SIVA CONSULTANCY LTD (Company No. 15839893), trading as Automate Accountants, is committed to protecting your personal data. This policy explains what data we collect, why we collect it, and how we use and protect it across all our services.
1. About Us
1.1 SIVA CONSULTANCY LTD (Company No. 15839893), trading as Automate Accountants, is the data controller for personal data processed in connection with our services.
1.2 For privacy enquiries, contact us at privacy@automateaccountants.co.uk.
2. Data We Collect
2.1 We collect personal data in the following categories:
Account data. Information you provide when registering for or managing an account, such as your name, email address, and account preferences.
Service credentials. Authentication data you provide to enable service functionality. Such credentials are stored encrypted and are never held in plain text.
Service usage data. Records of how you interact with our services, including usage metrics, session information, and activity logs retained for operational and debugging purposes.
Client and project data. Information you share with us in the course of a consulting or professional services engagement, used solely to deliver the agreed services.
Billing and payment data. Subscription status, plan details, and payment history. Card and payment instrument data is processed directly by our payment provider; we do not store it.
Communications. Correspondence you send to us, including support requests and enquiries.
3. Lawful Bases for Processing
3.1 We process personal data on the following lawful bases under UK GDPR Article 6:
Contract performance (Article 6(1)(b)) — account management, service delivery, and billing. Processing is necessary to perform our contract with you.
Legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f)) — security monitoring, fraud prevention, and service reliability. Our legitimate interests do not override your rights and freedoms.
Legal obligation (Article 6(1)(c)) — retention of records required by law, including billing records for accounting and tax purposes.
4. How We Use Your Data
4.1 We use personal data to:
- provide, operate, and improve our services;
- process payments and manage your subscription or engagement;
- send transactional communications such as account verification, password reset, and subscription notices;
- respond to support and privacy requests;
- detect and prevent fraudulent or unauthorised activity; and
- comply with applicable legal obligations.
4.2 We do not use your data for advertising, behavioural profiling, or any purpose beyond those described above. We never sell your data.
5. Data Retention
5.1 We retain personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, or as required by law. In general:
- account data is retained until you close your account, plus a short backup period;
- service credentials are retained until you remove them from your account;
- billing records are retained for six years to meet legal and accounting requirements;
- operational and activity logs are retained for up to 30 days; and
- correspondence and project data are retained for up to two years from the date of last contact or project completion.
6. International Transfers
6.1 The majority of your data is stored and processed within the United Kingdom. Where we use third-party service providers based outside the UK, we ensure appropriate safeguards are in place, including Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) where applicable, in accordance with UK GDPR requirements.
7. Third-Party Processors
7.1 We share personal data only with service providers who process it on our behalf and only to the extent necessary to provide our services. Our current sub-processors include providers of cloud infrastructure, payment processing, and transactional email delivery.
7.2 All sub-processors are subject to data processing agreements and are required to process data only on our instructions and in accordance with applicable data protection law. We do not sell your data or share it for advertising or marketing purposes.
8. Your Rights
8.1 Under UK GDPR, you have the right to:
- access the personal data we hold about you;
- rectification of inaccurate or incomplete data;
- erasure where processing is no longer necessary;
- restriction of processing in certain circumstances;
- data portability in a structured, machine-readable format;
- object to processing based on legitimate interests; and
- withdraw consent where processing is based on consent.
8.2 To exercise any of these rights, contact us at privacy@automateaccountants.co.uk. We will respond within one month. If you are not satisfied with our response, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office.
9. Security
9.1 We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, loss, or disclosure. These include encryption of data at rest and in transit, access controls, and credential isolation.
9.2 No method of electronic storage or transmission is completely secure. While we take commercially reasonable steps to protect your data, we cannot guarantee absolute security.
10. Cookies and Storage
10.1 For details of cookies and browser storage used across our services, see our Cookie & Storage Notice.
11. Changes to This Policy
11.1 We may update this policy from time to time. We will notify you of material changes with at least 14 days' advance notice by email or in-app notification. The “Last updated” date at the top of this page reflects the most recent revision.
12. Contact
12.1 For privacy enquiries or to exercise your rights, contact:
Email: privacy@automateaccountants.co.uk
SIVA CONSULTANCY LTD, Company No. 15839893, trading as Automate Accountants.