Privacy & Cookies

Who we are

ABGI-UK Limited is a leading UK R&D tax credit specialist having our UK head office at 6 Atholl Crescent, Edinburgh, EH3 8HA.

Our Commitment

ABGI UK is fully committed to handling personal information in accordance with data protection legislation and best data protection practices. This means that your personal information will be:

• Processed lawfully, fairly, and in a transparent manner.
• Collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes.
• Only collected so far as required for our lawful purposes.
• As accurate and up to date as possible.
• Retained for a reasonable period of time, in accordance with retention policies.
• Processed in a manner which ensures an appropriate level of security.

Whether through this notice or otherwise, we hope to ensure that everyone has a good understanding of why ABGI processes personal information and, where we do, the rights they may have.

Why does ABGI UK need to process personal information?

ABGI UK is a leading UK provider of R&D tax credit consultancy services. As explained in this notice, there are various ways in which ABGI must process personal data to allow us to fulfil our role.

How does ABGI collect personal information?

Like most organisations that handle personal information, there are various ways in which ABGI UK collects information from the people we deal with.

• Email and written correspondence.
• Telephone discussions.
• Visitors to the ABGI website.
• Social media.
• Application forms and other information requests.
• Direct contact at our head office, events and elsewhere.
• Occasionally we will buy in data for marketing purposes from data vendors.

We only use organisations who are members of the Direct Marketing Association (DMA).

In nearly all instances, it should be obvious to you that ABGI UK is collecting your personal data.

What personal information does ABGI UK collect?

ABGI UK collects personal information to fulfil its role as a provider of R&D tax consultancy services to existing and prospective clients. As there are many different aspects to this role, the information requested and collected will vary from person to person.

Existing Clients

The personal information most commonly collected by ABGI UK is as follows:

• Name.
• Contact details (including home and business addresses, email, telephone number).
• Date of birth.
• Employment details (including current and previous employers).
• Attendance records for ABGI UK seminars and events.
• Copies of physical and electronic correspondence.
• Financial information.

Prospective Clients

The personal information most commonly collected from prospective clients is as follows:

• Name.
• Contact details (including business addresses, email, telephone
  number).
• Copies of physical and electronic correspondence.

What is the lawful basis for ABGI UK's processing activities?

ABGI UK will only process personal information where we believe we have a lawful basis to do so. The basis for processing will vary from activity to activity. In some instances, processing may have more than one lawful basis.

The following information below summarises the basis on which we process personal information.

Lawful Basis

Examples of processing activities:

Marketing Sending promotional email or direct mail to businesses whom we feel would be interested in our services.

Sales calling Outbound calling to businesses whom we feel would be interested in our services.

Processing of individual salary and employment details in assessing costs eligible for R&D tax credits. Capture of individual employee costs in our cost capture sheets to establish legitimate eligible R&D tax credits.

Does ABGI UK share personal data with third parties?

Some of the processing activities set out above require ABGI UK to share personal information with third parties. Whenever we share personal data, we take all reasonable steps to ensure it will be handled appropriately and securely by the third party.

Examples of third parties include software providers which allow ABGI UK to operate efficient digital processes, including:

• Cisco Meraki
• Citrix Sharefile
• Force24 (marketing automation platforms)
• Harmony
• Jungle Disk
• Kerio Connect via Below0
• Microsoft Office365
• Sage
• Sophos

For practical reasons, this is an indicative, but not exhaustive list. Please also note that the list may be updated from time to time.

How long does ABGI UK retain personal information?

The periods for which ABGI UK retains personal information depend on the purpose for which the information was obtained but, in general terms, we will retain personal data for so long as required by law, or as may be required for record keeping and legal claims purposes.

Where does ABGI UK store personal information?

Personal information is mostly processed by ABGI UK staff at our head offices in Edinburgh. To allow us to operate efficient digital processes, we sometimes need to store information in servers located outside the UK, within the European Economic Area (EEA).

IP addresses

ABGI UK may collect information about the computer or device which is used to access abgi-uk.com. We use this information to improve the user experience, and to help us better understand the ways in which our website is used. This may include information about:

• The computer or device type.
• IP address.
• Operating system.
• Browser type and version.
• Time zone setting and browser plug-in types and versions.

