This Privacy Notice tells you what to expect us to do with your personal information when you use one of our services, visit our website or contact us. This is a summary of how we use your personal information so you can easily select the section you are most interested in.
We’ll tell you:
Who We Are
IM Asset Management Limited is a member of the Irwin Mitchell Group and is a specialist financial services business providing clients with:
- Financial advice
- Wealth management
- Investment management
- Portfolio management
- Financial protection planning
- Inheritance tax planning
- Pension and retirement planning; and
- Periodic payment checking services across the UK.
The Irwin Mitchell Group is a group of organisations that provide legal services, via Irwin Mitchell LLP, Financial Services via IM Asset Management Limited, and other associated services via our other group companies.
Any reference to “we”, “our” or “us” means IM Asset Management Limited. Our company number is 05016348. Our registered office is at Riverside East, 2 Millsands, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, S3 8DT.
As an essential part of our business, we collect and manage client information. In doing so, we observe applicable data protection laws and are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy and data protection rights. We act as a “Controller” in respect of your personal information. Being a Controller means that we are responsible for deciding how we collect, store and use personal information about you.
In order that you are reliably informed about what personal information we collect from you, how we use it, who we share it with and what your rights are, we have developed this privacy notice, which describes the ways in which we collect, store and use your personal information.
If you have any questions about this privacy notice, please contact our Data Protection Officer at IMAMLdataprotection@irwinmitchell.com.
What personal information do we collect about you, how do we use it and what is our legal basis?
Your personal information contains certain information about you as an individual which identifies who you are, such as name, address, telephone number date or birth, video/CCTV etc. Sometimes the information we collect is sensitive in nature such as health information or your religious beliefs. Such sensitive information is given added protection.
Navigation
This privacy notice answers the following – please click on the links below to take you directly to the relevant section:
Website Visitors
What personal information do we collect and use when you visit our website?
If you fill in a form on our website, or contact us via other means such as email, telephone or by post, we will collect the information you provide when you contact us, such as your name and contact details. We will use this personal information to:
- Send you the information you have requested, for example about our products and services; or
- Respond to your enquiry.
When you visit our website we will also collect your personal information via cookies. We use both essential and non-essential cookies on our website which collect information such as your browsing patterns and information about the device you are using. We may use this information to inform our marketing and future business strategies. Full details of how we use cookies can be found in our Cookie Policy.
What is our legal basis for using your personal information?
When we collect personal information about you from our website using essential cookies, we will use your personal information on the basis that it is in our legitimate interests to do so as our website requires essential cookies in order to be able to run efficiently. Where we collect personal information about you from our website using non-essential cookies, we will use your personal information on the basis that you have given us your consent. You can, of course, withdraw your consent at any time by either; deleting our cookies; by managing your browser’s cookies preferences or; by clicking on the manage cookie settings at the bottom of the page on our website. Full details of how we use cookies can be found in our Cookie Policy.
Providing Services to Clients
What personal information do we collect and use when we set you up as a client and provide our services?
The personal information that we collect about you to set you up as a client and provide our services includes your name, address, contact details, NI number, passport/driving license details, financial information (including bank details, details of any benefits, tax and tax residency, savings and loan information, and expenditure), details of dependents and spouse.
We may also collect, store and use more sensitive special category personal information that may include marital, civil partnership or relationship status, details of your partner, civil partner or spouse, physical or mental health details, religious and other beliefs, and racial or ethnic origin.
We collect this in a number of different ways. For example, you may provide this personal information to us directly, online, over the telephone or when corresponding with us by email or letter.
We use this personal information to set you up as a client, open a file, provide our advice and services and administer our relationship with you. This includes the following uses:
- Carrying out regulatory and compliance checks in order to set you up as a client including checks to verify your identity, fraud and credit checks
- Providing you with financial planning and investment advice which may result in the recommendation of financial products and/or services
- Providing you with advice about tax planning, trusts, Wills and inheritance tax planning
- Making and receiving payments to and from you in accordance with your instructions
- Assisting you with income and expenditure planning
- Helping you to achieve your financial goals
- Providing custody and settlement services in relation to your investments and holdings including pre-settlement and expert witness reports
- Providing a periodical payment checking service
- Providing mortgage capacity reports
- Managing your investment portfolio and carrying out transactions
- Submitting tax information on your behalf including to overseas jurisdictions under their laws
- Administering payments
- Communicating with you via email, telephone and in writing about the work we are doing for you
- Recording telephone conversations for regulatory, monitoring and quality purposes
- Carrying out client satisfaction surveys
- Confirming to Irwin Mitchell Group companies that we are acting for you where they asked us to contact you or provide advice to you. Please note that we will observe our data minimisation obligations when we confirm this
- Carrying out our compliance obligations (other than those referred to above)
- Processing and responding to any complaints
- Bringing or defending legal proceedings.
