

We may change this notice from time to time, and you should review this page on a regular basis.

How to Contact Us

You can contact our Data Privacy Manager by post, email or telephone if you have any questions about this notice or the information we hold about you, to exercise a right under data protection law or to make a complaint. Details of how to contact us can be found on our website.

Purpose of this privacy policy

This privacy policy aims to give you information on how Robertsons Legal Ltd collects and processes your personal data through your use of this website, including any data you may provide through this website when you contact us.

This website is not intended for children and we do not knowingly collect data relating to children.

It is important that you read this privacy policy together with any client privacy policy. If you are a client, your privacy shall be governed by both privacy policy. You should read these so that you are fully aware of how and why we are using your data. This privacy policy supplements other notices and privacy policies and is not intended to override them.

Controller

Robertsons Legal Ltd is the controller and responsible for your personal data (collectively referred to as “we”, “us” or “our” in this privacy policy).

We have appointed a data privacy manager who is responsible for overseeing questions in relation to this privacy policy. If you have any questions about this privacy policy, including any requests to exercise your legal rights, please contact the data privacy manager using the details set out below.

Contact details

If you have any questions about this privacy policy or our privacy practices, please contact our data privacy manager in the following ways:

Name: Chris Barber

Email address: c.barber@robsols.co.uk

Postal address: 6 Park Place, Cardiff, CF10 3RS

Telephone number: 029 20237777

You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues (www.ico.org.uk). We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO so please contact us in the first instance.

Changes to the privacy policy and your duty to inform us of changes

We keep our privacy policy under regular review. 

It is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal data changes during your relationship with us.

Third-party links

This website may include links to third-party websites, plug-ins and applications. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy statements. When you leave our website, we encourage you to read the privacy policy of every website you visit.

The data we collect about you

Personal data, or personal information, means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include data where the identity has been removed (anonymous data).

We may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal data about you which we have grouped together as follows:

• Identity Data includes first name, last name and title.
• Contact Data includes billing address, address, email address and telephone numbers.
• Financial Data includes your billing details (please note that if you pay us via our online process we do not have or hold your credit.debit card details – these details are held by Barclays Bank Plc and these details are subject to their own privacy policy).
• Transaction Data includes details about payments to and from you and other details of the services that we have provided to you.
• Technical Data includes internet protocol (IP) address, your login data, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform, and other technology on the devices you use to access this website.
• Profile Data includes legal services you enquire about, preferences, feedback and survey responses. 
• Usage Data includes information about how you use our website, products and services.
• Marketing and Communications Data includes your preferences in receiving marketing from us and our third parties and your communication preferences.

We also collect, use and share Aggregated Data such as statistical or demographic data for any purpose. Aggregated Data could be derived from your personal data but is not considered personal data in law as this data will not directly or indirectly reveal your identity. For example, we may aggregate your Usage Data to calculate the percentage of users accessing a specific website feature. However, if we combine or connect Aggregated Data with your personal data so that it can directly or indirectly identify you, we treat the combined data as personal data which will be used in accordance with this privacy policy.

We do not collect any Special Categories of Personal Data about you (this includes details about your race or ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, sex life, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership, information about your health, and genetic and biometric data). Nor do we collect any information about criminal convictions and offences.

How is your personal data collected?

We use different methods to collect data from and about you including through:

• Direct interactions. You may give us your Identity, Contact and Financial Data by filling in forms or by corresponding with us by post, phone, email or otherwise. This includes personal data you provide when you::
• pay for our services;
• create an account on our website;
• request marketing to be sent to you;
• give us feedback or contact us.
• Automated technologies or interactions. As you interact with our website, we will automatically collect Technical Data about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns. We collect this personal data by using cookies, server logs and other similar technologies. We may also receive Technical Data about you if you visit other websites employing our cookies. Please see our cookie policy for further details.
• Third parties or publicly available sources. We will receive personal data about you from various third parties and public sources as set out below:
• Technical Data from Microsoft and Google.
• Contact, Financial and Transaction Data from providers of technical, payment and delivery services such as Barclaycard.

