Privacy Policy - Pimlico Cleaners

This Privacy Policy explains how Pimlico Cleaners collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data when providing cleaning services. It applies to all Pimlico Cleaners customers in the area, including residential and commercial clients, prospective customers, and anyone who interacts with our services. We are committed to handling personal data in a lawful, fair, and transparent manner in line with the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.

1. Who We Are

Pimlico Cleaners is the data controller for the personal data described in this policy. This means we decide why and how your personal data is processed for the purposes of delivering our cleaning services, managing client relationships, maintaining records, and complying with legal obligations.

2. Personal Data We Collect

We only collect personal data that is necessary for the services we provide and for related administrative purposes. The categories of information we may collect include:

Identity data such as your name and title.
Contact data such as your address, email address, and phone number.
Service data such as booking details, property access notes, cleaning preferences, service history, and instructions relevant to the work.
Payment and transaction data such as payment status, billing records, and invoice details.
Communication data such as messages, complaints, feedback, and correspondence relating to our services.
Technical data that may be collected when you interact with digital systems we use, such as basic device or usage information if relevant to service administration.
Special category data only where strictly necessary and where you provide it voluntarily, for example information about access needs or sensitivities affecting service delivery.

We do not seek to collect unnecessary personal information. Where you choose not to provide certain data, we may be unable to deliver some services properly.

3. How We Use Your Data

We use personal data for the following purposes:

To manage enquiries, quotes, bookings, and customer accounts.
To deliver cleaning services and follow property-specific instructions.
To handle payments, invoicing, refunds, and account administration.
To communicate with you about appointments, service updates, or customer support matters.
To maintain business records and service histories.
To improve our services, operations, training, and internal processes.
To meet legal, tax, insurance, and regulatory obligations.
To resolve disputes, investigate complaints, and establish or defend legal claims.

We will not use your personal data in ways that are incompatible with the purposes stated in this policy unless we have a lawful basis for doing so.

4. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under the UK GDPR, we must have a lawful basis to process your personal data. Depending on the context, we rely on the following bases:

Contract

We process personal data where it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. This includes managing bookings, delivering cleaning services, processing payments, and providing customer support related to the services.

Legitimate Interests

We may process data where it is in our legitimate interests and where those interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. Examples include maintaining records, improving service quality, preventing fraud, managing complaints, and protecting our business and staff.

Legal Obligation

We process certain information when required to comply with legal duties, including tax, accounting, insurance, health and safety, and record-keeping obligations.

Consent

Where required, we rely on your consent, particularly for any optional processing that is not covered by another lawful basis. You may withdraw consent at any time, although this will not affect processing already carried out lawfully before withdrawal.

Vital Interests

In rare situations, we may process personal data to protect someone’s vital interests, such as in an emergency involving health or safety.

5. Sharing and Processors

We may share personal data with carefully selected third parties who act on our behalf or assist us in operating our services. These third parties act as processors when they process data according to our instructions. They may include:

Payment providers that process card or bank payments.
Booking and scheduling systems that help manage appointments and customer records.
IT and cloud service providers that store data or support communication systems.
Accounting and invoicing providers that assist with financial administration.
Professional advisers such as lawyers, insurers, or auditors where needed.
Regulatory, law enforcement, or public authorities where disclosure is required by law.

We require processors to keep personal data secure, to use it only for the agreed purpose, and to comply with applicable data protection laws. We do not sell personal data.

6. Data Retention

We retain personal data only for as long as necessary for the purpose it was collected, including for service delivery, record-keeping, dispute resolution, tax, and legal compliance. Retention periods may vary depending on the type of information and our legal obligations.

In general:

Customer account and service records are kept for a period necessary to manage the relationship and address any follow-up issues.
Financial and invoicing records are retained for the period required under tax and accounting laws.
Complaints and correspondence may be retained for a reasonable period to resolve issues and demonstrate compliance.
Data collected under consent will be kept only until consent is withdrawn or no longer needed.

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

7. Data Security

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against unauthorised access, loss, misuse, alteration, or disclosure. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, staff training, and limited access to records on a need-to-know basis.

While no system is completely secure, we take reasonable steps to safeguard your data and review our practices regularly.

8. Your Rights

As a data subject under UK GDPR, you have several rights in relation to your personal data. Subject to legal limits and exemptions, these 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 data.
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 data in certain cases.
Right to data portability – to receive certain data in a structured, commonly used format where applicable.
Right to object – to object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing.
Right to withdraw consent – where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.

You also have the right to complain to the relevant data protection authority if you believe your personal data has been handled unlawfully. We encourage you to raise concerns with us first so we can try to resolve the issue promptly.

9. Children’s Data

Our services are intended for adults and business clients. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children unless it is necessary in the context of service delivery and provided by an adult with responsibility for the property or account. If we become aware that we have collected data inappropriately, we will take steps to delete it where required.

10. International Transfers

Where personal data is processed by third-party processors outside the UK, we will ensure appropriate safeguards are in place so that your information remains protected in accordance with data protection law. These safeguards may include approved contractual protections or other lawful transfer mechanisms.

11. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, legal obligations, or data protection practices. Any updated version will apply from the date it is published or otherwise communicated. We encourage customers to review this policy periodically so they remain informed about how their data is handled.

12. Summary of Our Approach

At Pimlico Cleaners, we aim to process personal data in a way that is lawful, transparent, and limited to what is necessary. We only collect information needed to provide and manage cleaning services, we share it only with trusted processors or where required by law, and we keep it only for as long as needed. We respect your rights and are committed to maintaining the privacy of all customers in the area we serve.

Last updated: This policy should be reviewed regularly to ensure continued compliance with applicable data protection laws.