Privacy policy

Background

HJP Chartered Accountants believe it is very important to respect and protect the privacy of individuals and to make only safe and ethical use of the information that is provided to us.

This Privacy Policy outlines how your personal information is treated and forms part of our terms and conditions. We need to collect and use certain types of personal information about the people we deal with. This includes current, past and prospective clients, associates, suppliers, employees, and others with whom we communicate. In addition, we may occasionally be required either by law or to carry out our responsibilities as a member of the ICAEW, our professional body, to collect, use and share certain types of personal information to comply with the requirements of government departments, agencies and regulators.

Under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA), the Data Use and Access Act 2025 (DUAA), and the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 (PECR), all organisations which handle personal information must comply with important principles regarding privacy and disclosure. We are committed to full compliance with these requirements.

We will only use your personal information to deliver the services you have requested from us and to meet our legal responsibilities. If any of the information we hold about you is inaccurate we will correct it promptly once you notify us.

Our Data Controller

For the purposes of data protection legislation in force from time to time the data controller is:
All About Business Limited, trading as HJP Chartered
(registered in England, company no. 4870742)
First Floor, Audley House, Northbridge Road, Berkhamsted,
Hertfordshire HP4 1EH
HJP Chartered is regulated for a range of investment business activities by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW).
Our nominated data controller is Angela Peden FCA ACCA
Email: angela@hjpchartered.com

Who We Are and What We Do

We are chartered accountants, tax advisors and business consultants.
We collect the personal data of the following types of people to allow us to undertake our business:

• Prospective and current clients
• Supplier contacts to support our services
• Employees, consultants, temporary workers.

We collect information about you to carry out our core business and ancillary activities.

How We Collect Information

We obtain information about you when you:

• Engage us to deliver our services
• Use our website or contact us through our online forms
• Contact us as a prospective accounting partner
• Apply to work for us
• Become a supplier to us.

Information We Collect

During client registration or service delivery we may collect, as appropriate:

• Name, address, telephone number, email address
• Unique Tax Reference, National Insurance number, bank account details, number of dependants
• Financial information, compliance documentation and anti-money-laundering information
• Professional profiles publicly available (e.g. LinkedIn, business websites).

Additional information we may collect:

• When you contact us via our website you provide your name and a reply email address or telephone number
• Technical information (IP address, browser type and version, pages visited) via Google Analytics
• Information about your visit, including page interaction data
• Social media profile details when you interact with us through a social platform
• Newsletter engagement data if you have opted in
• Information from third-party databases to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations.

Lawful Bases for Processing

We process personal data only when lawful. Our bases include:

• Contractual necessity (Article 6(1)(b) UK GDPR): to provide professional services
• Legal obligations (Article 6(1)(c) UK GDPR): e.g., tax reporting, anti-money-laundering compliance
• Legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f) UK GDPR): to maintain records and IT security. This includes reliance on the recognised legitimate interests introduced by the Data Use and Access Act 2025, such as crime prevention and detection, which supports our anti-money laundering compliance work
• Special category data (Article 9(2)(f) UK GDPR): processing is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.

Where we rely on consent (e.g. newsletters), you may withdraw that consent at any time.

How We Use Your Information

In general terms, and depending on which services you engage us to deliver, we may use your information to:

• Contact you by post, email, telephone or connected social media
• Verify your identity
• Understand your needs and how they may be met
• Maintain our records in accordance with applicable legal and regulatory obligations
• Process financial transactions
• Prevent and detect crime, fraud, bribery or corruption
• File agreed information with HM Revenue & Customs
• Send you accounting updates and newsletters when you have explicitly opted in.

We do not use your personal information to make decisions about you – such as decisions about your tax position, fees, or the services we provide – using solely automated means; any such decisions are made, or checked, by a qualified member of our team.

Use of Artificial Intelligence

We may use Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools to support certain internal processes such as drafting generic documents, checking grammar, or summarising publicly available information (for example, HMRC updates).

Please note:

• We do not enter your personal data, financial records, tax details, or other confidential client information into public or consumer-grade AI tools (for example, the free public version of ChatGPT).
• Where any AI tool is used within a controlled, business-grade environment with appropriate data protection terms in place, client-identifiable information is only ever processed where a data processing agreement is in place and staff have been instructed accordingly.
• Any outputs from AI are reviewed and verified by our professional staff before use.
• We do not use AI to make automated decisions that have a legal or similarly significant effect on you.
• All technical, tax, and accounting advice provided to clients is based on official sources and professional expertise, not AI.
• Our use of AI is in line with the UK GDPR, the Data Protection Act 2018, and the Data Use and Access Act 2025.

If you have any concerns about our use of AI, please contact us.

Sharing Your Information

Unless required to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation, we will not share your information without your consent.

• All HJP employees with access to your information have a duty of confidentiality
• We use MailerLite to manage newsletter subscriptions and email delivery for those who opt in
• A sample of our files is periodically subject to independent quality review; reviewers are bound by the same confidentiality obligations.

Retention of Your Data

• Client records are retained for seven years after the end of the relevant period or as legally required
• Website form submissions are stored securely in our WordPress database and automatically deleted after 60 days, unless required for ongoing client work
• For potential new clients or employees who do not subsequently join HJP, we destroy documentation within six months.

Third Party Service Providers Working On Our Behalf

We do not outsource our accounting, taxation, consulting, compliance, payroll or bookkeeping services.

As part of our ongoing commitment to providing a quality service, a sample of our files is periodically subject to an independent quality review. Our reviewers are highly experienced and professionally qualified people and are bound by the same requirements of confidentiality as HJP employees.

We use a contracted information technology support company to advise on and manage our IT systems.

We will not release your information to third parties unless you have requested that we do so, or we are required to do so by law.

How Can You Access and Update Your Information?

Keeping your information up to date and accurate is important to us. We commit to regularly review and correct where necessary, the information that we hold about you. If any of your information changes, please email or write to us using the ‘Contact Information’ noted at the end of this notice.

Your Rights

You have the right to:

• Access and receive a copy of your personal information
• Correct inaccurate or incomplete information
• Request deletion of your data where it is no longer required
• Restrict or object to certain processing activities
• Withdraw consent where processing is based on consent.

Please contact us using the details at the end of this policy to exercise your rights.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ico.org.uk/concerns).

Security

We recognise that online security and data protection are critical for all our clients. While transmission of information over the internet is not completely secure, we use strict procedures and technical measures, including encryption and access controls, to protect your personal data.

Where we have given, or you have chosen, a password that enables access to information, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential.

Your data is normally processed in the UK. If data is stored on servers outside the UK (for example by third-party providers), we ensure adequate safeguards are in place.

Cookies

We use cookies and similar technologies to enhance site performance and analyse traffic. Non-essential cookies are set only after you provide consent through our Complianz cookie banner. Please see our [Cookie Policy] for full details.

Complaints

We seek to resolve all complaints about how we handle your personal information quickly and fairly. If you contact us with a complaint, we will acknowledge it promptly and aim to provide a full response within 30 days.

If you have concerns, please contact:

Angela Peden HJP Chartered Accountants First Floor, Audley House, Northbridge Road, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire HP4 1EH E: angela@hjpchartered.com T: 01442 872878

If you remain dissatisfied, you may contact the Information Commissioner’s Office:

Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF T: 0303 123 1113 W: ico.org.uk/concerns

Changes to This Notice

We keep this privacy notice under regular review and will place any updates on www.hjpchartered.com.

Paper copies are available on request.