Privacy Policy - Highbury Cleaners

Last updated: September 2026

This Privacy Policy explains how Highbury Cleaners collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data. It applies to all Highbury Cleaners customers in the area, including anyone who requests a quote, books a service, receives a cleaning visit, or communicates with us in connection with our services.

We are committed to handling personal information lawfully, fairly, and transparently in line with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. This policy is intended to help you understand what we do with your information and the choices and rights you have.

1. Personal Data We Collect

We only collect personal data that is relevant and necessary for providing cleaning services, managing customer relationships, and meeting our legal obligations. The information we may collect includes:

Identity details such as your name and any business or household name you provide.
Contact details such as address, telephone number, and email address.
Service information such as property access notes, cleaning preferences, service history, appointment times, and instructions.
Billing and payment information such as invoice details, payment status, and records needed for accounting.
Communication records such as emails, messages, call notes, feedback, complaints, and service-related correspondence.
Technical and usage data if you interact with our digital systems, such as device information or limited log data used for security and operational purposes.

We do not intentionally collect special category data unless it is strictly necessary and you have provided it voluntarily, for example where access arrangements or safety information require it. In such cases, we handle it with additional care and only where permitted by law.

2. How We Use Your Data

Your data is used only for legitimate business purposes connected with our services. We may process your data to:

provide quotes, schedule visits, and deliver cleaning services;
manage customer accounts, booking records, and service preferences;
issue invoices, process payments, and maintain financial records;
communicate about appointments, service changes, and customer support;
respond to complaints, claims, or disputes;
maintain security, prevent misuse, and protect against fraud;
meet legal, tax, insurance, and regulatory obligations;
improve service quality, internal processes, and customer experience.

We will always aim to keep processing relevant, proportionate, and limited to what is necessary for the specific purpose.

3. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under UK GDPR, we must have a valid lawful basis before processing personal data. Depending on the context, Highbury Cleaners may rely on one or more of the following:

Contract

We process your data when it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. This includes managing bookings, carrying out cleaning services, taking payment, and handling service-related communications.

Legitimate Interests

We may process data where it is in our legitimate interests to operate, improve, and protect our business, provided these interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. Examples include internal record keeping, service management, complaint handling, and preventing misuse of our systems.

Legal Obligation

We may process and retain certain information to comply with legal duties, such as tax, accounting, insurance, or regulatory requirements.

Consent

In limited situations, we may rely on your consent, particularly where processing is not essential to the service or where law requires it. If we rely on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.

We do not use personal data for unnecessary or unrelated purposes.

4. Sharing Your Data and Processors

We may share personal data with trusted third parties only where necessary and only under appropriate safeguards. These third parties may act as processors or, in some cases, independent controllers.

Examples of processors or service providers we may use include:

Payment providers that help process transactions securely;
Accounting and bookkeeping providers that support invoicing and financial administration;
IT and cloud service providers that store data, host systems, or help maintain secure records;
Communication platforms used for email, messaging, or customer service workflows;
Professional advisers such as insurers, auditors, or legal advisers where needed.

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

We may also disclose data where necessary to comply with a lawful request, court order, or other legal requirement, or to protect our rights, customers, staff, or property.

5. International Transfers

Where any processor or service provider stores or accesses data outside the UK, we will ensure appropriate safeguards are in place. These may include adequacy regulations, standard contractual clauses, or equivalent legal protections designed to keep your information secure and compliant with data protection law.

6. Data Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, including for legal, accounting, tax, or complaint-handling requirements. Retention periods may vary depending on the type of record and the purpose of processing.

As a general approach:

Customer service and booking records are retained for as long as needed to manage the customer relationship and resolve any follow-up issues.
Invoice, payment, and accounting records are retained for the period required by tax and financial laws.
Complaints and dispute records may be retained for a longer period where needed to defend or establish legal claims.
Communication records are kept only as long as necessary for business and legal purposes.

When data is no longer required, we will securely delete, anonymise, or archive it in line with our retention practices. We regularly review records to ensure we do not keep data longer than necessary.

7. Security Measures

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data from unauthorised access, accidental loss, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. These measures may include access controls, password protection, restricted permissions, secure storage, and staff awareness procedures.

Although we work hard to protect your data, no system can be guaranteed completely secure. If a personal data breach occurs and we are required to notify you or a regulator, we will do so in accordance with applicable law.

8. Your Rights

Under data protection law, you have a number of rights in relation to your personal data. Subject to legal conditions and exceptions, these may include:

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 information.
Right to erasure – to ask us to delete your data in certain circumstances.
Right to restriction – to request limited processing in some situations.
Right to data portability – to receive certain data in a structured, commonly used format.
Right to object – to object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing, where applicable.
Right to withdraw consent – where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) if you believe your data has been mishandled. We encourage you to contact us first so we can try to resolve any concern promptly and fairly.

9. 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 necessary for the performance of a service or for safety reasons and is provided by an adult with authority to do so.

10. Changes to This Privacy Policy

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

11. Summary of Our Commitment

Highbury Cleaners is committed to protecting personal data with care, transparency, and accountability. We collect only the information we need, use it for lawful and clearly defined purposes, retain it for no longer than necessary, and share it only with trusted processors or where required by law. Your privacy matters to us, and we aim to handle your information in a way that is fair, secure, and respectful.