Privacy Policy
Effective date: [Insert publication date]
1. Who we are
Absolute Hygiene Solutions Limited, trading as Absolute Hygiene Solutions or AHS (“we”, “us” and “our”), is responsible for the personal information described in this policy. We are registered in England and Wales under company number 05869467.
Registered office: Unit 42, The I.O. Centre, Royal Arsenal, Armstrong Road, Woolwich, London, SE18 6RS.
Email: hello@absolutehygienesolutions.com
Telephone: 020 8317 9693.
Website: absolutehygienesolutions.com.
This policy covers visitors to our website, people making enquiries, and individual customers and contacts at customer and prospective customer organisations. It explains our handling of personal information under the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, as amended. Employment and recruitment information is covered by separate notices where applicable.
[Confirm the privacy contact above is monitored. If a data protection officer has been appointed, insert their contact details.]
2. Information we collect and where it comes from
Depending on your dealings with us, we collect:
- Contact information: your name, email address, telephone number, company, role and business address.
- Enquiries and correspondence: messages sent through our contact form, by email or otherwise; requests for surveys or quotations; and records of our replies.
- Customer and service information: service locations, authorised site contacts, access arrangements, quotations, orders, service records and relevant waste collection documentation.
- Billing information: invoice and payment records, billing contacts and payment details necessary to administer your account.
- Technical information: IP address, browser and device information, website requests and security logs, to the extent recorded by our website and hosting systems.
- Preferences: records of marketing choices, objections and cookie choices, where applicable.
We receive information directly from you and, where necessary for providing services, from your employer or another authorised colleague. Our website systems may record technical information automatically.
[Confirm these categories and sources. Add any other sources actually used, naming public directories, referral partners or lead providers where relevant. Identify any analytics or advertising tools and explain the data they collect.]
Please do not include patient details, health information or other sensitive personal information in website enquiries or waste documentation unless we specifically request it through an appropriate process. If a service requires this information, we will explain the relevant purpose and legal conditions separately.
3. Why we use information and our lawful bases
| Purpose | Lawful basis |
|---|---|
| Responding to enquiries, arranging surveys and preparing quotations | Our legitimate interests in responding to requests and developing our business. If you personally will be party to the contract, taking steps at your request before entering that contract. |
| Arranging and delivering services, contacting site representatives and administering business customer accounts | Our legitimate interests in fulfilling agreements with organisations and managing customer relationships. Performance of a contract where you personally are party to it. |
| Invoicing, collecting payments and keeping accounting or legally required waste records | Our legitimate interests in administering and recovering payments; legal obligation where applicable recordkeeping law requires retention or use. Performance of a contract where applicable to an individual customer. |
| Protecting our website and systems, preventing misuse, investigating complaints and managing legal claims | Our legitimate interests in security, resolving problems and protecting our business and legal rights; legal obligation where applicable. |
| Sending relevant marketing, if we do so | Consent where required, or our legitimate interests in promoting relevant business services where electronic marketing rules permit this. |
| Using cookies or similar technologies that require consent, if used | Consent for the technology and associated personal information processing. |
When relying on legitimate interests, we consider the necessity of the use and its effect on your rights and reasonable expectations.
You do not have to submit a website enquiry. We need sufficient contact and service details to respond or deliver requested services. Information required by a service contract or applicable waste or accounting law will be identified when requested; without it, we may be unable to proceed.
4. Marketing and your right to object
If we send marketing, we distinguish it from messages needed to answer enquiries or administer services. For individuals, sole traders and relevant partnerships, we send marketing emails or texts only with consent or where the existing-customer exception lawfully applies, including its required opt-out opportunities. Relevant marketing to contacts at corporate organisations may rely on legitimate interests where permitted.
You can object to the use of your personal information for direct marketing at any time. Use the unsubscribe option in a marketing message or email us at hello@absolutehygienesolutions.com. We will stop marketing to you and may retain minimal suppression information to honour your choice.
[If no marketing is carried out, replace the first paragraph with: “We do not currently use your personal information to send marketing messages.” Confirm any telephone marketing separately.]
5. Who receives your information
We share only the information needed for the relevant purpose with authorised staff and, where applicable:
- Website hosting, maintenance, security, email and IT providers.
