Privacy Policy - Gardeners Walworth

This Privacy Policy explains how Gardeners Walworth collects, uses, shares, stores, and protects personal data. It applies to all Gardeners Walworth customers in the area, including individuals who request services, receive quotations, make bookings, communicate with us, or otherwise interact with our team. 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.

1. Who We Are

Gardeners Walworth provides gardening and related outdoor maintenance services to customers in the Walworth area. For the purposes of data protection law, we act as the data controller for the personal data we determine the purposes and means of processing. This means we decide why and how your personal data is used when you engage with us as a customer, prospective customer, or service recipient.

2. Personal Data We Collect

We collect only the information necessary to deliver our services, manage our business, and comply with legal obligations. Depending on your interaction with us, we may collect the following categories of data:

Identity information, such as your name or title.
Contact details, such as address, email address, and telephone number.
Service information, such as details of the gardening work requested, property access notes, preferences, and appointment history.
Billing and transaction information, such as payment records, invoices, and service history.
Communication records, including emails, messages, call notes, and feedback.
Technical information if you communicate with us electronically, such as limited device or browser information needed for security and record-keeping.

We do not intentionally collect special category data unless it is strictly necessary and you choose to provide it. Special category data may include information about health, religion, or other sensitive matters. If such information is ever received accidentally, we will handle it with additional care and delete it when it is no longer required.

3. How We Use Your Data

We use personal data for the following purposes:

To provide quotations, arrange visits, and carry out gardening services.
To manage customer accounts, booking arrangements, and service preferences.
To process payments, issue invoices, and maintain financial records.
To communicate about appointments, service updates, or changes to planned work.
To respond to enquiries, complaints, or requests for support.
To maintain business records, quality control, and internal administration.
To comply with legal, tax, and regulatory requirements.
To protect our services, staff, and customers from fraud, misuse, or security incidents.

We will only use your personal data where we have a valid lawful basis and where the use is consistent with the purposes explained in this Policy.

4. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under data protection law, we must have a lawful basis for each processing activity. Gardeners Walworth relies on the following lawful bases:

Performance of a Contract

We process personal data when it is necessary to take steps at your request before entering into a contract or to perform a contract with you. This includes handling enquiries, arranging quotations, booking services, completing gardening work, and managing payments.

Legitimate Interests

We may process data where it is necessary for our legitimate interests, provided those interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. These interests include running and improving our services, maintaining accurate records, securing our systems, and managing business operations. Where we rely on this basis, we consider the impact on your privacy and ensure the processing is proportionate.

Legal Obligation

We process certain information to comply with legal duties, such as accounting rules, tax requirements, record retention rules, and cooperation with lawful requests from public authorities.

Consent

In limited cases, we may rely on your consent, for example if we ever send optional marketing communications that are not covered by another lawful basis. Where consent is used, you can withdraw it at any time. Withdrawal will not affect processing carried out before consent was withdrawn.

5. Sharing Your Personal Data and Processors

We may share personal data with carefully selected third parties that help us operate our services. These third parties act as processors when they process data on our behalf and under our instructions. We require processors to protect your data and use it only for agreed purposes.

Examples of processors or service providers may include:

IT and cloud service providers that host email, storage, scheduling, or administrative systems.
Payment processors that handle card or electronic payments securely.
Accounting or bookkeeping providers that assist with financial records and tax compliance.
Communication tools used to manage messages, reminders, or service updates.
Professional advisers such as insurers, legal advisers, or auditors where necessary.

We may also disclose personal data where required by law, to enforce our rights, to protect the safety of our staff or customers, or in connection with a business reorganisation, provided such disclosure is lawful and proportionate.

Gardeners Walworth does not sell personal data. We do not permit processors to use your information for their own purposes.

6. Data Retention

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

Customer and service records are retained for the duration of the relationship and for a reasonable period afterwards to handle follow-up queries or disputes.
Financial and tax records are retained for the period required by applicable law.
Communication records are kept only as long as needed for administration, service quality, and evidence of agreed arrangements.
Inactive records are securely deleted or anonymised once they are no longer necessary.

When data is no longer required, we take appropriate steps to securely erase, anonymise, or archive it in line with our retention practices.

7. Security of Your Data

We use reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal data from unauthorised access, loss, alteration, or disclosure. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, staff confidentiality obligations, and limited internal access to personal information. While no system can be guaranteed completely secure, we take privacy and security seriously and review our practices regularly.

8. Your Rights

Under GDPR, you have a number of rights in relation to your personal data. Subject to legal limitations, these include:

Right of access – you can request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
Right to rectification – you can ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information.
Right to erasure – you can request deletion of your data in certain circumstances.
Right to restriction – you can ask us to limit how we use your data in some cases.
Right to object – you can object to processing based on legitimate interests.
Right to data portability – you may request that certain information be provided in a structured, commonly used format.
Right to withdraw consent – where processing relies on consent, you can withdraw it at any time.

You also have the right to raise a concern with a data protection authority if you believe your rights have been infringed. We encourage you to contact us first so we can try to resolve the matter promptly and fairly.

9. Children’s Data

Our services are intended for adults and property owners, occupiers, or authorised representatives. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children except where it is incidental and necessary for service delivery in a domestic setting. If we become aware that we have collected information about a child without an appropriate reason, we will take steps to remove it where required.

10. International Transfers

Where service providers store or process data outside the UK, we take steps to ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place. This may include contractual protections and checks that the destination country provides an adequate level of data protection or equivalent security measures.

11. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in legal requirements, operational practices, or the services we provide. Any revised version will apply from the date it is published. We encourage customers in the Walworth area to review this Policy periodically so they remain informed about how their personal data is handled.

12. Summary of Our Commitment

Gardeners Walworth is committed to processing personal data lawfully, transparently, and securely. We collect only what we need, use it for clear business and legal purposes, share it only with trusted processors, and keep it for no longer than necessary. This Policy applies to all Gardeners Walworth customers in the area and is designed to support privacy rights while enabling reliable service delivery.