How we use your personal data

We will only use your personal data when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your personal data in the following circumstances:

• Where we need to contact you.
• Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests.
• Where we need to comply with a legal obligation.

See the Glossary below to find out more about the types of lawful basis that we will rely on to process your personal data.

Generally, we do not rely on consent as a legal basis for processing your personal data although we will get your consent before sending you any marketing information. You have the right to withdraw consent to marketing at any time by contacting us.

Purposes for which we will use your personal data

We have set out below, in a table format, a description of all the ways we plan to use your personal data, and which of the legal bases we rely on to do so. We have also identified what our legitimate interests are where appropriate.

Note that we may process your personal data for more than one lawful ground depending on the specific purpose for which we are using your data. Please contact us if you need details about the specific legal ground we are relying on to process your personal data where more than one ground has been set out in the table below.

Purpose/Activity	Type of data	Lawful basis for processing including basis of legitimate interest
To register you on our Portal	(a) Identity (b) Contact	Performance of a contract with you to enable us to send you information and documents
To deliver our services: (a) Manage payments, fees and charges (b) Collect and recover money owed to us	(a) Identity (b) Contact (c) Financial (d) Transaction (e) Marketing and Communications	(a) Performance of a contract with you (b) Necessary for our legitimate interests (to recover debts due to us)
To manage our relationship with you which will include: (a) Notifying you about changes to our terms or privacy policy (b) Asking you to leave a review	(a) Identity (b) Contact (c) Profile (d) Marketing and Communications	(a) Performance of a contract with you (b) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation (c) Necessary for our legitimate interests (to keep our records updated and to study how customers use our products/services)
To administer and protect our business and this website (including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, system maintenance, support, reporting and hosting of data)	(a) Identity (b) Contact (c) Technical	(a) Necessary for our legitimate interests (for running our business, provision of administration and IT services, network security, to prevent fraud and in the context of a business reorganisation or group restructuring exercise) (b) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation
To deliver relevant website content and advertisements to you and measure or understand the effectiveness of the advertising we serve to you	(a) Identity (b) Contact (c) Profile (d) Usage (e) Marketing and Communications (f) Technical	Necessary for our legitimate interests (to study how customers use our services, to develop them, to grow our business and to inform our marketing strategy)
To use data analytics to improve our website, products/services, marketing, customer relationships and experiences	(a) Technical (b) Usage	Necessary for our legitimate interests (to define types of clients for our products and services, to keep our website updated and relevant, to develop our business and to inform our marketing strategy)
To make suggestions and recommendations to you about services that may be of interest to you	(a) Identity (b) Contact (c) Technical (d) Usage (e) Profile (f) Marketing and Communications	Necessary for our legitimate interests (to develop our products/services and grow our business)

Marketing

We strive to provide you with choices regarding certain personal data uses, particularly around marketing and advertising.

Promotional offers from us

We may use your Identity, Contact, Technical, Usage and Profile Data to form a view on what we think you may want or need, or what may be of interest to you. This is how we decide which legal services may be relevant for you (we call this marketing).

You will receive marketing communications from us if you have requested information from us or used our services and you have not opted out of receiving that marketing.

Third-party marketing

We do not share your personal data with any third party for marketing purposes.

Opting out

You can ask us  to stop sending you marketing messages at any time by following the opt-out links on any marketing message sent to you or by contacting us at any time. Where you opt out of receiving these marketing messages, this will not apply to personal data provided to us as a result of using our services.

Cookies

For more information about the cookies we use, please see our cookie policy.

Change of purpose

We will only use your personal data for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose. If you wish to get an explanation as to how the processing for the new purpose is compatible with the original purpose, please contact us.

If we need to use your personal data for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to do so.

Please note that we may process your personal data without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law.

