Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

Essex Painting & Decorating Services Ltd ("EPDS", "we", "us" or "our") is a company registered in England & Wales, with its registered office at Unit 2A The Bringey, Church Street, Great Baddow, Chelmsford CM2 7JW.

For the purposes of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018, EPDS is the data controller of the personal data we collect about you. If you have any questions about this policy or how we handle your information, please contact us using the details in section 10.

2. Information we collect

We only collect personal data that we genuinely need in order to quote for, deliver and invoice our painting and decorating services. This typically includes:

• Your name and, where relevant, the name of your business or organisation.
• Contact details such as your telephone number(s) and email address.
• Your home address, site address or delivery address for the works.
• Details of the works you have asked us to quote for or carry out, including any photographs or descriptions you provide.
• Correspondence between you and our team (emails, messages and call notes).
• Records of quotations, invoices and payments relating to work we have carried out for you.
• Limited technical information (such as IP address and basic device information) collected automatically when you use our website, in line with section 8 below.

We do not knowingly collect special category data (such as health, ethnicity or biometric information) and we do not collect information from children.

3. How we use your information and our lawful basis

We only use your personal data where UK GDPR gives us a lawful basis to do so. In practice, we rely on the following:

• Contract — to prepare quotations, arrange site visits, deliver the works, order materials, invoice you and provide aftercare.
• Legitimate interests — to run our business efficiently, keep records of jobs completed, respond to enquiries, request reviews (for example via Checkatrade), and protect our staff, customers and property.
• Legal obligation — to meet our accounting, tax, health & safety, insurance and other statutory duties.
• Consent — where we ask for it, for example before sending optional marketing communications. You can withdraw consent at any time.

4. Sharing your information

We do not sell your personal data. We only share it where necessary to deliver our services or where we are required to by law. Recipients may include:

• Trusted suppliers who deliver paint, materials or scaffolding to your home or site.
• Sub-contractors and specialist trades working with us on your project, under written confidentiality obligations.
• Our IT, cloud hosting, email, accounting, payment processing and secure file storage providers, who act as processors on our behalf.
• Review platforms (such as Checkatrade) where we invite you to leave feedback, only with the details required to send the invitation.
• Our professional advisers (accountants, insurers and legal advisers) where necessary.
• Regulators, law enforcement or other public authorities where we are legally required to do so.

Where any of our processors are based outside the UK, we ensure appropriate safeguards are in place (such as UK adequacy regulations or the International Data Transfer Agreement) as required by UK GDPR.

5. Marketing messages

We rarely send marketing communications. Where we do, we will only contact you by email or SMS with your prior consent, and every message will contain a clear way to opt out. You can also ask us to stop marketing to you at any time by emailing info@essexpainting.co.uk.

6. Payment information

We accept payment by bank transfer or cheque only. We do not collect or store card details on our website or systems.

7. Keeping your information

We only keep your personal data for as long as we need it:

• Enquiries and quotations that do not proceed — kept for up to 2 years and then securely deleted.
• Records relating to completed works, contracts, invoices and payments — kept for a minimum of 6 years after the end of the relevant financial year to meet HMRC and other legal obligations.
• Health & safety records, RAMS and site paperwork — kept for the period required by the relevant regulations.
• Marketing preferences — kept until you ask us to stop or withdraw consent.

When we no longer need your personal data, we will securely delete it or anonymise it so it can no longer be linked to you.

8. Security, our website and cookies

We take the security of your information seriously. Records are held on password-protected, access-controlled devices and reputable cloud services. Only staff who need access to your information in order to do their job are able to see it.

Our website uses only the cookies and similar technologies that are strictly necessary to make it work and to keep it secure. If we introduce analytics or other non-essential cookies in future, we will ask for your consent first via a cookie banner.

9. Your rights

Under UK GDPR you have the following rights in relation to your personal data:

• The right to be informed about how your personal information is used (this policy).
• The right of access — to request a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
• The right to rectification — to have inaccurate or incomplete information corrected.
• The right to erasure — to ask us to delete your personal information where we no longer have a lawful reason to keep it.
• The right to restrict processing in certain circumstances.
• The right to data portability — to receive your data in a structured, commonly used format.
• The right to object to processing based on our legitimate interests, and to opt out of direct marketing at any time.
• The right to withdraw consent where we rely on it, without affecting the lawfulness of earlier processing.
• The right to complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113. We would appreciate the chance to address any concerns before you contact the ICO.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the details below. We will respond within one month, as required by UK GDPR.

10. Changes to this policy and how to contact us

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes to our services, technology or the law. The latest version will always be available on this page, and the "last updated" date at the top will change. Where changes are significant, we will let you know by email or a prominent notice on our website.

If you have any questions, requests or concerns about your personal data, please contact us:

• Essex Painting & Decorating Services Ltd, Unit 2A The Bringey, Church Street, Great Baddow, Chelmsford CM2 7JW.
• Email: info@essexpainting.co.uk
• Telephone: 01245 208 780