What is our legal basis for using your personal information?
Where we use your personal information for the purposes of providing services, advice or assistance to you we will do this on the basis that it is necessary to meet the requirements of the contract between us and you.
We use your personal information to carry out client satisfaction surveys on the basis of our legitimate interests in order to receive feedback as a business and improve our services that we provide to clients.
We confirm to Irwin Mitchell LLP and other Group companies that we have contacted you and are advising on the basis of our legitimate interests in order to let another member of our group know that we have done what was asked.
Where we carry out compliance checks or other compliance activities we do this on the basis that it is required in order to comply with a legal obligation we are subject to.
Where we record telephone conversations for regulatory, monitoring and quality purposes, we will do this on the basis that it is required in order to comply with a legal obligation to which we are subject where the conversation relates to financial matters, investment instructions or investment management. In other circumstances it is done on the basis of our legitimate interests to monitor quality and to take action on complaints.
Where we use your personal information for the purpose of processing or responding to complaints or bringing or defending legal proceedings, our legal basis will be that it is necessary for performance of our contract with you (where it relates to a contract we have in place) or our legitimate interests in other circumstances. As a business it is in our legitimate interests to be able to respond to any complaints that we receive or to bring legal proceedings or defend ourselves against them if so required.
Where we use your special category personal information we will do so on the basis that you have either made it public e.g. marital status, or it is necessary to establish, exercise or defend legal claims (where it relates to advice we give) or (where applicable) on the basis of your explicit consent.
Information Collected from a Client about a Third Party
What personal information do we collect and use when a client gives us information about you e.g. where you are a family member or you are a beneficiary of a trust?
Our client may give us personal information about you as part of asking us to provide advice to them. This may include your name, address, contact details, NI number, passport/driving license details, financial information (including bank details, details of any benefits, tax and tax residency, savings and loan information, and expenditure), details of dependents and spouse. We may also collect, store and use more sensitive special category personal information that may include marital, civil partnership or relationship status, details of your partner, civil partner or spouse, physical or mental health details, religious and other beliefs, and racial or ethnic origin.
We will use this personal information in order to carry out our compliance checks or to give advice to our client or to trustees where you are a beneficiary.
What is our legal basis for using your personal information?
Where we use your personal information for the purposes of providing services, advice or assistance to a client or trustees where you are a beneficiary, we will do this on the basis that it is in our legitimate interests to do so in order to be able to provide accurate advice, the correct services and appropriate assistance to our client.
Where we use your personal information for the purposes of carrying out compliance checks, we will do this on the basis that it is required in order to comply with a legal obligation to which we are subject.
Where we use your special category personal information we will do so on the basis that you have either made it public e.g. marital status, or it is necessary to establish, exercise or defend legal claims (where it relates to advice we give) or (where applicable) on the basis of your explicit consent.
Marketing
What personal information do we collect and use where you have agreed that we can market to you?
If you are one of our clients or have signed up to our updates or events, we may use your personal information for the purposes of providing you with further information about our services, including sending legal updates, publications and details of events and webinars, that may be of use to you.
What is our legal basis for using your personal information?
Where you are one of our clients we will use your personal information on the basis of legitimate interests unless we have previously asked you for consent. We consider that it is in our legitimate interests to communicate with you about our services which may be of interest to you and this is something that would be expected by you. If we have asked you for your consent and you have given it, we will carry out marketing on the basis of your consent.
If you are not a client but have signed up for marketing (including legal updates, publications and invitations to events) we will use your personal information on the basis that you have given us your consent.
Where we carry out marketing via email or other electronic means we will also comply with our obligations under the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003.
In any case, you can, of course, opt out of receiving our marketing by contacting our Data Protection Officer at IMAMLdataprotection@irwinmitchell.com and where we send you marketing material via email an option to unsubscribe will be given in each email.
Referrals from Irwin Mitchell LLP ("Irwin Mitchell")
If Irwin Mitchell, a member of the Irwin Mitchell Group, has obtained your consent we may contact you in relation to our services. We will be using your personal data for this purpose on the basis of your consent. You can withdraw your consent at any time by contacting our Data Protection Officer at IMAMLdataprotection@irwinmitchell.com.
