Privacy Policy - Islington Cleaners

Effective date: This Privacy Policy applies to all Islington Cleaners customers in the area and explains how we collect, use, store, share, and protect personal data in connection with our cleaning services.

1. Introduction

Islington Cleaners is committed to protecting your privacy and handling your personal data in a lawful, fair, and transparent manner. This Privacy Policy describes the personal data we process, the reasons we process it, the legal bases we rely on under the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018, how long we keep it, who we share it with, and the rights you have over your information.

By using our services, making an enquiry, or otherwise interacting with us, you acknowledge that your personal data may be processed in accordance with this policy. We only collect and use personal data that is necessary for providing and improving our cleaning services, managing customer relationships, and meeting legal obligations.

2. Data We Collect

We may collect and process the following categories of personal data:

Identity details such as your name and title.
Contact details such as your phone number, email address, and service address.
Booking and service information including requested services, appointment dates, access instructions, preferences, and notes relevant to the job.
Billing information such as invoice details, payment status, and transaction records.
Communication records including messages, complaints, feedback, and correspondence with us.
Technical data such as basic website or device usage information if you contact us through online channels, including IP address, browser type, and interaction logs where applicable.
Special instructions that you voluntarily provide, which may include information about property access, household routines, or other service-related preferences.

We do not intentionally collect special category data unless it is necessary and you have chosen to provide it for a specific reason. If such information is shared with us, we will handle it only where we have a valid legal basis and appropriate safeguards in place.

3. How We Use Your Data

We use personal data to manage our relationship with you and provide our services effectively. This includes:

responding to enquiries and arranging bookings;
delivering cleaning services at your property;
issuing quotations, invoices, receipts, and payment confirmations;
managing customer accounts and service records;
handling complaints, disputes, and service follow-up;
maintaining business records and internal administration;
meeting tax, accounting, and other legal requirements;
improving our operations, service quality, and customer experience;
protecting our business, staff, and customers from fraud, misuse, or unlawful activity.

We will only use your personal data for the purposes for which it was collected, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another compatible purpose and that such use is lawful.

4. Lawful Basis for Processing

We rely on the following lawful bases under the UK GDPR:

Contract

We process personal data where it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. This includes booking services, carrying out cleaning work, managing payments, and fulfilling customer requests.

Legitimate Interests

We may process personal data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided those interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. Examples include improving our services, maintaining business records, preventing fraud, managing customer communication, and ensuring the security of our operations.

Legal Obligation

We process personal data where necessary to comply with legal obligations, such as accounting, tax record-keeping, or responding to lawful requests from public authorities.

Consent

In limited cases, we may rely on your consent, for example where you voluntarily agree to receive certain non-essential communications. Where we rely on consent, you may withdraw it at any time, although this will not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.

5. Sharing Your Data and Processors

We may share personal data with trusted third parties who help us run our business and provide our services. These parties act as data processors or independent controllers depending on the circumstances.

Processors may include:

payment service providers that handle card or online payment processing;
accounting and bookkeeping providers;
IT, cloud storage, and software service providers;
customer management and scheduling systems;
email, messaging, and communication service providers;
professional advisers such as accountants, insurers, or legal advisers where necessary.

We require our processors to handle personal data only on our instructions, to keep it secure, and to comply with applicable data protection law. We do not sell your personal data.

We may also disclose information where required by law, to respond to lawful requests, or to protect our rights, customers, employees, or property.

6. Data Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes described in this policy, including to satisfy legal, accounting, or reporting obligations.

Customer and booking records are generally kept for the duration of the customer relationship and for a reasonable period afterward to handle follow-up, queries, or disputes.
Financial and invoice records are retained for the period required by tax and accounting law.
Communication records are kept as long as needed to manage the enquiry, service, or complaint, and then deleted or anonymised when no longer required.
Technical and security records are retained for a limited period, unless a longer retention period is needed for investigation or legal compliance.

When personal data is no longer required, we will securely delete it or anonymise it so that it can no longer identify you.

7. Data Security

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against accidental loss, unauthorised access, misuse, alteration, or disclosure. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, staff confidentiality obligations, and limiting access to information on a need-to-know basis.

However, no method of transmission or storage is completely secure. While we work to protect your data, we cannot guarantee absolute security.

8. Your Rights

Under data protection law, you may have the following rights in relation to your personal data:

Right of access — to request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
Right to rectification — to ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data.
Right to erasure — to request deletion of your data in certain circumstances.
Right to restriction — to ask us to limit how we use your data in certain situations.
Right to object — to object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing.
Right to data portability — to request certain data in a structured, commonly used format where applicable.
Right to withdraw consent — where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.

Please note that these rights are not absolute and may be subject to legal limitations. If we cannot comply with a request, we will explain the reason where appropriate.

9. International Transfers

If any of our service providers store or process data outside the UK, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect your information in line with applicable data protection laws. These safeguards may include adequacy regulations or approved contractual protections.

10. Children's Data

Our services are intended for adult customers and property occupants. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children unless it is incidental to service delivery and necessary for operational reasons. If we become aware that we have collected personal data from a child inappropriately, we will take steps to delete it where required.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, legal obligations, or data handling practices. Any revised version will apply from the date it is posted or otherwise communicated. We encourage customers to review this policy periodically so they remain informed about how their data is used.

12. Summary of Our Commitment

At Islington Cleaners, we only collect the information needed to provide reliable cleaning services and manage our business responsibly. We use personal data lawfully, keep it secure, retain it only as long as necessary, and share it only with trusted processors or where required by law. You remain in control of your information and may exercise your data protection rights as permitted under applicable law.

Underlined notice: This Privacy Policy applies to all Islington Cleaners customers in area.