Disclosures of your personal data

We may share your personal data with the parties set out below for the purposes set out in the table Purposes for which we will use your personal data above.

• External Third Parties as set out in the Glossary.
• Third parties to whom we may choose to sell, transfer or merge parts of our business or our assets. Alternatively, we may seek to acquire other businesses or merge with them. If a change happens to our business, then the new owners may use your personal data in the same way as set out in this privacy policy.

We require all third parties to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes and only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.

International transfers

Some of our external third parties are based outside the EEA so their processing of your personal data will involve a transfer of data outside the EEA.

Whenever we transfer your personal data out of the EEA, we ensure a similar degree of protection is afforded to it by ensuring that they have a strong and robust privacy policy and security measures in place when holding and processing your information.

Please contact us if you want further information on the specific mechanism used by us when transferring your personal data out of the EEA.

The main international companies that we use on our website are below with a link to their privacy policy:

Bing run by Microsoft: https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-gb/privacystatement

Google: https://policies.google.com/privacy

Barclaycard (Card Payments): https://www.barclays.co.uk/important-information/control-your-data/

Client Portal (powered by OneHub): https://www.onehub.com/privacy-policy

Trustpilot: https://uk.legal.trustpilot.com/for-reviewers/end-user-privacy-terms

Data security

We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. In addition, we limit access to your personal data to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal data on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so.

Data retention

How long will you use my personal data for?

We will only retain your personal data for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, regulatory, tax, accounting or reporting requirements. We may retain your personal data for a longer period in the event of a complaint or if we reasonably believe there is a prospect of litigation in respect to our relationship with you.

To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal, regulatory, tax, accounting or other requirements.

In some circumstances you can ask us to delete your data: see your legal rights below for further information.

In some circumstances we will anonymise your personal data (so that it can no longer be associated with you) for research or statistical purposes, in which case we may use this information indefinitely without further notice to you.

Your legal rights

Under certain circumstances, you have rights under data protection laws in relation to your personal data. Please click on the links below to find out more about these rights:

• Request access to your personal data
• Request correction of your personal data
• Request erasure of your personal data
• Object to processing of your personal data
• Request restriction of processing your personal data
• Request transfer of your personal data
• Right to withdraw consent

If you wish to exercise any of the rights set out above, please contact us.

No fee usually required

You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal data (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive or excessive. Alternatively, we could refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances.

What we may need from you

We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal data (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up our response.

Time limit to respond

We try to respond to all legitimate requests within one month. Occasionally it could take us longer than a month if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, we will notify you and keep you updated.

Glossary

LAWFUL BASIS

Legitimate Interest means the interest of our business in conducting and managing our business to enable us to give you the best service/product and the best and most secure experience. We make sure we consider and balance any potential impact on you (both positive and negative) and your rights before we process your personal data for our legitimate interests. We do not use your personal data for activities where our interests are overridden by the impact on you (unless we have your consent or are otherwise required or permitted to by law). You can obtain further information about how we assess our legitimate interests against any potential impact on you in respect of specific activities by contacting us.

Performance of Contract means processing your data where it is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are a party or to take steps at your request before entering into such a contract.

Comply with a legal obligation means processing your personal data where it is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation that we are subject to.

THIRD PARTIES

External Third Parties

• Service providers based in the UK who provide IT and system administration services.
• Professional advisers including solicitors, bankers, auditors and insurers based in the UK who provide consultancy, banking, legal, insurance and accounting services.
• HM Revenue & Customs, regulators and other authorities based in the United Kingdom who require reporting of processing activities in certain circumstances.

YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS

You have the right to:

Request access to your personal data (commonly known as a “data subject access request”). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal data we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.

Request correction of the personal data that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate data we hold about you corrected, though we may need to verify the accuracy of the new data you provide to us.

Request erasure of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal data where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal data where you have successfully exercised your right to object to processing (see below), where we may have processed your information unlawfully or where we are required to erase your personal data to comply with local law. Note, however, that we may not always be able to comply with your request of erasure for specific legal reasons which will be notified to you, if applicable, at the time of your request.