Visits to our offices
What personal information do we collect if you visit us and how do we use it?
If you visit one of our offices there are CCTV cameras to capture images. Irwin Mitchell LLP, a member of the Irwin Mitchell Group, operates our offices and is the Controller of the personal information collected via CCTV. It may share images with us for the purposes of security, employee safety and in certain circumstances, to verify information (such as when you visited our site or to establish facts in relation to health and safety incidents).
What is our legal basis for using your personal information?
Our legal basis for using your personal information captured via CCTV for security reasons and employee safety is that it is in our legitimate interests as a business to be able to keep our offices secure and employees safe. In addition there are notices at our offices informing visitors that CCTV cameras are recording. We restrict access to the CCTV images to authorised staff and we keep the personal information obtained for only a limited period of time.
What happens if you don't provide the personal information we have asked for?
Where we have said that your personal information is used in order to comply with statutory requirements, carry out a contract with you or to take steps to enter into that contract, we will need you to provide the personal information requested. If you don’t provide the personal information we need when we ask for it, we may not be able to respond to you, enter into a contract with you, meet our obligations under the contract, or comply with our legal obligations. If you have any concerns about whether you need to provide your personal information please contact our Data Protection Officer at IMAMLdataprotection@ irwinmitchell.com.
Can we change the purpose for which we use your personal information?
We will only use your personal information for the purposes set out above unless another purpose we want to use it for is compatible with those original purposes. If we change the purpose for which we are using your personal information and you would like an explanation as to how the new purpose is compatible with the original purpose, please contact us at
IMAMLdataprotection@irwinmitchell.com. If we would like to use your personal information for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to do this.
Who will we share your personal information with?
We may share your personal information with trusted third parties from time to time. We will not, however, share your personal information with a third party for marketing purposes unless we have your consent to do this. We do not sell any personal information to any third party so that they can send you their marketing material.
We have set out below the third parties we may share your personal information with. If we do this, we will put in place a contract with them which controls how your personal information may be used and which requires that your personal information is treated in accordance with data protection laws:
- Referrals to Irwin Mitchell LLP - We may share your personal information with, Irwin Mitchell, where we refer you to it for the purposes of you receiving legal advice. We will only do this where we have your consent to do so
- Referrals from Irwin Mitchell LLP - If you are referred to us by Irwin Mitchell we may confirm to them that we have been instructed by you
- Updating Irwin Mitchell LLP - If you change your contact details and we know that you are also an Irwin Mitchell client then in order to ensure that they have accurate contact details for you we will share your updated details. We do this to ensure that accurate personal data is used to contact you and consider that you would expect us to do this
- Group Companies - We may share your personal information with companies forming part of the Irwin Mitchell Group. We share your personal information with these group companies for the purposes of them providing services to us such as IT services, finance, HR, legal, marketing and records and facilities management
- Professional Advisors - We may also share your personal information with our professional advisors (including lawyers, compliance consultants, financial auditors, insurers and/or insurance brokers) to take advice in relation to your matter
- Financial Product and Service Providers - We may share your personal information to introduce you to reputable companies providing specialised financial products and services. We will only make the introduction where we have your consent to do so
- Financial and Other Software Providers - We use reputable third party software to provide our services. They may access your personal information to the extent that they need to in order to provide their services and deal with any issues
- Custodians (Including Banks) - We may share your personal information to provide custody and settlement services to you in relation to your investments and holdings and to make and receive payments to and from you in accordance with your instructions
- Approved Reporting Mechanism - We may share your personal information with our regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority via a technology platform where we are required to do so
- IT Suppliers - We use reputable third parties to provide us with our IT systems and support for them. They may access your personal information to the extent that they need to in order to provide their services and deal with any issues
- Merger - In the event that we sell all or part of our business, or merge with another organisation, we may transfer personal information that we have collected as described in this privacy notice, along with our other business assets, to the organisation that we are selling to or merging with
- Legal and Regulatory Requirements - We will share your personal information with entities, companies or individuals where this is necessary to comply with any law, rule, regulation, legal procedure. This may include compliance with overseas and international law.
We will only disclose such personal information to any third party as is necessary to enable them to carry out the function or purpose for which it is disclosed. For example, we will only disclose such personal information to our IT Suppliers to enable them to assist us in providing our services to you.
What rights do you have over your personal information?
