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Privacy Policy
How we look after your information
This notice explains how Sunnyside Accountancy Ltd (“Sunnyside”, “we”, “us”) collects, uses and protects your personal information when you visit our website, contact us, apply for or take part in one of our services, become a client, or hear from us.
We’re a small, friendly practice and we’ll always try to explain things simply. If anything here isn’t clear, please get in touch.
1. Who we are
Sunnyside Accountancy Ltd is the data controller for the personal information described in this notice.
- Company: Sunnyside Accountancy Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company number 12773560
- Registered office: 13 The Crescent, Bromham, Chippenham, Wiltshire, SN15 2HQ
- ICO registration number: ZB221442
- Contact for privacy questions: Jess Weston, Director · jess@sunnysideaccountancy.co.uk · 01380 819905
2. The information we collect
Depending on how you deal with us, we may collect:
- Contact details: name, email address, phone number, business name, address, website or social media links.
- Business information: what your business does, how long you’ve been trading, turnover band, team size, the accounting software you use, and anything you tell us about your business finances, goals and challenges.
- Financial information: records, reports and access to accounting software, bank information, tax information and other figures needed to provide our services.
- Identity information: documents and checks we’re legally required to carry out before providing services, such as ID and address verification and Companies House records.
- Communications: emails, messages, call and meeting notes, form responses and feedback.
- Booking information: appointment details when you book a call or meeting with us.
- Marketing preferences: whether you’ve asked to receive emails from us, and when and how you gave that consent.
- Case study, testimonial and review information: your comments, results and, if you agree, your name and business name.
- Website information: basic technical details such as browser type, language preference and visit times.
We don’t intentionally collect special category information (for example, health information). Please don’t include it in forms or messages unless we’ve specifically asked for it.
3. Where we get your information
- Directly from you: through our website, application forms (including Microsoft Forms), email, phone, social media, calls and meetings.
- From your accounting software, bank or other systems, when you give us access.
- From public sources such as Companies House and HMRC, and from identity verification services we use for anti-money laundering checks.
- From people who refer or recommend you to us.
4. How we use your information and our legal reasons
UK data protection law requires us to have a lawful basis for each way we use your information.
| What we use it for | Our lawful basis |
|---|---|
| Responding to enquiries and booking calls | Legitimate interests (responding to people who contact us) or steps before entering into a contract |
| Considering applications for our services, including complimentary Profit Assessments, and letting you know the outcome | Legitimate interests (running and choosing applicants for our services), and the consent you confirm on the application form |
| Providing accountancy, tax, bookkeeping, payroll, Profit First coaching, profit assessments and advisory services | Performance of a contract, or steps before entering into one |
| Identity and anti-money laundering checks, and keeping the records the law requires | Legal obligation |
| Meeting tax, regulatory, professional and insurance requirements | Legal obligation and legitimate interests |
| Following up after an assessment or service to understand what you put in place and the results, where you’ve agreed to this | Consent, or legitimate interests (improving our services) |
| Asking for feedback and, where appropriate, a review | Legitimate interests (improving our services) |
| Publishing case studies or testimonials | Consent: nothing is published without you agreeing the final content first |
| Sending marketing emails, such as tips on profit and cash flow | Consent: you can withdraw it at any time |
| Running and improving our website and business, and keeping our systems secure | Legitimate interests |
Where we rely on legitimate interests, we’ve considered your interests and rights and believe they’re not overridden. You can ask us for more detail about this.
5. Applications and complimentary Profit Assessments
When you apply for a complimentary Profit Assessment or a similar service, we use your answers to:
- understand your business
- decide whether we can help
- choose the businesses we’ll work with
- contact you about your application
Jess Weston makes the final decision; applications are not decided automatically.
If you’re selected, we’ll need to complete our standard identity and anti-money laundering checks before the assessment. We may also ask for access to, or reports from, your accounting software.
If you’re not selected, we’ll let you know. Where it seems helpful, we may invite you to a free discovery conversation. We won’t add you to our marketing emails unless you separately asked to receive them.