Object to processing of your personal data where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground as you feel it impacts on your fundamental rights and freedoms. You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal data for direct marketing purposes. In some cases, we may demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate grounds to process your information which override your rights and freedoms.

Request restriction of processing of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of your personal data in the following scenarios:

• If you want us to establish the data’s accuracy.
• Where our use of the data is unlawful but you do not want us to erase it.
• Where you need us to hold the data even if we no longer require it as you need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.
• You have objected to our use of your data but we need to verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds to use it.

Request the transfer of your personal data to you or to a third party. We will provide to you, or a third party you have chosen, your personal data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format. Note that this right only applies to automated information which you initially provided consent for us to use or where we used the information to perform a contract with you.

Withdraw consent at any time where we are relying on consent to process your personal data. However, this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdraw your consent. If you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide certain products or services to you. We will advise you if this is the case at the time you withdraw your consent.

Our contract with you

These terms of business (as updated from time to time) apply to all work we do for you. This is an important document – please keep it in a safe place for future reference.

Each time you instruct us on a new matter we will send you a letter confirming your instructions and setting out:

• the details of the work we will carry out for you;
• our fees; and
• any specific terms that will apply to the work. 

This letter is called the letter of engagement. You should read these terms of business together with the letter of engagement. Together they form the contract between you and us.

If there is any inconsistency between these terms of business and the letter of engagement, the letter of engagement will take priority.

By continuing to instruct us to carry out work for you, you are accepting the terms of the letter of engagement and these terms of business.

Unless you and we agree otherwise, these terms of business will apply to all future instructions you give us on this or any other matter. We may change these terms of business from time to time, and the most up-to-date version will be on our website at www.robsols.co.uk/terms-of-business

The contract between you and us, and any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection with it (including non-contractual disputes or claims), will be governed by, and interpreted in line with, the laws of England and Wales.

About us

We, Robertsons Legal Ltd (trading as Education Legal Advice), are a company incorporated in England and Wales. Our registered office is at 6 Park Place, Cardiff, CF10 3RS, and our company registration number is 9645024.

You can find details of the addresses, phone numbers and email addresses of our offices on our website at www.robsols.co.uk.

We are authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). The SRA is the independent regulator of all solicitors, and most law firms, in England and Wales. We and our solicitors, registered European lawyers and registered foreign lawyers are governed by codes of conduct and other professional rules. You can see these on the SRA’s website (www.sra.org.uk) or get copies by calling 0370 606 2555.

Our SRA authorisation number for our registered office is 625915. All the services we provide are regulated by the SRA.

We are registered for VAT. Our VAT registration number is 359 4091 32.

About you

References to ‘you’ in these terms of business mean the client (or clients) named in the letter of engagement, and anyone authorised to give instructions on their behalf.

Receiving instructions from you

If two or more people are named as clients in the letter of engagement, we can act on instructions given by any or all of you. If the client named in the letter of engagement is a company, unless we are told otherwise we will accept instructions given by any or all of your employees, directors and officers.

We can act on instructions that are not given in writing.

Our responsibilities and your responsibilities

What you can expect of us		What we expect of you
We will… Treat you fairly and with respect   Communicate with you in plain language   Review your matter regularly   Tell you about any changes in the law that affect your matter   Tell you about any reasonably foreseeable circumstances and risks that could affect the outcome of the work we are carrying out for you		You must… Provide documents when we ask for them, and respond promptly when we ask for instructions or information   Tell us if your contact details change   Tell us immediately if your expectations change or if you are not sure you understand what we have discussed   Tell us any time limits or objectives that might not be obvious to us   Tell us immediately if you receive any email or other communication that appears to be from us and stating that we have changed our bank details or payment arrangements   Let us know about any other changes that may affect the way we carry out our work for you

Our legal services

Details of the services we will provide are set out in the letter of engagement.

