PRIVACY POLICY.

Introduction

The Social Pearl is a trading name of Pearl Business Solutions LTD. The Social Pearl is a marketing agency.

The Company must process personal data so that services can be provided. Therefore, the Company acts as a data controller.

Pearl Business Solutions LTD (company number 11755691) ("we", "us" or "our") is committed to protecting the privacy of our candidates, clients and users of our website. We want to provide a safe and secure user experience. We will ensure that the information you submit to us, or which we collect, via various channels (including our website, through written correspondence (including e-mail), conversations or meetings with our consultants, through online job boards or another employment business or agency) is only used for the purposes set out in this policy.

Through this Privacy Policy we aim to inform you about the types of personal data we collect from candidates, the purposes for which we use the data and the ways in which the data is handled. We also aim to satisfy the obligation of transparency under the EU General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 ("GDPR") and national laws implementing GDPR.

The Information we Collect

When using the site, you will encounter areas such as contact, registration and newsletter sign-up forms. In order to use these services, you may be asked to enter personal data (but not limited to) such as your name, address, e-mail address and telephone number.

How we use your Personal Information

Any personal data relating to you that we collect will be used and recorded by us in accordance with current data protection legislation and this privacy policy. We will use your personal data mainly for record keeping purposes and in order to provide our services and products to you. This may involve us sending you information about us, our affiliates and associated companies and organisations including but not limited to promotional and/or marketing material about our products, services and offerings.

We may also create an individual profile for you so that we can inform you of services, products, events or special information that may be of interest to you. We may use your personal data to analyse customer/user behaviour and characteristics in order to measure interest in, and use of, the various areas of the site with a view to improving and/or altering the site. We may provide only aggregated (and therefore anonymous) data to third parties for this purpose (if applicable). In order to assist us in processing your personal data, we may engage with third party companies who provide us with services that can assist us in doing so. Where your data is processed in this manner, you will see additional data protection notices accordingly.

Categories of personal data include; Name, Organisation, Email, Contact Number and details of your enquiry.

How we hold the information

All the personal data we have is stored on secure electronic database in the UK.

Disclosure of your information

For the purpose of providing our services to you we may share your personally identifiable information with:

• Organisations which provide a service to us or act on our behalf, on the understanding that they will keep the information confidential, for example, consultants, suppliers or freelancers. If they are located in another country (which may be outside the European Economic Area) we will make sure that they agree to apply the same levels of protection that we are required to apply to information held in the UK and to use your information only for the purpose of providing the service to us.
• Any third party to whom we have a duty to do so in order to satisfy any legal or regulatory requirements, such as the Solicitors’ Regulatory Authority, the Legal Ombudsman, HMRC and HM Courts and Tribunal Service as examples. .

When you provide personally identifiable information to us, we use it solely for the purposes for which it was provided, in accordance with this notice. Our policy is not to share personally identifiable information with third parties, unless required by law ,  as required to perform our obligations to you or as necessary as described.

The personal information you provide to us will be retained only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which the information was collected or as required by law.

How long we hold this information

Once you have provided this information to us, we will look to make contact with you and your information will be retained indefinitely, until such time that you wish to ‘unsubscribe’ or request for your information to be erased.

The Legal Basis for Processing your Personal Information

Under GDPR, the main grounds that we rely upon in order to process personal information of clients and candidates are the following:

(a) Necessary for entering into, or performing, a contract – in order to perform obligations that we undertake in providing a service to you, or in order to take steps at our request to enter into a contract with us, it will be necessary for us to process your personal data;

(b) Necessary for compliance with a legal obligation – we are subject to certain legal requirements which may require us to process your personal data. We may also be obliged by law to disclose your personal data to a regulatory body or law enforcement agency;

(c) Consent – in some circumstances, we may ask for your consent to process your personal data in a particular way.

Your Rights on Information we hold about you

You have certain rights in relation to personal information we hold about you. Details of these rights and how to exercise them are set out below. We will require evidence of your identity before we are able to act on your request.

Right of Access

You have the right at any time to ask us for a copy of the personal information about you that we hold. Where we have good reason, and if the GDPR permits, we can refuse your request for a copy of your personal information, or certain elements of the request. If we refuse your request or any element of it, we will provide you with our reasons for doing so.

Right of Correction or Completion

If personal information we hold about you is not accurate, out of date or incomplete, you have a right to have the data rectified, updated or completed. You can let us know by contacting us using any of the methods in the Contact Us page at www.thesocialpearl.co.uk or email alex@thesocialpearl.co.uk.

Right of Erasure

In certain circumstances, you have the right to request that personal information we hold about you is erased e.g. if the information is no longer necessary for the purposes for which it was collected or processed, or our processing of the information is based on your consent and there are no other legal grounds on which we may process the information.

Right to object to or restrict processing

In certain circumstances, you have the right to object to our processing of your personal information by contacting us using any of the methods in the Contact Us page at www.thesocialpearl.co.uk or email alex@thesocialpearl.co.uk. For example, if we are processing your information on the basis of our legitimate interests and there are no compelling legitimate grounds for our processing which override your rights and interests. You also have the right to object to use of your personal information for direct marketing purposes.

You may also have the right to restrict our use of your personal information, such as in circumstances where you have challenged the accuracy of the information and during the period where we are verifying its accuracy.

Right of Data Portability

In certain instances, you have a right to receive any personal information that we hold about you in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format.

You can ask us to transmit that information to you or directly to a third-party organisation.

