1. Who we are
Beechwood Financial Services was first established in April 1978. We have over 40 years of experience in providing impartial financial advice for our clients, helping them to navigate their way towards a secure financial future.

Beechwood’s Company Registration Number is 09413892 and our office and contact details are as follows:

Trading and Registered Office Address:
Gate House
Fretherne Road
Welwyn Garden City
Hertfordshire
AL8 6NS

Tel: 01707 336539
Fax: 01707 323964
Website: https://beechwoodfs.co.uk

2. Data Manager
We have appointed Mr Philip Boon as the Company’s Data Manager to oversee compliance with this privacy notice. If you have any questions about this privacy notice or how we handle your personal information, please contact the Company’s Data Manager at the trading office address shown above, who will respond as soon as is reasonably practicable.

3. The purpose oft his notice
We are committed to protecting the privacy and security of your personal information and this privacy notice explains in detail the types of personal data we may collect about you and how we handle and store that data in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation 2018 and Data Protection Act 2018.

We are required under data protection legislation to notify you of the information contained in this privacy notice and we would ask that you read and retain it. We may need to update this privacy notice from time to time, we will notify you of any significant changes but our privacy notice can be viewed at any time on our website.

4. Our Privacy Principles
We are committed to complying with data protection law which says that the personal information we hold about you must be:

Used lawfully, fairly and in a transparent way.
Collected only for valid purposes that we have clearly explained to you and not used in any way that is incompatible with those purposes.
Relevant to the purposes we have told you about and limited only to those purposes.
Accurate and kept up to date.
Kept only as long as necessary for the purposes we have told you about.
Kept securely.

5. What personal data we may collect and where from
We may ask you at our initial meeting or during the course of our relationship with you to provide us with the personal data listed below. We may also collect information about you from credit reference agencies.

We may collect, store and use the following categories of personal information about you:-

Your name, title, addresses, telephone and fax numbers, personal and work email addresses
Gender and date of birth
Marital status, dependants, family information
Next of kin and emergency contact information
National Insurance Number
Employment details including the name of your employer, location of your workplace, job title, details of income including salary, bonuses and associated evidence such as payslips and P60
Details of financial arrangements you hold including shareholdings, investments, assets you own, insurance details, tax status information, pension and benefits information, debts, legal commitments, outgoings and bank statements.
Proof of your identity and address

6. Why we collect your personal data
We need to collect, process and store your data in order for us to provide you with a full financial planning service. Specifically we hold data for one of the following reasons:

Contractual obligations – In certain circumstances, we need your personal data to comply with our contractual obligations.

For example, your information may be used to help us provide you with initial and ongoing advice and administration and to introduce you to a range of investments which may be suitable to meet your objectives or to assist you making a claim.

Legal and regulatory compliance – If the law requires us to, we may need to collect process and hold your data.

For example, we are required under The Money Laundering Regulations 2007 to obtain proof of identity (i.e. passport/driving license) and proof of address (i.e. bank statement/utility bill) from our clients. Statutory regulations require us to retain your data for minimum periods of time.

Legitimate interest – In specific situations, we require your data to pursue our legitimate interests in a way which might reasonably be expected as part of running our business and which does not materially impact your rights, freedom or interests.

For example, if you are already an existing client, we may use your email address to send you direct marketing information, telling you about products and services that we think you may be interested in or we may email you news bulletins. However, you can opt-out at any time by contacting the Company’s Data Manager (see section 2).

Consent – We may ask you to provide us with your explicit written consent (which can be withdrawn at any time) for us to use your personal information.
For example, if you are a new client we may ask you to provide your explicit written consent to receive email marketing from us. We may also ask you to provide your explicit written consent in relation to sensitive personal data (see below).

7. How we use sensitive personal data
By law, we must treat special categories of sensitive personal data such as health or medical data with a higher level of care and protection.
For example, we may ask you to provide details of your health and any medical conditions you have so we can provide you with relevant insurance, annuity or investment products which we believe may be suitable for you, to assist with your retirement, investment and inheritance tax planning, or to assist you in making a claim.

8. Right to withdraw consent
Where you have provided us with your explicit written consent, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. To withdraw your consent, please contact the Data Manager (see section 2). Once we have received notification that you have withdrawn your consent, we will no longer process your information for the purpose or purposes you originally agreed to, unless we have another legitimate basis for doing so in law.

9. If you fail to provide us with your data
If you fail to provide certain information when requested, we may not be able to perform the contract we have entered into with you (such as offering you initial and ongoing advice to help you to plan your financial future) or we may be prevented from complying with our legal obligations (i.e. certifying your Identity Documentation in accordance with The Money Laundering Regulations 2007).

10. When we share your personal data
We will share your personal information with third parties where required by law i.e. making returns to HMRC. We may also share your personal information where it is part of our service of providing you with financial advice and when acting as your financial intermediary. We may therefore share your data with the following third parties:-

Investment / Pension Providers (if you have decided to proceed with the investment).
Insurers or Lenders with whom we agree to place your business.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) with whom we are regulated or other regulatory bodies as required.
Any Law enforcement entities as required in UK Law.
We may verify your identity by searching publicly available records held by credit reference agencies.
Mortgage customers will be required to undertake a credit check by the Lender.
Our outsourced contractors such as IT, Compliance Services, professional and technical consultants, external accountants, solicitors, administrative and typing service providers.
Your accountants and solicitors (provided you have given us your explicit written consent)
We require third parties to respect the security of your data and to treat it in accordance with the law. We will not sell or share your information with any other third parties unless we have obtained your explicit written consent or except in the context of the possible sale or restructuring of the business. In this situation we will so far as possible, share anonymised data with the other parties before the transaction completes. Once the transaction is completed, we will share your personal data with the other parties, if and to the extent required under the terms of the transaction.

11. How we keep your personal data secure
We understand how important it is to keep your personal information safe and secure. We take steps online and in our office to keep our systems and records secure. If you would like details of the measure we have put in place, please send your written request to the Company’s Data Manager (see section 2).
We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected data security breach, we will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected breach where we are legally required to do so. We limit access to your personal information to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal information on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

12. How long we hold your personal data for
We are subject to regulatory requirements to retain your data. We will securely archive and retain a record of the advice we give to you indefinitely due to the possibility that it may be required to defend any future claims against us.

13. Your duty to inform us of changes
It is important that the personal information we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal information changes during your working relationship with us.

14. Your rights in connection with personal information
You have the following rights by law:

Request access to your personal information. This enables you to receive a copy of the personal information we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it. We will not charge a fee unless your request for access is clearly unfounded or excessive in which case we may charge a reasonable fee or refuse to comply with the request.
Request correction of the personal information that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate information we hold about you corrected.
Request erasure of your personal information. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal information where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal information where you have exercised your right to object to processing (see below).
Object to processing of your personal information where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) 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 information for direct marketing purposes.
Request the restriction of processing of your personal information. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of personal information about you, for example if you want us to establish its accuracy or the reason for processing it.
Request the transfer of your personal information to another party.
If you would like to exercise any of the rights above, please make a written request to the Company’s Data Manager (see section 2). We will endeavor to comply with any requests in relation to the above, subject to the restrictions of our regulatory obligations and legitimate interests as noted above.

15. Right to make a complaint
You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues. Their contact details are:

Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Tel: 0303 123 1113 (local rate) or 01625 545 745 if you prefer to use a national rate number.

Website: www.ico.org.uk