This is statistical data about our users' browsing actions and patterns. It is collected on an anonymous, aggregated basis, and does not identify individual users.

Cookies

Our website makes use of cookie files to distinguish you from other users of our site, to provide you with a bespoke user experience tailored to your individual preferences. A cookie file (a small file of letters and numbers) will be placed on your computer or other access device each time you visit our site.

ABGI UK also uses analytical cookie files. These allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors to our site and to see how visitors move around our site when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our site works, for example, by ensuring that users are finding what they are looking for easily.

If you wish to delete any such cookie files, please refer to the instructions for your file management software to locate the file or directory that stores cookies. Our cookies will contain the domain name abgi-uk.com within the file name.

You may refuse to accept cookie files when visiting our site, by activating the setting on your browser which allows you to refuse the setting of cookies. However, if you choose this setting, you may not get an optimal web site experience and be unable to access certain parts of our site.

Your rights where ABGI UK is processing your information

The law in the UK gives certain rights to individuals whose information is being processed by a third party. The following is a quick summary of these rights:

• Access to your information – you have the right to request a copy of the personal information about you that ABGI UK holds.
• Correcting your information– ABGI UK wants to make sure that your personal information is accurate, complete, and up to date, and so you may ask ABGI UK to correct any personal information about you that you believe does not meet these standards.
• Deletion of your information – You have the right to ask ABGI UK to delete personal information about you where:
  • You consider that ABGI UK no longer requires the information for the purposes for which it was obtained
  • ABGI UK is using that information with your consent and you have withdrawn your consent – see ‘withdrawing consent to using your information’ below.
  • You have validly objected to ABGI UK’s use of your personal information – see ‘objecting to how we may use your information’ below.
  • ABGI UK's use of your personal information is contrary to law or
  • ABGI UK's other legal obligations.
• Objecting to how we may use your information – you have the right at any time to require ABGI UK to stop using your personal information for direct marketing purposes. In addition, where ABGI UK uses your personal information to perform tasks carried out in the public interest, or in exercising official authority vested in it then, if you ask us to, ABGI UK will stop using that personal information unless there are overriding legitimate grounds to continue.
• Restricting how we may use your information – in some cases, you may ask us to restrict how we use your personal information. This right might apply, for example, where we are checking the accuracy of personal information about you that we hold, or assessing the validity of any objection you have made to ABGI UK's use of your information. The right might also apply if ABGI UK no longer has a basis for using your personal information but you don't want ABGI UK to delete the data. Where this right is validly exercised, ABGI UK may only use the relevant personal information with your consent, for legal claims, or where there are other public interest grounds to do so.
• Withdrawing consent to using your information – where ABGI UK uses your personal information with your consent, you may withdraw that consent at any time, and ABGI UK will stop using your personal information for the purpose(s) for which consent was given.

Please contact ABGI UK in any of the ways set out in the ‘contact information and further advice’ section if you wish to exercise any of these rights.

Changes to our privacy policy

ABGI UK keeps this notice under regular review and will place any updates on this website. Paper copies of the privacy statement may also be obtained by emailing DPOfficer@abgi-uk.com or in writing to our office at 6 Atholl Crescent, Edinburgh, EH3 8HA.

This privacy statement was last updated on 12th March 2019.

Contact information and further advice

If you have any questions which are not covered in this notice, we suggest that you email us through DPOfficer@abgi-uk.com. To help us deal with your query as quickly as possible, we recommend that you include the following in the email subject ‘FAO Data Protection Officer’. If you would prefer to submit your questions in writing, please write to our office at 6 Atholl Crescent, Edinburgh, EH3 8EG, addressing your letter to the Data Protection Officer.

Complaints

While ABGI UK seeks to resolve directly all complaints about how we handle personal information, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office, whose contact details are as follows:

Information Commissioner's Office Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire SK9 5AF

Telephone - 0303 123 1113 (local rate) or 01625 545 745

Website - https://ico.org.uk/concerns