We will provide our services to you with reasonable care and skill. However, it is not possible to guarantee a particular outcome.

Unless we agree otherwise in writing, we will advise you only on or in connection with English law.

We will not advise on surveying, valuation, commercial viability, trading or marketability issues. We only advise on tax if we have agreed in writing to do so. We do not provide financial services or advice, except as described at the ‘Financial services’ section of these terms of business.

If you ask us to get advice from another law firm or other professional company, that firm or company will be responsible for the advice they provide.

Unless we agree otherwise in writing, our advice and any documents we prepare:

• are for use only in connection with the specific matter you have instructed us to deal with;
• can only be relied on by you; and
• reflect the law in force at the time.

Service standards

We are normally open between 9am to 5pm from Monday to Friday.

We will regularly update you by phone or in writing (including by email) on our progress on your matter and explain the legal work we are carrying out.

We will keep you updated on the likely timescale for each stage of your matter. Whenever there is a significant change in circumstances associated with your matter, we will update you on whether the potential outcomes still justify the estimated costs and risks.

We will update you on the cost of your matter at the intervals set out in the letter of engagement. If appropriate, we will continue to review whether there are alternative ways of funding your matter.

We are committed to acting in a way that encourages equality, diversity and inclusion in all our dealings with people. Please contact us if you would like a copy of our equality and diversity policy.

Our liability to you

Your contract is solely with us, and we alone are legally liable for the work we do for you. No individual representative, director, officer, employee, agent or consultant of ours will have any personal legal liability for any loss or claim.

Unless we agree otherwise in writing, the following apply.

• We do not have any obligation to any person other than you.
• We do not accept any liability or responsibility for consequences arising from any person other than you relying on our advice.
• We are not responsible for any failure to advise on or comment on any matters falling outside the scope of your instructions, as set out in these terms of business and the letter of engagement.
• Our maximum liability to you (or any other party we have agreed can rely on our services) in connection with any single matter or group of related matters will be £5 million in total, including interest and costs, unless we state a different amount in the letter of engagement.

We will not be liable for:

• losses that you or we could not have foreseen when the contract was formed;
• losses not caused by any failure or negligence of ours; and
• business losses, including losses suffered by any person not acting for the purposes of their trade, business or profession.

Nothing in these terms of business restricts or removes our liability for:

• death or personal injury caused by our negligence;
• fraud or fraudulent statements or assurances;
• any losses caused by misconduct or dishonesty; or
• any losses which, by law, we cannot limit.

Please ask if you would like us to explain any of the terms relating to liability.

Our charges and billing

You are liable to pay legal costs as set out in the letter of engagement, which also explains the arrangements for billing. We will usually discuss this with you before we start the work for you.

We may send you bills electronically. Please let us know if you have any particular needs for receiving our bill. 

You must pay our bills within 14 days. We may charge interest on overdue bills, at a rate of 4% above the Barclays Bank base rate at the time.

We will charge a fee of £35 if a cheque is returned unpaid (that is, if it ‘bounces’.).

Please tell us if you would like a third party to be responsible for paying our bills or any part of them. We must approve this in advance, and we will need the third party’s name, contact details and any other information or ID we ask for. You will always be responsible for our bills, even if someone else has agreed to pay some or all of them, and our bills will still be addressed to you. If someone else pays only some of our bills, you are responsible for paying the rest.

We may stop acting for you if a bill remains unpaid after one month of it becoming due or if any reasonable request we make for a payment is refused.

You have the right to complain about our bill. Please see the ‘Complaints’ section for details of how to complain about our bill.

You have the right to challenge our bill by asking the court to assess it under the Solicitors Act 1974. The usual time limit for applying to the court for an assessment is one month from the date the bill is delivered.

Confidentiality

We will keep your information confidential, unless:

• you give us permission (consent) to share the information;
• we have to provide the information by law; or
• these terms of business state otherwise.

