Privacy Notice

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This policy covers the privacy policy for the SMB HR portal. You can view the policy for the SMB.co.uk marketing website here

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INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the SMB Partners Limited (SMB) privacy notice.

SMB respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal data in accordance with the UK Data Protection Act 2018 and any subsequent law mandating data protection within the UK. This privacy notice will inform you as to how we look after your personal data when you visit our website (regardless of where you visit it from) and tell you about your privacy rights and how the law protects you.

Where data is processed by a controller or processor established in the European Union or comprises the data of people of the European Union, it also includes the EU General Data Protection Regulation (EU GDPR). This includes any replacement legislation coming into effect from time to time.

This privacy notice is provided in a layered format so you can click through to the specific areas set out below. Please also use the Glossary to understand the meaning of some of the terms used in this privacy notice.

1. IMPORTANT INFORMATION AND WHO WE ARE
2. THE DATA WE COLLECT ABOUT YOU
3. HOW WE COLLECT YOUR PERSONAL DATA
4. HOW WE USE YOUR PERSONAL DATA
5. DISCLOSURES OF YOUR PERSONAL DATA
6. INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS
7. DATA SECURITY
8. DATA RETENTION
9. YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS
10. GLOSSARY

1. IMPORTANT INFORMATION AND WHO WE ARE

Purpose of this privacy notice

This privacy notice aims to give you information on how SMB collects and processes your personal data through your use of this website, including any data you may provide through the SMB HR portal. It is important that you read this privacy notice together with any other privacy notice or fair processing notice we may provide on specific occasions when we are collecting or processing personal data about you so that you are fully aware of how and why we are using your data. This privacy notice supplements the other notices and is not intended to override them.

Our status as a data processor

SMB acts as a data processor for its customers. If you are employed by a customer, then that customer is the data controller (which means that they determine the means and purposes of that processing) and we are the customer's processor. That means that we process Personal Data according to the instructions of our customers. Our customers are companies who engage us to manage their employee records.

This website is intended to be used by employees of our customers, who will either be using the site for human resources management or administration purposes, or who will be accessing their own employee record.

As a processor of employee-related data we take seriously the private nature of the information that we process, and the importance of it being accurate. However, this website/portal contains the ability for our customers to input data into user-defined fields. All our customers are expected to use the website in compliance with their general legal obligations and our Terms and Conditions of Use, but we have limited control over what may be included within user-defined fields in particular. It is therefore important that you refer to the privacy policy of the relevant customer to understand how they will use this site.

We have appointed a data protection officer (DPO) (The DPO Centre, www.dpocentre.com) who is responsible for overseeing questions in relation to this privacy notice. If you have any questions about this privacy notice, including any requests to exercise your legal rights, please contact the DPO using the details set out below.

Contact details

Our full details are:

Full name of legal entity: SMB Partners Ltd
Email address: dpo@smb.co.uk
Postal address: The Pinnacle, 170 Midsummer Blvd, Milton Keynes MK9 1BP

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 (www.ico.org.uk). We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO so please contact us in the first instance. We would also recommend that you raise any complaint with your employer, who will be our customer: they may well be able to assist in the resolution of your complaint in their role as data controller.

Changes to the privacy notice

This version was last updated on 1st March 2024

Third-party links

Our customers have the ability to add links to their own websites and intranets. This website/portal may therefore include links to third-party websites, plug-ins and applications where the individual user has the necessary permissions. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy statements. When you leave our website, we encourage you to read the privacy notice of every website you visit.

2. THE DATA WE COLLECT ABOUT YOU

Personal data, or personal information, means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include data where the identity has been removed (anonymous data).

The data we collect is provided by our customers for the purposes of their human resources management.

We use, store and transfer different kinds of personal data about you which we have grouped together as follows:

• Identity Data includes first name, maiden name, last name, username or similar identifier, marital status, title, date of birth and gender.
• Contact Data includes home address, email address and telephone numbers.
• Financial Data includes bank account and similar details.
• Technical Data includes internet protocol (IP) address, your login data, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform and other technology on the devices you use to access this website.
• Profile Data includes your username and password.
• Usage Data includes information about how you use our website and services.
• Customer Data this is data that our customers input into the website for the purposes of HR management. There are various fields relating to specific aspects of each individual employee, and their relationship with our customer. Customer Data may include Special Categories of Data where that is necessary for the management of the employment relationship (see below).

