Privacy Policy - Shoreditch Cleaners

Effective date: This Privacy Policy applies to all Shoreditch Cleaners customers in the Shoreditch area and to anyone who uses our services, contacts us, or otherwise provides us with personal data.

Shoreditch Cleaners is committed to protecting your privacy and handling your personal data in a fair, lawful, and transparent way. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, share, and protect personal information in line with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

1. Who we are

Shoreditch Cleaners provides cleaning services to residential and commercial customers in the Shoreditch area. In the course of providing our services, we act as a data controller for the personal data we collect and use for our own business purposes. This means we decide how and why your personal data is processed.

2. The personal data we collect

We only collect personal data that is necessary for running our services, managing customer relationships, and meeting our legal obligations. The types of personal data we may collect include:

Identity information: your name and, where relevant, business name.
Contact details: address, email address, telephone number, and service location details.
Service information: booking details, preferences, cleaning instructions, property access notes, and service history.
Billing and payment information: invoices, payment records, and transaction references.
Communication records: messages, emails, phone notes, complaints, feedback, and customer service correspondence.
Technical information: limited website or device information if you contact us online, such as IP address or browser type, where applicable.
Special instructions: any additional information you provide that helps us deliver our services safely and effectively.

We do not intentionally collect special category data unless it is necessary and you have provided it yourself, or we are required to handle it for a specific legal reason. Special category data may include information about health, religion, or other sensitive matters. If such information is ever needed, we will only process it where lawful and appropriate.

3. How we collect your data

We may collect personal data directly from you when you:

make a booking or request a quote;
communicate with us by email, phone, or message;
provide service instructions or updates;
complete a customer form or payment process;
leave feedback, make a complaint, or request support.

We may also receive data from third parties where necessary, such as payment service providers, referral partners, property managers, or business clients who arrange services on your behalf.

4. Why we use your personal data

We use personal data only for specific and legitimate purposes. These include:

providing cleaning services and managing bookings;
confirming appointments and service details;
processing payments and issuing invoices;
responding to enquiries and customer support requests;
maintaining service quality and resolving disputes;
meeting tax, accounting, insurance, and other legal obligations;
protecting our business, staff, and customers from fraud, misuse, or security risks;
improving our operations, records, and service delivery.

We do not sell your personal data.

5. Our lawful basis for processing

Under UK GDPR, we must have a lawful basis to process your personal data. Depending on the situation, we rely on one or more of the following:

Contract

We process your data where it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. This includes taking bookings, delivering cleaning services, processing payments, and managing your account or service request.

Legal obligation

We may process data to comply with legal duties such as accounting, taxation, record-keeping, insurance, and responding to lawful requests from authorities.

Legitimate interests

We may process data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided your rights and freedoms do not override those interests. Examples include service administration, quality control, fraud prevention, customer support, and business record management.

Consent

Where required by law, we will ask for your consent before processing certain types of data or sending non-essential communications. If we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time.

6. Who we share your data with

We may share personal data with trusted third parties, but only where necessary and with appropriate safeguards. These recipients may include:

Payment processors to handle card or electronic transactions;
Accounting and bookkeeping providers for financial records and tax compliance;
IT and cloud service providers for secure data storage, scheduling, and communications;
Customer service or communication tools that help us manage bookings and enquiries;
Professional advisers such as lawyers, insurers, or auditors;
Public authorities where disclosure is required by law.

Where we use processors, they act only on our instructions and are contractually required to protect your data, keep it confidential, and use it only for the agreed purpose. We remain responsible for ensuring your data is handled lawfully.

7. International transfers

Some of our processors may store or process data outside the UK. If this happens, we will ensure that suitable safeguards are in place, such as adequacy regulations, standard contractual clauses, or equivalent legal protections approved under applicable data protection law.

8. How long we keep your data

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purpose it was collected, and to meet legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. Retention periods may vary depending on the type of information and the reason we hold it.

Customer and booking records: kept for the duration of the service relationship and for a reasonable period afterwards.
Financial and tax records: retained for the period required by law.
Communication records and complaints: kept long enough to resolve the issue and maintain service history.
Backup and technical logs: retained for limited periods for security and operational purposes.

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

9. Your rights under UK GDPR

You have important rights over your personal data. Subject to legal limits and exemptions, these include the right to:

Access the personal data we hold about you;
Rectify inaccurate or incomplete information;
Erase your data in certain circumstances;
Restrict how we use your data in certain situations;
Object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing;
Data portability for information you provided to us, where applicable;
Withdraw consent where processing is based on consent;
Complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office if you believe your rights have been infringed.

We will respond to valid requests within the time limits required by law. In some cases, we may need to verify your identity before completing your request.

10. Data security

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data from unauthorised access, accidental loss, destruction, alteration, or disclosure. These measures may include access controls, secure systems, staff training, and confidentiality procedures.

However, no method of transmission or storage is completely secure. While we take reasonable steps to protect your information, we cannot guarantee absolute security.

11. Children’s data

Our services are not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect personal data from children except where necessary in the course of providing services requested by an adult customer or where required by law.

12. Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, legal obligations, or data processing practices. Any updates will take effect when published, and we encourage you to review this policy periodically.

13. Additional information

This Privacy Policy is intended to be clear and transparent, while also respecting the principles of data minimisation, purpose limitation, accuracy, storage limitation, integrity, confidentiality, and accountability.

If you provide us with personal data, you acknowledge that we may process it as described in this Privacy Policy and in accordance with applicable law.

In summary: Shoreditch Cleaners collects only the personal data needed to provide and improve our services, uses it on a lawful basis, keeps it securely for limited periods, and shares it only with trusted processors or where required by law.