Privacy policy

Please read the following information carefully. This privacy notice contains information about the information collected, stored and otherwise processed about you and the reasons for the processing.

Please note that processing data does not mean that someone is intentionally moving data from one place to another. The term actually includes any movement of data through any IT system even where neither party knows that it is moving.

This document also tells you who I share this information with, the security mechanisms we have put in place to protect your data and how to contact us in the event you need further information.

This document has been prepared carefully so as to be absolutely compliant with the Data Protection Act 2018 (The "Act") accordingly incorporating the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Simply because we have to cover every eventuality does not mean that the data we collect about you will be different from what you would expect from any other website. Please understand that mediation work does involve "processing" information which is sometimes extremely personal.

Please understand however that regardless of what may be permitted in law, the entire mediation process is built upon the assumption that the parties and the mediator will maintain total confidentiality.

What follows sets out the legal position. In practice, all documentation arising on the day of a mediation meeting, or arising in advance but relating to or anticipating, the mediation meeting, is destroyed by me within seven days of the date of the meeting, subject only to the possibility of your requiring a continuation of the meeting at some future date.

However, using our rights under the Act, for general business purposes, we do retain for up to 7 years, the most basic personal information such as your name, address, dates relating to the mediation, our invoicing and your payment and so on.

Who Am I?

I am Andrew Taylor, trading as "the Mediator". In this document I refer to "we” / “our” / “us" meaning myself and my staff. I am a solicitor, but I do not currently practice law. I believe that status enhances my neutrality.

In the course of my mediation practice, I inevitably receive personal information about you. That makes me the "controller" of this information for the purposes of the GDPR and the Act.

This document sets out how I and my staff might use and retain your data.

If you need to contact me about your personal data please send a message to action@themediator.co.uk

Our website is hosted in the UK, but many of the technical services we use are provided by companies based elsewhere, particularly in the USA.

Information we might collect

When carrying on our business and practice, processing your data and providing a service, it is likely that we shall record for some of the following personal information that you provide:

• personal details
• family details
• lifestyle and social circumstances
• financial details
• education, training and employment details
• physical or mental health details
• (very rarely) information deemed to be "special category" information, such as your racial or ethnic origin, sex life or sexual orientation, political opinions, religious, philosophical or other beliefs
• technical data we unavoidably process because it enters our IT system automatically in the course of communication.
• other personal data relevant to instructions to provide mediation services, including data specific to your instructions.

Information collected from other sources

The same categories of information may also be obtained from third parties, in particular from people directly involved in your dispute or your management of the mediation process. Examples are: legal professionals, professional experts, members of your family, friends whom you might ring into the process, government departments, regulators, and public records and registers.

We may use your personal information for the following purposes:

• to provide mediation services;
• to keep accounting records and carry out office administration;
• to carry out anti-money laundering and terrorist financing checks; to train other mediators and when providing work-shadowing opportunities, as required or permitted by law.
• to train other mediators and when providing work-shadowing opportunities - subject to your explicit advance approval;
• as may from time to time be required by law.

The legal basis for processing your personal information

We rely on the following as the lawful bases on which we collect and use your personal information:

• If you have consented to the processing of your personal information, then we may process your information for the purposes set out above to the extent to which you have allowed us to do so.
• If you are a mediation client, processing is necessary for the performance of a contract for mediation services or in order to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract.
• In relation to information which is not in the special category, we rely on our legitimate interest and / or the legitimate interests of a third party in carrying out the processing for the purposes set out above.
• In certain circumstances processing may be necessary in order that we can comply with a legal obligation to which we are subject.

Who will we share your personal information with?

Some of the information you provide will be protected by legal professional privilege unless and until the information becomes public in the course of any proceedings or otherwise.

It may be necessary to share your information with the following:

• data processors, such as telephony transmission workers, email providers, data storage providers; providers of web services.
• your conflict party – only subject to your specific instruction.
• legal professionals who act for you alone;
• courts and tribunals, police and intelligence services - only if called by a judge to do so;
• our staff, subject to their having signed a special purpose confidentiality agreement;
• trainee mediators - rarely and subject to your specific consent in advance;
• Any person instructed by you to convey or discuss matters which may concern or include your personal information;

For how long will we store your personal data?

We have no legal obligation to you to store your information for a particular period of time nor to delete such of your information as we are permitted to store, within a particular timescale. However, we will normally store:

• Information relating directly to your mediation – for up to 7 days;
• Documents and any other information provided to us in advance of the mediation meeting as reference documents – for up to 14 days;
• Your personal information relating to who you are, where you live and basic information relating to our contract with you – for up to 7 years for tax purposes and until the expiration of the limitation period within which you could make a legal claim against me.

Special Category Consent

If you instruct me in circumstances requiring information in the special category, I shall assume that I have your consent to process this information as may reasonably be required to enable me to mediate your dispute.

Your Rights

Under the GDPR, you have a number of rights that you can exercise in certain circumstances. These are free of charge. In summary, you may have the right to:

• Receive a copy of the personal information you have provided to us or have this information sent to a third party. This will be provided to you or the third party in a structured, commonly used and machine readable format, e.g. a Word file.
• Ask for correction of mistakes in your data.
• Ask for your personal information to be erased, in certain circumstances;
• Object at any time to processing of your personal information for direct marketing;
• Object in certain other situations to the continued processing of your personal information;
• Restrict processing of your personal information in certain circumstances;

Your exercise of any of the above listed rights does not affect the contract between us.

If you want more information about your rights under the GDPR please see the Guidance from the Information Commissioners Office on Individual's rights under the Act.

Cookies

Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer's hard drive by your web browser when you visit a website. They allow information gathered on one web page to be stored until it is needed for use on another, allowing a website to provide you with a personalised experience, and the website owner with statistics about how you use the website.

Some cookies may last for a defined period of time, such as one day or until you close your browser. Others last indefinitely.

Our website uses third party cookies. They are placed by software that operates on our servers, and by software operated by third parties whose services we use.

An example is that we use Google Analytics to measure the performance of our website.

We may use the information we obtain from your use of our website for the following purposes:

• to improve the website's usability;
• to analyse your use of our website;
• to provide certain interactive functionality, such as remembering your answers to previous questions on a multi-page questionnaire.
• Most browsers allow you to refuse to accept cookies, and to delete ones that have been placed on your computer.
• If you do not want us to use cookies, you may disable their use in your browser. However, if you do so then please note that you may not be able to use all the features on our website.

How to make a complaint?

If you are not happy with our privacy policy or if you have any complaint then you should tell us by email.Our address is action@themediator.co.uk.

The Act gives you the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioners' Office at http://ico.org.uk/concerns

This privacy notice was published on 01 April 2018 and last updated on 27th April 2020.

We continually review our privacy practices and may change this policy from time to time. When we do it will be placed on the website