We also collect, use and share Aggregated Data such as statistical or demographic data. Aggregated Data may be derived from your personal data but is not considered personal data in law as this data does not directly or indirectly reveal your identity. For example, we may aggregate your Usage Data to calculate the percentage of users accessing a specific website/portal feature. However, if we combine or connect Aggregated Data with your personal data so that it can directly or indirectly identify you, we treat the combined data as personal data which will be used in accordance with this privacy notice

We may process Special Categories of Personal Data about you (this includes details about your race or ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, sex life, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership, information about your health and genetic and biometric data). It may also include data relating to criminal convictions, if that has been defined by a particular customer. This is because such data may be regarded as necessary to the relevant data controller for the purposes of carrying out obligations owed to you or by you as a result of your employment.

3. HOW WE COLLECT YOUR PERSONAL DATA

The vast majority of data that we process originates from our customers, or from individual employees of those customers. This data is provided by users authorised by our customers to access their account and to populate the appropriate data fields with employee information, or by individual employees updating that information during the course of their employment.

Cookies

A small part of the data we collect is Usage Data, which results from users' interactions with our site. This informs us how long individual users spend on the site, and what they do whilst on it.

We also collect Technical Data by way of automated technologies or interactions. As you interact with our website/portal, we may automatically collect Technical Data about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns. All these cookies are strictly necessary to ensure the website/platform is able to operate securely. We collect this personal data by using cookies, server logs and other similar technologies. Please see our cookie policy for further details.

Our clients might link their own website/portal account to notice boards, SharePoint sites or YouTube videos that could result in further cookies being dropped. We have no control over these additional links, please read you're organisation’s own policies to ensure you understand any additional processing.

We are the data controller for the purposes of both Usage Data and Technical Data and processing the personal data under the lawful basis of performance of a contract to provide and maintain the website/portal or legitimate interest.

We use Technical and Usage data to monitor our portal performance and to provide technical support as required.

You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when websites set or access cookies. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of this website may become inaccessible or not function properly. For more information about the cookies we use, please see our cookie policy.

• Contact, Financial and Transaction Data from providers of technical, payment and delivery services such as GoCardless based inside the EU or PayPal based inside the EU. They are controllers in their own right as we do not process the personal data it is processed via direct API and we only receive confirmation of successful payment.

4. HOW WE USE YOUR PERSONAL DATA

We will only use your personal data when the law allows us to. As we are a Processor, this means that we will only use it in accordance with the contract that we have in place with our customers. Our terms and conditions can be found here. These set out our contractual obligations to our customers, including the extent of the authority that we have to process data provided to us. We process this data because of our contractual obligations to our customers; our customers remain the data controller, and they will inform you of the lawful basis for this processing.

We process certain types of Personal Data as a controller. For example, we will have the names and contact details of employees within our customers who are responsible for ensuring that our invoices get paid, or who contact us with a query about the site or its performance. We have a legitimate interest in processing this data, namely to ensure the effective performance of contracts between us and our customers.

Change of purpose

We will only use your personal data for the purposes for which we collected it. For most of the Personal Data that we hold this means that we will process it strictly in accordance with the contracts that we have in place with our customer.

Where we are processing your data as a controller, we will only use it in for the reasons for which it was originally collected by us. If we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose then we may do so. If you wish to get an explanation as to how the processing for the new purpose is compatible with the original purpose, please contact us.

If we need to use your personal data for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to do so.

Please note that we may process your personal data without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law.

5. DISCLOSURES OF YOUR PERSONAL DATA

We will share your personal data with the parties set out below.

• Fasthosts (www.fasthosts.co.uk). Fasthosts is a UK based company. All our data and processing is hosted by Fasthosts.
• Zendesk (www.zendesk.com). Zendesk provides the email enquiry and support management platform that we use when users have a service enquiry.
• Mailchimp (www.mailchimp.com). Mailchimp provides the email delivery platform we use to send transactional messages to employees of our clients as part of their use of the system.
• Microsoft (www.microsoft.com). We use the Microsoft Office 365 suite of products for various transactional messages regarding the system and the Azure hosting environment for data and processing..

We require all third parties to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes and only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions. We regard these as sub-processors, which means that we have in place contracts with each company that provide the same degree of commitment to data protection as exists between us and our customers, and in particular means that they may only process it for the purposes for which it is provided to them. They must return or delete it at our request.

6. INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS

Zendesk is a company headquartered in the USA. Zendesk is supported by Amazon Web Services (www.amazon.aws.com), who provide hosting and processing services. This processing takes place in the USA. Both Zendesk and Amazon have extensive data security in place, and are fully aware of their rights and obligations under EU and UK data protection law. Both Zendesk and AWS have put into place EU approved data transfer mechanisms (Standard Contractual Clauses or Binding Corporate Rules) which requires them to provide similar protection to personal data shared between the Europe and the US as exists within both the EU and UK.

In addition, we use Mailchimp and Microsoft both who operate outside the EU but provide appropriate technical and security safeguards. The transfer of personal data is facilitated by Standard Contractual Clauses built into their standard service agreement.

Please also note we are reviewing data transfers in light of the UK leaving the EU and will ensure with advice and guidance of our DPO, any transfers of data from the UK will be in compliance with the UK data protection law and European law and contractual arrangements will be in place where necessary to safeguard data at all times.

Please contact us if you want further information on the specific mechanism used by us when transferring your personal data out of the EEA/UK.

7. DATA SECURITY

We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, or altered or disclosed. In addition, we limit access to your personal data to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal data on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so.

8. DATA RETENTION

How long will you use my personal data for?

We will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.

To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements.

In some circumstances we may anonymise your personal data (so that it can no longer be associated with you) for research or statistical purposes in which case we may use this information indefinitely without further notice to you.

9. YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS

Under certain circumstances, you have rights under data protection laws in relation to your personal data. Please remember that in many cases we are the processor of your personal data, and our customer is the controller. Therefore, it may be more appropriate for you to refer any request to the appropriate customer. However, we will always try to assist with a request, and where necessary will liaise with our customer to ensure that the request is facilitated.

Please click on the links below to find out more about these rights:

• Request access to your personal data.
• Request correction of your personal data.
• Request erasure of your personal data.
• Object to processing of your personal data.
• Request restriction of processing your personal data.
• Request transfer of your personal data.
• Right to withdraw consent.

If you wish to exercise any of the rights set out above, please contact us.

No fee usually required

You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal data (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive or excessive. Alternatively, we may refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances.

What we may need from you

We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal data (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up our response.

Time limit to respond

We try to respond to all legitimate requests within one month. Occasionally it may take us longer than a month if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, we will notify you and keep you updated.

10. GLOSSARY

LAWFUL BASIS

Legitimate Interest means the interest of our business in conducting and managing our business to enable us to give you the best service/product and the best and most secure experience. We make sure we consider and balance any potential impact on you (both positive and negative) and your rights before we process your personal data for our legitimate interests. We do not use your personal data for activities where our interests are overridden by the impact on you (unless we have your consent or are otherwise required or permitted to by law). You can obtain further information about how we assess our legitimate interests against any potential impact on you in respect of specific activities by contacting us

THIRD PARTIES

External Third Parties

Service providers acting as processors or sub-processors who provide IT and system administration services.

YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS

You have the right to:

Request access to your personal data (commonly known as a “data subject access request”). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal data we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.

Request correction of the personal data that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate data we hold about you corrected, though we may need to verify the accuracy of the new data you provide to us.

Request erasure of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal data 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 data where you have successfully exercised your right to object to processing (see below), where we may have processed your information unlawfully or where we are required to erase your personal data to comply with local law. Note, however, that we may not always be able to comply with your request of erasure for specific legal reasons which will be notified to you, if applicable, at the time of your request.

Object to processing of your personal data 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 as you feel it impacts on your fundamental rights and freedoms. You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal data for direct marketing purposes. In some cases, we may demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate grounds to process your information which override your rights and freedoms.

Request restriction of processing of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of your personal data in the following scenarios: (a) if you want us to establish the data’s accuracy; (b) where our use of the data is unlawful but you do not want us to erase it; (c) where you need us to hold the data even if we no longer require it as you need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims; or (d) you have objected to our use of your data but we need to verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds to use it.

Request the transfer of your personal data to you or to a third party. We will provide to you, or a third party you have chosen, your personal data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format. Note that this right only applies to automated information which you initially provided consent for us to use or where we used the information to perform a contract with you.

Withdraw consent at any time where we are relying on consent to process your personal data. However, this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdraw your consent. If you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide certain products or services to you. We will advise you if this is the case at the time you withdraw your consent.