Data & Privacy Notice
How we use your data
Qamar Solicitors LLP is registered as a Data Controller with the Information Commissioners Office. We will use the information that you give us to provide you with legal services, as per your instructions. We will keep your information confidential and will only use it for the purpose(s) for which it was provided or as is permitted in law (i.e. for dealing with complaints or regulatory investigations).
Sharing information
We may need to share some or all of your information with quality assurance auditors for the purposes of their assessment of whether we are adhering to quality standards. Any examination will be strictly controlled and will be shared for the sole purpose of ensuring that our handling of your matter meets the requirements of the quality standard.
If you are a client under the legal aid scheme then we may be required to share some or all of that information with the Legal Aid Agency and / or with our quality assurance auditors.
We may have to share some or all of your information with other third parties. This may include barristers; experts; and others who we need to instruct to assist us with your matter, the Legal Ombudsman (if you complain about our services) and the Solicitors Regulation Authority (the statutory body that regulates solicitors). In doing so we will always take care to ensure that your information remains confidential and safe. We will liaise with you during your case about which experts, barristers and other third parties we instruct on your behalf. [Further details are set out in our Terms and Conditions.]
Your Rights
You have rights under the General Data Protection Regulation and these include the right to be informed what information we hold about you (though obviously it is likely that you will have provided with such information as we hold). You also have the right to request a copy of any information about you that we hold at any time, and also to have that information corrected if it is inaccurate.
For information on how your information is used, how we maintain the security of our information, and to exercise your rights to access information we hold on you, please contact us. Similarly, if you believe that the information we hold is wrong or out of date, please let us know and we will update it. The person in this firm responsible for data protection is our Data Protection Officer, Qamar Islam and enquires and requests can be sent to her/him by telephone 01924 488199 by emailing enquiries@qamar.co.uk or in writing to 29 Halifax Road, Dewsbury, WF13 2JH.
Your rights include the right to be informed what information we hold about you which is known as a data subject access request (although obviously it is likely that you will have provided us with such information as we hold).
You also have the right of access and to request a copy of any information about you that we hold at any time. You also have a right of rectification and, in particular, to request that information is corrected if it is inaccurate.
There are also other rights available to you but these may be limited to a certain extent should you become a client as we may have overriding regulatory duties with respect to handling of your data for the purposes of providing services to you.
In particular, you may have a right of erasure (also known as the right to be forgotten). In certain circumstances, this allows you to request that we erase your personal data. This is not an absolute right however and, once you become a client of our firm, we will be required by our regulators and for legal purposes to retain some of your personal data and other information within casefiles (for retention periods, please see below).
If you are concerned about our handling of your personal data, there are also other rights available to you: a right to restrict processing; a right to data portability; a right to object and to request we stop processing your personal data; and a right in relation to automated decision making and profiling.
Importantly, you also have rights to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office if you feel that your data is not being handled properly.
For information on how your information is used, how we maintain the security of our information, and/or to exercise any of your data rights as explained above, please contact us. Similarly, if you wish to make a complaint in relation to our handling of your data, such as any potential data breach, then please contact us at the earliest opportunity.
Further Information about your data rights and how to exercise them is set out in our Privacy Policy (see above about how to access that). Further details are also available by visiting the Information Commissioner’s Office’s website at: https://ico.org.uk/your-data-matters/.
How long will we hold your data?
We will only hold your information for as long as necessary to provide you with legal services and then for only so long as we are required either contractually or under our regulatory obligations. This will not likely be more than six years after the end of your case / matter. After this time, we will confidentially destroy all information that we hold about you (please see our terms and conditions contained within your client care letter which set out our procedures relating to storage and retrieval) other than your name, address and date of birth which we will be obliged to continue to hold for the purposes of ensuring that we never act for another client where doing so would conflict with our obligations of confidentiality to you.
If you require any further information or assistance regarding the above, please do not hesitate to contact our office.
