Dow Schofield Watts Business Recovery LLP – Incorporated and registered in England and Wales – Registered number: OC391762 – VAT Number: 187 1965 61

Recognised professional bodies:

  • Christopher Benjamin Barrett – Insolvency Practitioners Association
  • John Allan Carpenter – Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales
  • Lisa Marie Moxon – Insolvency Practitioners Association

Privacy Notice

This is the privacy statement of Dow Schofield Watts Business Recovery LLP. This privacy statement explains how the LLP and its insolvency practitioners collect and use personal information about individuals.
Use of personal information

In order to carry out our work as insolvency practitioners it is necessary to process personal information. This includes processing data that was held by companies or businesses prior to our appointment, together with data collected during the course of an insolvency procedure.

We have legal obligations under insolvency and associated legislation to collect information from insolvent companies over which we are appointed and to process personal data. In most insolvency procedures the insolvency practitioners will act as agents of the company over which they are appointed. The company and the insolvency practitioners will act as data controllers and the LLP will act as data processor in respect of personal information held.

What personal information we collect

The personal data we may collect will vary depending on the nature of the company over which we are appointed and your relationship to that company (e.g. director, shareholder, employee, customer, supplier). In many cases the personal data may be basic details such as name, address and transactions with the company. In the case of employees, the personal data will include payroll records.

However, our insolvency practitioners may be appointed over companies that process sensitive categories of personal data such as health records. These categories of data will generally have been collected by the companies prior to our appointment and will usually not be processed by the insolvency practitioners or the LLP. Steps will be taken to safeguard or destroy such sensitive personal data as appropriate.

Where we collect personal information from

The personal information is collected from the records held by the company which we are appointed, or will be additional information supplied by you in communications with the insolvency practitioners during the course of the insolvency.

How we use your personal information

Personal information is used in carrying out our work as insolvency practitioners. For example, personal data may be used for the following purposes:

  • To communicate with directors, shareholders and creditors as required by the insolvency legislation;
  • To continue trading the business where appropriate;
  • To perform employment law obligations where employees are retained after our appointment;
  • To assist in the collection of debts or the realisation of other assets;
  • To allow the insolvency practitioners to fulfil their investigatory duties;
  • To provide information to other parties who are legally entitled to it (e.g. HM Revenue & Customs, legal and regulatory authorities etc.)
  • To facilitate the payment of expenses of the insolvency procedure;
  • To submit information to the Redundancy Payments Service to assist in their agreement of payments to redundant employees; and
  • To agree creditor claims and allow funds to be distributed to them.

Personal data will be kept secure and will only be used in carrying out our functions as insolvency practitioners and complying with legal requirements.

Who we share your personal information with

We may share personal data with third parties where:

  • we are under a legal or regulatory duty to do so;
  • it is necessary for the purposes of undertaking our work as insolvency practitioners;
  • it can assist the police or other law enforcement agencies with the prevention and detection of crime;
  • disclosure is necessary to protect the safety or security of any persons; and/or
  • disclosure is otherwise permitted by law.

How we use your information to make automated decisions

No processing of personal data to make automated decisions is carried out by the insolvency practitioners or the LLP.

How long we retain your personal information for

Personal data will be retained for as long as any legislative or regulatory requirement requires us to hold it.

Insolvency case files are retained until six years after the date of release of the insolvency practitioners on the conclusion of the insolvency case as required by the insolvency legislation.

Generally, the books and records of insolvent companies over which we are appointed are destroyed after one year from the date of dissolution. In certain situations we may be required to return the books and records to the company’s directors or deliver them to a subsequently appointed insolvency practitioner on the termination of our appointment.

Holding personal information outside the EEA

We do not hold any personal data in locations outside the EEA.

Your rights

You have the right to receive the information contained in this notice about how your personal data may be processed by us.

Access to your information – You have the right to ask us to confirm whether we process your personal data and to access the personal data along with the following information: the purposes of the processing; the categories of personal data concerned; the recipients to whom the personal data has/will be disclosed; how long we intend to store your personal data; your right to request to have your personal data rectified, erased, to restrict the processing of the data or to object to the processing; if we did not collect the data directly from you, available information about the source; whether it has been used for any automated decision-making; and whether it has been transferred to another country or international organisation.

Consent – Generally, we do not rely on consent as a legal basis for processing your personal data (as we usually rely on another legal basis). However, where you have given us your consent to use personal data, you can withdraw your consent at any time.

Correcting your information – If you believe that we hold any incomplete or inaccurate data about you, you may ask us to correct the personal information.

Deletion of your information – You can ask us to delete your personal data where it is no longer necessary for us to use it, you have withdrawn consent, you have validly objected to our use of your personal information or where we have no lawful basis for keeping it.

Objecting to how we may use your information – You can object to our processing of your personal data where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party), including for profiling, and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground. You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal data for direct marketing purposes.

Restricting how we may use your information – In some cases, you may ask us to restrict how we use your personal information. This right might apply, for example, where we are checking the accuracy of personal information about you that we hold or assessing the validity of any objection you have made to our use of your information. The right might also apply where there is no longer a basis for using your personal information but you don’t want us to delete the data.  Where this right to validly exercised, we may only use the relevant personal information with your consent, for legal claims or where there are other public interest grounds to do so.

Automated processing – If we use your personal information on an automated basis to make decisions which significantly affect you, you have the right to ask that the decision be reviewed by an individual to whom you may make representations and contest the decision. No processing of personal data to make automated decisions is carried out by the insolvency practitioners or the LLP, but is possible that a company over which we are appointed may do so.

Withdrawing consent using your information – Where we use your personal information with your consent you may withdraw that consent at any time and we will stop using your personal information for the purpose(s) for which consent was given.

Please contact us as set out in the Contact information and further advice section below if you wish to exercise any of these rights.

Data portability – You can ask us to provide you or a third party with some of the personal data that we hold about you in a structured, commonly used, electronic form, so it can be easily transferred.

Changes to our privacy statement

We keep this privacy statement under regular review and any amendments will be published on this webpage.

This privacy statement was last updated on 25 May 2018.

Contact information and further advice

If you have any questions or concerns regarding this data privacy notice, please contact John Carpenter by email: [email protected].

Complaints Procedure

Dow Schofield Watts Business Recovery LLP is committed to providing a high-quality service. When carrying out insolvency work our insolvency practitioners have regard to the Insolvency Code of Ethics as well as the insolvency legislation and professional guidance.

We hope that you will be satisfied with the service that we provide, and we are keen to maintain the quality of service provided. If you would like to discuss how the firm’s service to you could be improved or if you wish to make a complaint please contact John Carpenter at Dow Schofield Watts Business Recovery LLP, 7400 Daresbury Park, Daresbury, Warrington WA4 4BS in the first instance.

If you have a complaint relating to formal insolvency proceedings, you are able to complain to the Recognised Professional Body (“RPB”) of the insolvency practitioner concerned at any time. Complaints to the relevant RPB should be made through the Insolvency Complaints Gateway which is accessed through the Insolvency Service website:

www.gov.uk/complain-about-insolvency-practitioner

Before making a complaint via the Complaints Gateway we would hope that you would allow us to investigate and seek to resolve the complaint. Any complaint received will be acknowledged and, in some circumstances, we may seek further information from you to be able to properly investigate the complaint. Your complaint will be fully reviewed and investigated, and a written response will be provided setting out any action(s) we propose to take. If you are not satisfied with our response to your complaint, you may subsequently take your complaint to the insolvency practitioner’s RPB via the Insolvency Complaints Gateway.