Unless you instruct us otherwise, we will communicate with you by email. We use a range of information-security measures, but we cannot guarantee the security of information or documents sent by email. If you do not want us to communicate with you by email, please let us know.

Sometimes we ask other companies or people to carry out typing, photocopying, billing and other administration activities to help us provide efficient, cost-effective legal services. We make sure those companies or people keep to service agreements that are consistent with our legal and professional obligations, including in relation to confidentiality. For more information, see our privacy policy at www.robsols.co.uk/client-privacy-policy.

External organisations such as the Information Commissioner’s Office, the Law Society, qualification boards and the SRA may from time to time conduct audits or quality checks on our work. They may want to check your case file and related papers for this purpose. We will make sure that these external organisations keep any information involved in an audit or quality check confidential.

Conflicts of interests

A conflict of interest is a situation where the concerns or aims of two different parties are incompatible. Before we accept any instructions from you we will consider relevant legal or professional regulations to determine whether following your instructions would create a conflict of interest. Similarly, we will not act for another client in connection with the subject matter of your instruction, or a related matter, if this would create a conflict of interests, unless legal or professional regulations allow us to also act for that other client.

If a conflict of interest arises while we are carrying out work for you, we may have to end the contract with you. However, we could continue to provide advice as long as that was allowed under legal or professional regulations.

We will not be liable to you for any losses arising from us ending the contract if we have to do so as a result of a conflict of interest.

If we have arrangements in place to protect your documents or information which are or may be relevant to any instructions for another client, we can act for that other client.

We are under a professional duty to keep your documents and information confidential and will not reveal them to any third party outside our firm without your permission. You agree that we may share your information with other parties within our firm if we have a legal or professional obligation to do so.

Privacy and data protection

We use your personal information mainly to provide legal services to you, but also for related purposes such as administration, billing, record keeping, and to tell you about our services and events that we think you may be interested in.

How we can use your personal information is controlled by:

• your instructions;
• the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UKGDPR);
• other relevant UK laws; and
• our professional duty of confidentiality.

We take your privacy very seriously. Please read our privacy policy carefully as it contains important information on how and why we collect, process and store your personal information. It also explains your rights relating to your personal information and how long we will keep your personal information.

We may record phone calls and monitor emails for training and monitoring purposes.

We use third-party service providers (including ‘cloud’ service providers) to help us provide efficient, cost-effective legal services. We make sure all third-party service providers keep to service agreements that are consistent with our legal and professional obligations, including in relation to confidentiality, privacy and data protection. If you instruct us to use an alternative provider for storing, sharing or exchanging documents or information, we are not responsible for the security of the documents or information, or the provider’s security standards.

We may use your personal information to send you updates (by email, text message, phone or post) about legal developments that might be of interest to you or information about our services, promotions or new services. You can opt out of receiving such communications by:

• emailing law@robsols.co.uk; or
• using the ‘unsubscribe’ link in our emails.

Banking and related matters

Our client account

Unless we agree otherwise, we hold clients’ money in various accounts with UK banks regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Changes to our bank details

We will never tell you about changes to important business information, such as bank account details, by email. If you receive any email or other communication claiming to be from us and stating that we have changed our bank details or payment arrangements, please tell us immediately.

Paying interest on client money

We will pay a fair rate of interest on money we hold on behalf of clients and third parties.

We will not pay interest:

• on money we have been instructed to hold outside our client account and where it does not earn interest (for example, in our safe);
• that is less than £30;
• if we agree otherwise, in writing, with the person the money is held for.

Please ask us if you would like to see our policy on paying interest on client money.

Financial Services Compensation Scheme

We are not liable for any losses you suffer as a result of any bank that client money is held with being unable to pay back the money in full. However, you may be protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). The FSCS can pay compensation of up to £85,000 if a banking institution cannot pay, or will likely be unable to pay, money it owes.