Under the terms of data protection legislation, you have the following rights:
Right to be informed
This privacy notice and our Cookies Policy together fulfil our obligation to tell you about the ways in which we use your personal information.
Right to access
You have the right to ask us what personal information we hold about you and to have a copy of that personal information from us (along with certain other details).
Right to rectification
If any of the personal information that we hold about you is inaccurate, you have the right to ask us to correct any errors in your personal information.
Right to be forgotten
You have the right to ask us to delete your personal information where: (i) we don’t need your personal information anymore;
(ii) you withdraw your consent to our use of your personal information and we have no other legal basis to keep your personal information; (iii) you have asked us to review and explain our legitimate interests to you and we don’t actually have a valid legitimate interest to do what we are doing; (iv) our use of your personal information is illegal; (v) we have to delete your personal information to comply with our legal obligations.
Right to object
You have the right to ask us to review and explain our legitimate interests to you where we are collecting, storing and using your personal information on a legitimate interests basis, including where we are collecting, storing and using for profiling or by automated means. You have the right to object to our legitimate interests and that collection, storage and use unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds.
You also have the right to object to us sending you marketing communications.
Right to restrict processing
You have the right to ask us to restrict our use of your personal information where:
- You don’t think the personal information we have about you is correct, so that we can check if it is correct
- What we are doing with your personal information is illegal but you would rather we stop using your personal information rather than delete it
- We don’t need your personal information anymore, but you need us to keep it so that you can exercise any legal rights; and
- You have asked us to review and explain our legitimate interests to you, so that we can check whether we actually have a valid legitimate interest to do what we are doing.
If any of these circumstances apply, then please contact us.
Right to data portability
The right to ask us to provide you with a copy of the personal information you have provided to us, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and the right to transfer that personal information to another entity where: (i) we are using your personal information on the basis of your consent or on the basis that it is necessary to perform a contract with you; and
(ii) the use we are making of your personal information is carried out by automated means. If you would like to move, copy or transfer the electronic personal information that we hold about you to another organisation, please contact us.
Right to withdraw consent
Where we are using your personal information based on your consent you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time by contacting our Data Protection Officer at IMAMLdataprotection@irwinmitchell.com.
Right to make a complaint
You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), (the UK regulator for data protection issues, who may be contacted at Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow SK9 5AF or ico.org.uk). We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO and so, if you are happy to do so, please contact us in the first instance and we will try to resolve your issue.
Other Important Information
How long will we retain personal information for?
Except where the personal information relates to one of our Court of Protection clients, we will retain personal information for a period of seven years after the termination of our business relationship with you, other than:
- Where we have a legal obligation to hold the personal information for longer than 7 years; or
- It relates to pensions transfer business, Opt Outs or FSAVC advice, which we hold indefinitely as required by the Financial Conduct Authority, or
- The recordings of telephone calls which will be held for longer than 7 years.
We will hold personal information relating to individuals which are subject to the Court of Protection for a period of 7 years after death. We will only be considered to know of the death where we are expressly told.
Overseas transfers
It may sometimes be necessary to transfer personal information outside the UK. We will only transfer your personal information overseas where e.g. our third party service providers who we share personal information with (as set out above) are based outside the UK, have support services located outside the UK or host personal information outside the UK.
We only transfer your personal information outside the UK where we require that your personal information is protected to the same standard as it would be protected in the UK.
If you would like further information on whether we transfer your personal information overseas and the safeguards we have in place please contact our Data Protection Officer at IMAMLdataprotection@irwinmitchell.com.
Will we use your personal information for automated decision making?
We do not use your personal information to make automated decisions about you.
Data privacy and security
We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal information from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. These measures include:
- Protecting against potential breaches of confidentiality
- Ensuring all IT facilities are protected against damage, loss or misuse
- Increasing awareness and understanding of the requirements of information security, and the responsibility of our colleagues to protect the confidentiality and integrity of the information that they handle; and
- Ensuring the optimum security of our website.
In addition, we limit access to your personal information to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties (see above) who have a business need-to-know.
We have put procedures in place to deal with any suspected data security breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected breach where we are legally required to do so.
Our security procedures mean that we may occasionally request proof of identity before we are able to disclose personal information to you.
Questions and comments regarding this Privacy Notice are welcomed, and should be sent to our Data Protection Officer at:
IMAMLdataprotection@irwinmitchell.com
Alternatively, you can write to our Data Protection Officer at: IM Asset Management Ltd
Riverside East
2 Millsands Sheffield S3 8DT
