Privacy Policy - Gardeners St Lukes

This Privacy Policy explains how Gardeners St Lukes collects, uses, stores, and protects personal data for all customers in the St Lukes area. It applies to all individuals who use, request, or receive services from Gardeners St Lukes, including residential and commercial customers within the local service area. We are committed to handling personal information in a lawful, fair, and transparent manner in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

1. Scope of This Policy

This policy applies to personal data processed when you enquire about services, receive a quotation, book work, communicate with us, or otherwise engage Gardeners St Lukes for gardening-related services. It also applies to information collected through administrative, operational, and record-keeping processes connected to the delivery of our services in the area.

By using our services, you acknowledge that your information may be processed as described in this policy. We only process data that is relevant, necessary, and proportionate for the purposes set out below.

2. Information We Collect

Gardeners St Lukes may collect and process a range of personal data depending on the service requested. This may include:

Identity details such as your name and title.
Contact details such as address, email address, and telephone number.
Service information relating to quotations, appointments, instructions, property access, and job history.
Billing and payment information where required for invoicing, account management, and financial administration.
Communication records including messages, call notes, and correspondence related to your enquiry or service request.
Technical data such as limited website or device information if you contact us electronically, where applicable.
Property-related details necessary for planning and delivering the requested gardening work.

We do not intentionally collect special category data unless it is necessary and you provide it for a specific reason. If such information is ever required, it will only be processed where a lawful basis exists and additional safeguards are appropriate.

3. How We Use Your Data

We use personal data only for clearly defined purposes connected to our services. These purposes may include:

responding to enquiries and providing quotations;
arranging and delivering gardening services;
managing appointments, schedules, and operational logistics;
maintaining customer records and service histories;
issuing invoices, processing payments, and keeping financial records;
communicating about service updates, changes, or follow-up matters;
meeting legal, tax, accounting, and regulatory obligations;
protecting the security of our operations, systems, and staff;
handling complaints, disputes, or service-related concerns.

We will only use your data in ways that are compatible with the original purpose for which it was collected, unless we have a lawful reason to do otherwise.

4. Lawful Basis for Processing

Gardeners St Lukes processes personal data under one or more of the following lawful bases under UK GDPR:

Contract

We process personal data where it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. This includes providing quotations, arranging work, delivering services, managing payments, and handling related communications.

Legal Obligation

We may process and retain information where required to comply with legal obligations such as tax, accounting, fraud prevention, and record-keeping requirements.

Legitimate Interests

We may process data where it is necessary for our legitimate interests, provided your rights and freedoms do not override those interests. This may include managing customer relationships, improving services, maintaining internal records, and ensuring business security. We always consider whether the processing is proportionate and necessary.

Consent

Where consent is needed, we will ask for it clearly and specifically. You may withdraw consent at any time, and this will not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.

5. How We Share Data and Processors

We may share personal data with trusted third parties, known as processors, who help us deliver services and run our business. These processors act on our instructions and are required to protect your information. They may include:

administrative and bookkeeping providers;
payment or invoicing service providers;
IT and data storage providers;
communication and scheduling tools;
professional advisers such as accountants or legal advisers, where necessary.

We may also disclose data where required by law, regulation, or court order, or where needed to protect our rights, property, staff, or customers. We do not sell personal data.

Where processors are used, Gardeners St Lukes takes reasonable steps to ensure they offer appropriate technical and organisational safeguards. We only work with processors who are required to keep personal data secure and process it lawfully.

6. Data Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, including satisfying legal, accounting, tax, and business-record requirements. Retention periods may vary depending on the type of information and the reason it was collected.

In general, we may retain:

Customer and service records for the duration of the relationship and for a reasonable period afterwards;
Financial records for the period required by law;
Communication records for as long as needed to manage enquiries, resolve disputes, or support service continuity;
Technical and security logs for short periods unless a longer period is needed for investigation or compliance.

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

7. Data Security

We use appropriate organisational and technical measures to protect personal data against loss, misuse, unauthorised access, alteration, or disclosure. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, careful handling of records, and limiting access to authorised personnel only.

While no system can be guaranteed completely secure, we work to maintain an appropriate level of protection proportional to the nature of the information we process.

8. Your Rights Under GDPR

Depending on the circumstances, you may have the following rights regarding your personal data:

Right of access – to request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
Right to rectification – to ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data.
Right to erasure – to request deletion of data in certain situations.
Right to restrict processing – to request limited use of your data in certain cases.
Right to object – to object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing.
Right to data portability – to receive certain data in a structured, commonly used format.
Right to withdraw consent – where processing is based on consent.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) if you believe your data has been handled unlawfully. We encourage you to raise any concerns with us first so that we can attempt to resolve them promptly and fairly.

9. Children’s Data

Gardeners St Lukes does not knowingly collect personal data from children unless it is necessary for a lawful service-related purpose and provided by an appropriate adult or legal guardian. If we become aware that we have collected information inappropriately, we will take steps to delete it where required.

10. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in law, regulation, or the way we operate. Any revised version will apply from the date it is published or otherwise communicated. We encourage customers in the St Lukes area to review this policy periodically so they remain informed about how their data is handled.

11. Summary of Our Commitment

Gardeners St Lukes is committed to protecting personal data and respecting the privacy of every customer in the area. We collect only the information we need, use it for legitimate service-related purposes, keep it only as long as necessary, and share it only with trusted processors or where the law requires it. We aim to be transparent, responsible, and fair in every stage of data handling.

This policy is intended to support GDPR-compliant data handling for customers of Gardeners St Lukes in the local service area.