Privacy

Introduction

Your security and privacy are of paramount concern to Williams Pitt Ltd. If you have any comments or queries in relation to this Privacy Policy please email claims@williamspitt.co.uk or write to the address below. We take our obligations under the Data Protection Act 1998 and all related obligations very seriously and have taken steps to ensure compliance with the provisions of the Act.

What personal data do we collect and why

Information collected from you
Where we have collected information directly from you it will usually be obvious what this is, as you will have given it to us.

Information collected from others
We can collect information about you from others. This includes information from:

Your Insurer/Broker
In order for us to deal with your claim, we will collect information from your Insurer/Broker such as your name, address, contact details, policy details & any details relating to your claim.

Joint policyholders or policy beneficiaries.
Where you are named on a joint policy or a beneficiary of that policy we may collect information about you from any named policyholder. We will ask them to confirm that they have your permission to give us this information about you.

Fraud prevention, law enforcement or government agencies and other data sources used to prevent or detect fraud or provide details to us about criminal convictions or offences.

External Information Sources
Where you are named on the policy, we may collect information about you such as your previous address, other occupants who reside at your address, financial checks (CCJ’s/Insolvencies) etc.

How we use personal data

We use your personal information in order to meet our obligations in our contract with your Insurers. We and other companies within our group of companies use your personal information in the following ways:

To provide a Loss Adjusting service

When your Insurers request our involvement in your claim, we use information about you:

To contact you regarding your claim;
To provide the agreed service to you and to your Insurers.

To prevent fraud occurring

Fraud has an impact on all customers as it increases costs for everyone. We use your personal information to check for signs that customers might be dishonest (e.g. if someone has behaved dishonestly in the past it may increase the risk they will do so in future).

We may use your personal information in this way because it is in our interests to detect fraud and in all our customers’ interests to ensure that they are not prejudiced due to increased premiums as a result of a few customers acting dishonestly.

To whom do we disclose your information?

By your acceptance of this privacy policy and until such time as we receive written instruction to the contrary, you agree that we may share your personal information with our Clients, banks, and to affiliates of our clients, and professional advisors, for the purposes of assisting you with using the Service or processing the respondent data. Except as explicitly stated in this Privacy Policy, we do not disclose to any third party the information provided. In order to effectively process credit or debit card transactions it may be necessary for the bank or card-processing agency to verify your personal details for authorization outside the European Economic Area (EEA). Such information will not be transferred out of the EEA for any other purpose. You should note that Insurers, Mortgage Providers and other suppliers of financial products share information provided to protect against fraud. Where we submit your Personal data to such suppliers of financial products, it is possible that your data will be shared and verified to prevent fraud and illegal activity.

Cookies

To enable us to provide the services available on the Site and to monitor and improve the Site, we may at times gather certain information about you, including details of your operating system, browser version, domain name and IP address, the details of the web site you linked from to the Site. We may use cookies only to store information such as your User name and your session identifiers to enable us to identify whether you are registered on to the Site and, if so, to shortcut your access to the Site. We will only read cookies from your cookie file placed there through your web browser’s interaction with the Site. Also, in most circumstances, you can modify the settings of your browser to accept or reject all cookies or as an alternative to be notified when a cookie is set. To view your security settings access the Internet Options within the tools menu in your browser and select the Privacy tab to choose a privacy setting for the Internet zone you are in. For further information on cookies and cookie settings, including how to delete cookies, visit www.allaboutcookies.org. Selecting not to receive cookies can mean that certain services, such as online forums or previous registration identification cannot then be provided.

Security of your personal data

We endeavour to take all reasonable steps to protect your personal data including the use of encryption technology, but cannot guarantee the security of any personal data you disclose online. You accept the inherent security implications of dealing online over the internet and will not hold us responsible for any breach of security unless we have been negligent or in wilful default. We have implemented security policies, rules and technical measures to protect the personal data that we have under our control from unauthorised access, improper use or disclosure, unauthorised modification and unlawful destruction or accidental loss.

All personal information provided is kept either on a secure server or in locked cabinets. All employees and data processors who have access to, or are otherwise associated with, the processing of personal data, are obliged to respect the confidentiality of any personal data received.

Retention of Information

Personal data will be retained for a period to enable us to provide repeat customers with the most efficient service and to enable us to comply with our legal obligations, such as money laundering regulations. Mergers, Sales etc If this business is sold or integrated with another business your details may be disclosed to our advisors, owners of the business and any prospective purchasers and their advisors.

Further information

We reserve the right to change this privacy policy and will provide notification of the change at least thirty (30) days prior to the change taking effect.

You can check the information that we hold about you by emailing us, which we will provide within a month of your request. To maintain security we may require proof of your identity. We will amend or delete any personal data relating to you which is found to be incorrect or not relevant in accordance with the Act. If you are aware of any changes to your personal data we ask that you all notify us by speaking to our head office on 0113 236 0091. If you find any inaccuracies we will delete or correct it promptly upon receipt of a written request to:

If you need to know more about the Data Protection Act and your rights please visit the website of the Data Protection Commissioner