The above right exists only in respect of personal information that:

you have provided to us previously; and

is processed by us using automated means.

While we are happy for such requests to be made, we are not able to guarantee technical compatibility with a third-party organisation's systems. We are also unable to comply with requests that relate to personal information of others without their consent.

You can exercise any of the above rights by contacting us using any of the methods in the Contact Us page at www.thesocailpearl.co.uk or email alex@thesocialpearl.co.uk.

Most of the above rights are subject to limitations and exceptions. We will provide reasons if we are unable to comply with any request for the exercise of your rights.

Consent

To the extent that we are processing your personal information based on your consent, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. 

Cookies

We and our trusted partners use cookies and other technologies in our related services, including when you visit our Site or access our services. 

A "cookie" is a small piece of information that a website assigns to your device while you are viewing a website. Cookies are very helpful and can be used for various different purposes. These purposes include allowing you to navigate between pages efficiently, enabling automatic activation of certain features, remembering your preferences and making the interaction between you and our Services quicker and easier. Cookies are also used to help make sure that the advertisements you see are relevant to you and your interests and to compile statistical data on your use of our Services. 

The Site uses the following types of cookies:

a. 'session cookies' , which are stored only temporarily during a browsing session in order to allow normal use of the system and are deleted from your device when the browser is closed; 

b. 'persistent cookies ', which are read only by the Site, saved on your computer for a fixed period and are not deleted when the browser is closed. Such cookies are used where we need to know who you are for repeat visits, for example to allow us to store your preferences for the next sign-in; 

c. 'third-party cookies' , which are set by other online services who run content on the page you are viewing, for example by third-party analytics companies who monitor and analyse our web access.

Cookies do not contain any information that personally identifies you, but Personal Information that we store about you may be linked, by us, to the information stored in and obtained from cookies. You may remove the cookies by following the instructions of your device preferences; however, if you choose to disable cookies, some features of our Site may not operate properly and your online experience may be limited.

We use a tool which is based on the Snowplow Analytics  technology to collect information about your use of the Site. The tool collects information such as how often users access the Site, which pages they visit when they do so, etc. The tool does not collect any Personal Information and is only used by our Site hosting and operating service provider to improve the Site and services.

Use of script libraries (Google Web Fonts)

In order to present our contents correctly and make them graphically appealing across all browsers, we use script libraries and font libraries such as Google Web Fonts ( https://www.google.com/webfonts ) on this website. Google Web Fonts are transferred to your browser's cache to avoid multiple loading. If your browser does not support Google Web Fonts or does not allow access, content will be displayed in a default font. 

• Calling script libraries or font libraries automatically triggers a connection to the library operator. In theory, it is possible – but currently also unclear whether and, if so, for what purposes – that operators of corresponding libraries collect data.
   
• The privacy policy of the library operator Google can be found here: https://www.google.com/policies/privacy .

Third-party collection of information

Our policy only addresses the use and disclosure of information we collect from you. To the extent you disclose your information to other parties or sites throughout the internet, different rules may apply to their use or disclosure of the information you disclose to them. Accordingly, we encourage you to read the terms and conditions and privacy policy of each third party that you choose to disclose information to. 

This Privacy Policy does not apply to the practices of companies that we do not own or control, nor to individuals whom we do not employ or manage, including any of the third parties which we may disclose information to as set out in this Privacy Policy. 

Transfer of data outside the EEA 

Please note that some data recipients may be located outside the EEA. In such cases we will transfer your data only to such countries as approved by the European Commission as providing adequate level of data protection, or enter into legal agreements ensuring an adequate level of data protection.

Marketing

We may use your Personal Information such as your name, email address, telephone number, etc., ourselves or by using our third-party subcontractors, for the purpose of providing you with promotional materials concerning our services which we believe may interest you.  

To respect your right to privacy, within such marketing materials we provide you with the means to opt out of receiving further marketing offers from us. If you unsubscribe, we will remove your email address or telephone number from our marketing distribution lists. 

Please note that even if you have unsubscribed from receiving marketing emails from us, we may send you other types of important email communications without offering you the opportunity to opt out of receiving them. These may include customer service announcements or administrative notices.

Corporate transaction

We may share information in the event of a corporate transaction (e.g. sale of a substantial part of our business, merger, consolidation or asset sale). In the event of the above, the transferee or acquiring company will assume the rights and obligations as described in this Privacy Policy.

Equal Opportunities

Pearl Business Solutions LTD is an equal opportunities employer and a company committed to diversity. This means that all job applicants and members of staff will receive equal treatment and that we will not discriminate on grounds of gender, marital status, race, ethnic origin, colour, nationality, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, religion or age.

Updates or amendments to this Privacy Policy

We reserve the right to periodically amend or revise the Privacy Policy; material changes will be effective immediately upon the display of the revised Privacy policy. The last revision will be reflected in the "Last modified" section. Your continued use of the Platform, following the notification of such amendments on our website, constitutes your acknowledgment and consent of such amendments to the Privacy Policy and your agreement to be bound by the terms of such amendments.

Complaints

If you are unhappy about our use of your personal information, you can contact us using the Contact Us page at www.thesocialpearl.co.uk or email alex@thesocialpearl.co.uk. You are also entitled to lodge a complaint with the UK Information Commissioner's Office using any of the below contact methods:

Telephone: 0303 123 11113                                                     Website: https://ico.org.uk/concerns/

How to contact us

Please address any questions, comments and requests regarding our data processing practices to Alex Pearl, MD at alex@thesocialpearl.co.uk.