The compensation limit is £85,000 per banking institution. If you have an account of your own in the same banking institution as our client accounts, the compensation limit is still £85,000 in total. Some banking institutions have several brands. The compensation limit is £85,000 per institution, not per brand.

The FSCS also provides up to £1 million of short-term protection for certain high balances (for example, the proceeds from selling a home, inheritances, divorce settlements, redundancy payments, and personal-injury compensation). This is called the temporary high balance scheme and, if it applies, protection lasts for up to six months.

The FSCS (including the temporary high balance scheme) will apply to eligible balances held in our client account. If a banking institution which holds client money is unable to repay it, we will (unless you tell us otherwise in writing) give your details to the FSCS.

More information about the FSCS can be found at www.fscs.org.uk.

Receiving payments from you

Our policy is to only accept cash payments of up to £500 per matter we are instructed upon. If you try to avoid this policy by paying cash directly to our bank, we may charge you for any checks we decide are necessary to prove the source of the funds. Those checks could also delay our work for you. This also applies if we receive money relating to your matter from an unexpected source.

Making payments to you

If we have to pay money to you, we will pay it to you by cheque or bank transfer. We will not make any payment in cash or to a third party.

Preventing money laundering and terrorist financing

To keep to anti-money laundering and counterterrorism financing requirements, we are likely to ask you for proof of your identity and may make enquiries for this purpose. We may also need to verify the identity of other people associated with you. If you or they do not provide the required information promptly, your matter may be delayed.

We may carry out checks using online systems or other databases, as we see fit.

You must not send us any money until we have told you that we have completed any necessary checks.

We may ask you to confirm the source of any money you have sent us or will send us. If you do not provide that information promptly, your matter may be delayed or we may not be able to continue to act for you.

Any personal information we receive from you for the purpose of preventing money laundering or terrorist financing will be used only for that purpose, or will only be used:

• with your permission; or
• as allowed by law.

We are professionally and legally obliged to keep your affairs confidential. However, we may be required by law to give information to the National Crime Agency if we know about or suspect money laundering or terrorist financing. We may not be able to tell you that we have done this. Also, we may have to stop working on your matter for a period of time and may not be able to tell you why.

Except where the ‘Our liability to you’ section says otherwise, we will not be liable for any loss arising from or connected with us keeping to any legal obligation we have (or have good reason to believe we have) to report matters to the relevant authorities under anti-money laundering or terrorist financing laws.

Financial services

We are not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority, but we are included on their register so that we can carry on ‘insurance distribution activity’, which broadly means advising on, selling and managing insurance contracts. This part of our business, including arrangements for settling complaints if something goes wrong, is regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

You can check the FCA register at www.fca.org.uk/firms/financial-services-register.

We are not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in relation to credit arrangements. However, because we are regulated by the SRA, we may be able to provide limited consumer credit services that are closely linked to the legal work we are doing for you.

We are also not authorised by the FCA to provide investment advice. If you need advice on investments, we may refer you to someone who is authorised by the FCA to provide the necessary advice. And because we are regulated by the SRA, we may be able to provide limited investment advice that is closely linked to the legal work we are doing for you.

If you are unhappy with any financial service you receive from us, you should raise your concerns with the SRA or the Legal Ombudsman. See the ‘Complaints’ section below for more information.

Professional indemnity insurance

We have professional indemnity insurance to cover claims against us. We can give you details of this insurance, including contact details of our insurer.

It is a condition of our professional indemnity insurance that we tell our insurer, or the broker who arranged the cover, about any circumstances which may give rise to a claim being made against us. In this situation we may provide documents and information to our insurer, broker and insurance advisers. They are contractually obliged to keep all information we pass to them strictly confidential.

Complaints

If you are unhappy with our service

We want to give you the best possible service. However, if you become unhappy with or concerned about the service we have provided you should tell us immediately so we can do our best to solve the problem.

