Date of last update: 11 February 2022

1. Introduction

We are committed to handling your personal data in a responsible and transparent way and in accordance with the law. This privacy notice explains how we collect and process any personal data you share with us when you interact with us.

2. What is Social Communications Group?

Social Communications Group – which we’ll refer to using “Social”, “we”, “us” or “our” in this document – is made up of the following companies:

• Social Communications Group Limited
• Social Communications (Manchester) Limited
• Social Communications (London) Limited
• Social Communications (Leeds) Limited
• Social Communications (Bristol) Limited.

3. How can you contact us?

Address: Social, One Express, 1 George Leigh Street, Manchester, M4 5DL.

Email: hello@social.co.uk

Telephone: 0161 660 9889

4. Data Protection Officer

Our Data Protection Officer can be contacted via the details above.

5. The legal bases on which we rely

We will collect and process your personal data only if one of the following applies:

• You have consented to us doing so (‘consent’), for example by opting in to receiving email newsletters or accepting cookies (please see our separate cookie policy).
• We need to do so to comply with our obligations under a contract with you (‘contractual obligation’), for example to communicate on a day-to-day basis with our clients.
• We need to do so to comply with a legal obligation (‘legal compliance’), for example to cooperate with a law enforcement investigation.
• We have a legitimate interest (‘legitimate interest’) in doing so which might reasonably be expected as part of running our business and which is not overridden by your interests or fundamental rights and freedoms. Such legitimate interests could include the provision of services by us, or administrative or operational processes, or marketing.

6. What information do we collect, how do we collect it and what do we use it for?

The kinds of personal data we may collect include your contact details (such as your address, email address and telephone number) and information such as your job title and organisation name which we will request from you.

In addition, we collect the personal data you choose to provide to us, for example if you contact us by letter, telephone, email, website form or any other means of electronic or personal communication.

We will use your personal data to deliver our services to you or the organisation for which you work or act. We may also use your personal data to inform you about our news, event, reports, services and marketing. We may also use your personal data for other purposes specified clearly at the point at which you provided your consent to us collecting and processing your personal data.

Please note that we may use or disclose your personal data if we are required by law to do so or if we reasonably believe that use or disclosure is necessary to protect our rights and/or to comply with judicial or regulatory proceedings, a court order or other legal process.

7. 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 personal data or to exercise any of your other rights. This helps ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it.

8. Accuracy of information

It is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current. Please let us know if your personal data changes during your relationship with us.

9. Anonymisation of data

There may be circumstances in which we anonymise your personal data so that it can no longer be associated with you, in which case it is no longer personal data.

10. With whom will we share your information?

When using your personal data for the purposes and on the legal bases described above we may share your personal data within Social Communications Group and with trusted third-party service providers with which we work, for example IT companies who support our website, business systems and electronic communications. Where we do so:

• We provide only the information they need to perform their specific services.
• They may only use your data for the purposes we specify.
• We work closely with them to ensure that your privacy is respected and protected.
• If we stop using their services, any of your data held by them will either be deleted or irreversibly anonymised.

We may also share your personal data with other organisations specified clearly at the point at which you provided your consent to us collecting and processing your personal data.

We use Mailchimp as our email marketing platform. By subscribing to our mailing list, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. Learn more about Mailchimp’s privacy practices here.

11. Exercising your rights

You have rights as an individual which you can exercise under certain circumstances in relation your personal data that we hold. These rights are to:

• Request access to your personal data and request information in relation to its processing;
• Request rectification of your personal data;
• Request erasure of your personal data;
• Request the restriction of processing of your personal data;
• Make an objection to processing of your personal data.

If you would like to exercise one of these rights, please contact us at: hello@social.co.uk. You will in general not have to pay a fee to exercise any of the rights mentioned above. However, we may impose a reasonable fee if your request to exercise your rights is manifestly unfounded or excessive, or if we have previously responded to the same request.

12. Right to withdraw consent

Where you have provided your consent to the collection, processing and transfer of your personal data, you have the right to fully or partly withdraw your consent. To withdraw your consent please contact hello@social.co.uk. In such cases we will no longer process your personal data for the purposes to which you originally consented unless there are compelling legitimate grounds for further processing which override your interests or fundamental rights and freedoms.

13. How long will we retain your information?

We will only retain your personal data for as long as is necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected and processed.

To determine the appropriate retention period for your personal data, we will 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.

Upon expiry of the applicable retention period we will securely destroy your personal data.

14. How we protect your personal data

Keeping your personal data secure matters to us. We will treat your personal data with the utmost care and take all appropriate steps to protect it.

15. Complaints

You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) via www.ico.org.uk or by calling 0303 123 1113.

16. Changes to this privacy notice

We may need to update this privacy notice from time to time and will make an updated copy available on our website.