Privacy Policy - Cleaners Richmond Upon Thames

This Privacy Policy explains how Cleaners Richmond Upon Thames collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data belonging to all customers in the Richmond upon Thames area. It applies to everyone who uses our cleaning services, requests a quote, books an appointment, communicates with us, or otherwise engages with our service in this area. We are committed to handling personal information in a lawful, fair, and transparent manner in line with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

We understand that privacy matters. Whether you are arranging a one-off clean, a recurring domestic service, or a specialist cleaning appointment, we only process the information needed to deliver our services properly, manage our customer relationships, and meet legal obligations. This policy is designed to help you understand what we do with your personal data and what rights you have.

1. Information We Collect

We collect personal data directly from customers, from enquiries, and from service-related communications. The information we may collect includes:

Identity details, such as your name and, where relevant, the name of a property manager or authorised representative.
Contact details, such as address, telephone number, and email address.
Service information, including the type of cleaning requested, preferred schedule, property access instructions, and notes about the work required.
Billing and payment information, such as payment status, invoice details, and transaction references.
Communication records, including emails, messages, call notes, complaints, feedback, and service updates.
Technical data, where applicable, such as basic usage information from our digital systems or booking forms.

We do not intentionally collect special category data unless it is necessary and you choose to provide it. If you share details that may relate to health, accessibility, allergies, or other sensitive matters to help us carry out the service safely, we will only use that information where required to meet your request and protect our staff and customers.

2. How We Use Your Data

We process personal data only for specific and legitimate purposes. These may include:

responding to enquiries and providing quotes;
managing bookings, scheduling visits, and delivering cleaning services;
processing payments and handling invoices;
keeping records of completed services and customer preferences;
dealing with complaints, service issues, or follow-up requests;
meeting legal, accounting, insurance, and regulatory requirements;
maintaining internal service quality, training, and operational records.

We only use the information necessary for these purposes. We do not sell personal data, and we do not use customer information for unrelated purposes without a lawful basis.

3. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under data protection law, we must have a lawful basis to process your personal data. Depending on the situation, the lawful basis we rely on may include:

Contract

We process your data when it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. This includes taking bookings, delivering cleaning services, processing payments, and managing service arrangements.

Legal Obligation

We may process data when we need to comply with legal requirements, such as tax, accounting, consumer protection, insurance, or record-keeping obligations.

Legitimate Interests

We may use personal data where it is necessary for our legitimate interests and where your rights do not override those interests. This may include improving our operations, maintaining service records, managing customer enquiries, preventing fraud, or handling disputes. When relying on this basis, we consider whether the processing is proportionate and relevant.

Consent

In limited cases, we may rely on your consent. For example, if we need permission to use optional information you provide for a specific purpose, we will explain this clearly. You can withdraw consent at any time where consent is the lawful basis.

4. Retention of Personal Data

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purpose for which it was collected. Retention periods may vary depending on the type of information and the reason it is held. In general:

customer service records and booking details are kept for a period that allows us to manage follow-up work, disputes, and service history;
financial and tax records are retained for the period required by law;
communication records are kept for as long as needed to deal with queries, complaints, or ongoing service matters;
information collected with consent is kept until consent is withdrawn or the information is no longer needed.

When personal data is no longer required, we will securely delete, anonymise, or destroy it in line with our retention practices. Cleaners Richmond Upon Thames reviews retention needs periodically to ensure we are not keeping data for longer than necessary.

5. Sharing Personal Data and Processors

We may share personal data with trusted third parties where it is necessary to operate our business and provide services. These third parties may act as processors under our instructions or, in some cases, as independent controllers.

Examples of processors may include:

booking and scheduling software providers;
secure payment processors;
cloud storage and IT service providers;
email and communication tools used to manage customer correspondence;
accounting, invoicing, and record-keeping services;
professional advisers who support our operations, where appropriate.

We only appoint processors that provide suitable assurances about data protection and security. These providers are required to process personal data only in accordance with our instructions and to apply appropriate safeguards. Where data is shared, it is limited to what is necessary for the relevant task.

We may also disclose information where required by law, to protect our rights, to prevent fraud or abuse, or to respond to lawful requests from public authorities.

6. Data Security

We take the protection of personal information seriously. We use administrative, technical, and organisational measures to reduce the risk of unauthorised access, loss, misuse, alteration, or disclosure. These measures may include access controls, secure systems, staff awareness, and data minimisation practices.

Although no system can be guaranteed completely secure, we work to maintain a level of protection that is appropriate to the nature of the data we hold and the risks involved. If a personal data breach occurs that is likely to result in a high risk to your rights and freedoms, we will act in accordance with our legal obligations.

7. Your Rights

If you are a customer of Cleaners Richmond Upon Thames in the Richmond upon Thames area, you have rights over your personal data. Subject to conditions and exemptions under data protection law, these may include:

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 information.
Right to erasure – to request deletion of your data in certain circumstances.
Right to restrict processing – to ask us to limit how we use your information in certain situations.
Right to object – to object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing, where applicable.
Right to data portability – to receive certain data in a structured, commonly used format, where applicable.
Right to withdraw consent – where we rely on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.

You also have the right to raise a concern with the UK Information Commissioner’s Office if you believe your data has not been handled appropriately. We encourage customers to contact us first so we can address concerns promptly and transparently.

8. Children’s Data

Our services are intended for adults arranging cleaning services for homes, businesses, or managed properties. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children unless it is required incidentally for service access, safety, or household arrangements and is provided by an adult customer. If we become aware that we have collected such data without a valid reason, we will take appropriate steps to remove it.

9. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect legal, operational, or service changes. Any revised version will apply to all Cleaners Richmond Upon Thames customers in the area from the date it takes effect. We encourage you to review this policy periodically so you remain informed about how your personal data is used.

10. Summary of Our Commitment

We are committed to treating personal data with care, respect, and responsibility. Our approach is built around lawfulness, fairness, transparency, data minimisation, purpose limitation, accuracy, storage limitation, integrity, and confidentiality. In practical terms, this means we only collect what we need, keep it only as long as needed, and use it only for legitimate service-related purposes.

By using our cleaning services in the Richmond upon Thames area, you acknowledge that your information may be processed as described in this policy. We aim to make that processing clear, proportionate, and secure at every stage.