If we do not settle your complaint within eight weeks, you may be eligible to complain to the Legal Ombudsman (for example, if you are an individual, a business with fewer than 10 employees and turnover or assets under a certain threshold, or a charity or trust with an income (after tax) of less than £1 million). Making a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman will not affect how we handle your matter.

The Legal Ombudsman will check that you have tried to settle your complaint with us first. If you haven’t, the Legal Ombudsman cannot consider your complaint. 

Normally, you will need to contact the Legal Ombudsman within six months of receiving our final written response to your complaint, or within:

• six years of the act or failure you are complaining about; or
• if you do not become aware of the act of failure within the six-year period, within three years of when you should reasonably have subsequently become aware of it.

You can get more details from the Legal Ombudsman using the contact details below.

Address: PO Box 6806, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WJ

Phone: 0300 555 0333 (between 9am and 5pm)

Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk

Website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk

If you are unhappy with our behaviour

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) can help if you are concerned about our behaviour. This could be for things like dishonesty, taking or losing your money or treating you unfairly because of your age, a disability or other characteristic.

The SRA’s website (www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report-solicitor) contains information about raising concerns about solicitors and law firms.

Ending the contract

You may end the contract at any time by giving us notice in writing. We can keep all your papers and documents while you still owe us money.

We will only end the contract and stop acting for you if we have good reason (for example, if we feel that the relationship between you and us has broken down, you do not pay a bill within one month of it becoming due, you give us misleading information, or you act in an abusive or offensive way). We will give you reasonable notice before we stop acting for you.

If you or we decide to end the contract, we will charge you for the work we have done so far and, if appropriate, for transferring the matter to another adviser you specify. We will calculate the amount you owe as set out in the letter of engagement.

We are not responsible for reminding you about important dates or any deadlines after the contract has ended.

Right to cancel

If you entered into the contract:

• during a visit we made to meet with you outside our office, or after an offer you made during that visit;
• on your business premises; or
• by phone, email or other communication that is not face-to-face;

the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 and the Consumer Rights Act 2015 may apply to the contract.  If so, you will have the right to cancel the contract, without giving any reason, within 14 days of the day the contract started. This 14-day period is referred to as the cooling-off period.

To cancel within the cooling-off period, you must tell us this by:

• law@robsols.co.uk; or
• www.robsols.co.uk/cancellation-form).

Effects of cancellation

If you cancel this contract during the cooling-off period, we will refund all payments we have received from you, unless you asked us to do any work before the end of the cooling-off period (see ‘Work carried out during the cooling-off period’ below).

We will pay the refund:

You will not have to pay any fees to receive a refund.

Work carried out during the cooling-off period

We will not start work during the cooling-off period unless you ask us to.

In most cases, if you ask us to do any work during the cooling-off period, you will not lose your right to cancel. If you go on to cancel the contract during the cooling-off period, we can charge you for the work we have done. This charge will be a proportion of the full cost of the work, as set out in the contract.

You will have to pay the full cost set out in the contract, and lose the right to cancel, once we have completed all the work, even if this happens within the cooling-off period.

Storing and releasing files

We may create and hold client files as paper copies, electronically (stored on a computer or database), or a combination of both.

We normally store your file (except any of your papers you ask us to return) for six years after we send you our final bill, after which time we may destroy it. Unless you tell us otherwise, we may scan paper documents onto our system to be stored electronically and then destroy the paper copies. However, we will not destroy original documents such as wills, deeds and other securities which we have agreed to hold in safe custody, but we may return them to you, after giving you reasonable notice.

We will not charge you anything for storing your file, or for the safe-keeping of original documents such as wills and title deeds, unless the letter of engagement says otherwise.

If you need to view your file in connection with specific work we are carrying out for you, we will not normally charge for this.

If you ask to view your file for another reason, we may charge you for:

• time spent retrieving the file and providing it to you;
• any tasks we need to carry out to meet your request, including reading and producing correspondence; and
• extra copies of any documents.

We will provide an electronic copy of the file unless it is not appropriate to do so.