- Providers of customer management, scheduling, accounting and payment services.
- Service partners, installers and authorised waste collection or disposal partners involved in fulfilling your service requirements.
- Professional advisers, insurers and debt recovery providers where needed.
- Regulators, public authorities or other parties where disclosure is legally required or necessary to protect legal rights.
Providers acting on our behalf must handle personal information under appropriate contractual requirements. Some recipients, such as regulators and professional advisers, may act as independent controllers.
[Confirm which recipient categories actually apply. Identify any other sharing, including advertising platforms, and remove unused categories. Confirm whether information is sold or shared for third-party marketing and explain any such practice.]
6. International transfers
[Complete after checking hosting, email, customer management and other suppliers, including overseas support access. If no restricted international transfers occur, state that. Otherwise name the relevant destinations or explain the supplier arrangements and insert the applicable UK adequacy regulations or approved safeguards, such as a UK International Data Transfer Agreement or UK Addendum, together with any required transfer assessment.]
Where transfer safeguards apply, you can contact us to request information about them and a copy, subject to appropriate redaction of confidential material.
7. How long we keep information
We keep personal information only for as long as necessary for the purpose for which it was collected. We use the following criteria:
- Enquiries and unsuccessful quotations: the time needed to resolve the enquiry and any reasonably expected follow-up, considering whether there is an ongoing business relationship.
- Customer and service records: the duration of the relationship and any further period needed for outstanding obligations, complaints, legal claims or applicable waste recordkeeping requirements.
- Financial records: applicable tax and accounting retention requirements.
- Marketing preferences and suppression records: the time needed to operate lawful marketing and respect opt-outs, keeping only the necessary details.
- Technical and security logs: the period needed to investigate incidents and maintain security, followed by routine deletion or anonymisation.
- Cookies and similar technologies: the lifetimes stated in the completed cookie information below.
When information is no longer needed, we delete or anonymise it. Information in backups is removed through the applicable backup lifecycle and protected from routine use in the meantime.
[Confirm these criteria against actual deletion and backup practices. Insert established periods where available; identify the relevant waste record types rather than applying one period to all waste records.]
8. Cookies and similar technologies
Cookies are small files stored on your device. Similar technologies may store or access information on your device and, depending on their use, process personal information.
[Insert a verified inventory of all cookies and similar technologies, including third-party embeds. For each, state its name or identifier, provider, purpose, lifespan and category, and whether it requires consent or qualifies for a specific exception. If none are used, replace this section with that verified statement.]
[Insert the actual cookie settings link and explain how users can change their choices. Consent-dependent technologies must remain off until the user chooses to enable them. Where a statutory exception requires a simple means of objecting, describe the actual opt-out mechanism. Do not publish claims about controls that have not been implemented.]
Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it using the website’s cookie controls. Browser settings also allow you to delete or block cookies, although this may affect website features. Continuing to browse or submitting an enquiry does not itself give consent to marketing or consent-dependent cookies.
9. Security
We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal information, taking account of the nature of the information and the risks involved. Access is limited to those who need it for their work. No transmission or storage system can be guaranteed completely secure.
10. Your rights
Depending on the circumstances and applicable exemptions, you can request access to your personal information, correction of inaccurate information, deletion, restriction of processing, or transfer of information to you or another organisation where the portability right applies.
You can object to processing based on legitimate interests for reasons relating to your particular situation. Your right to object to direct marketing is unconditional.
If processing depends on consent, you can withdraw consent at any time. Withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.
Contact us using the details above. We may need to verify your identity or clarify the request. We normally respond within one month, subject to extensions or pauses permitted by law. We do not normally charge a fee.
11. Automated decisions
[Confirm whether any solely automated decisions with legal or similarly significant effects are made, including through screening or credit assessment tools. If none, insert: “We do not make decisions about you based solely on automated processing that have legal or similarly significant effects.” If used, describe the data, logic, effects and applicable rights and safeguards.]
12. Complaints
If you are concerned about how we handle your information, please contact us so we can investigate. You can also complain to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint.
13. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy to reflect changes in our services, practices or legal requirements. The effective date above identifies the current version. Where required, we will notify you of significant changes and obtain fresh consent.