Applying never commits you to buying anything from us.
6. Case studies, testimonials and reviews
If you’ve told us you’re happy to be considered for a case study, we may follow up after your assessment or service to find out what changed. You choose whether you’re named or anonymous. We will always agree the final wording with you before anything is published.
We may ask for an honest review once we’ve delivered value. A review is never a condition of any service, free or paid.
You can withdraw permission for us to use a case study or testimonial at any time. We’ll remove it from our website and future materials. Content already shared, such as past social media posts, may take a little longer to remove where it isn’t under our direct control.
7. Marketing emails
We’ll only send you marketing emails if you’ve asked to receive them, for example by ticking the optional box on one of our forms or signing up on our website.
Every email includes an unsubscribe link, and you can also contact us to stop them at any time. We keep a record of when and how you gave consent.
8. Who we share your information with
We never sell your information. We share it only where needed, with:
- Service providers who help us run our practice:
- Microsoft 365 (email, Microsoft Forms and file storage)
- Calendly (booking calls)
- Client Engager (practice management)
- accounting software you use or we provide, such as Xero, QuickBooks, FreeAgent or Sage
- identity verification providers
- our email marketing platform, when we use one
- other software and IT service providers that help us run our practice
- Public and regulatory bodies: HMRC, Companies House, HM Revenue & Customs as our anti-money laundering supervisor, the National Crime Agency where the law requires, and our professional body.
- Professional advisers and insurers: for example our professional indemnity insurers, solicitors or accountants, when needed.
- Anyone else you ask us to share information with.
Our service providers only use your information on our instructions and must keep it secure.
9. International transfers
Some of our service providers, such as Microsoft, Calendly and some software providers, may store or process information outside the UK, including in the USA. Where this happens, we rely on appropriate safeguards recognised under UK law, such as:
- UK adequacy regulations, including the UK–US “data bridge” where it applies, or
- the International Data Transfer Agreement or Addendum.
10. How long we keep your information
| Information | How long we keep it |
|---|---|
| Enquiries and applications that don’t lead to working together | Up to 12 months after the application closes, then deleted (unless you’ve asked to receive marketing emails) |
| Client files and service records | 6 years after the end of the tax year or period they relate to, or after our relationship ends, to meet tax, legal and professional requirements |
| Anti-money laundering records | 5 years after our business relationship ends, as required by the Money Laundering Regulations |
| Marketing email list | Until you unsubscribe; we then keep a minimal record so we don’t email you again |
| Published case studies and testimonials | Until you withdraw permission, or we no longer use them |
| Website information | As set out by our website and analytics providers, usually no longer than 26 months |
11. Keeping your information safe
We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your information, including:
- secure, password-protected systems with multi-factor authentication
- access limited to people who need it
- reputable service providers with strong security
If a data breach puts your rights at risk, we’ll tell you and, where required, the ICO.
12. Your rights
You have the right to:
- ask for a copy of the information we hold about you
- ask us to correct inaccurate information
- ask us to delete your information
- ask us to restrict or pause how we use it
- object to how we use it, including stopping marketing at any time
- ask for your information in a portable format
- withdraw your consent at any time, where we rely on consent. This doesn’t affect anything we did before you withdrew it
Some rights have limits. For example, we must keep certain records for legal reasons.
To use any of these rights, email jess@sunnysideaccountancy.co.uk. We’ll respond within one month.
13. Complaints
If you’re unhappy with how we’ve handled your information, please contact us first so we can put it right.
You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO): ico.org.uk · 0303 123 1113.
14. Cookies
Our website uses cookies and similar technologies so that it works properly and so we can understand how it’s used. Essential cookies are needed for the site to work. Where we use cookies that aren’t essential, such as analytics, we’ll ask for your consent first using the cookie banner on our website. You can see the cookies we use, and change your choice at any time, on our Cookie Policy page.
15. Changes to this notice
We may update this notice from time to time. The latest version will always be on this page, with the date it was last updated.
