Data Protection Complaints Policy

We are committed to providing a high-quality service, in accordance with data protection law.

At all times, we seek to comply with data protection principles by ensuring we:

• process personal data lawfully, fairly and in a transparent way;
• collect personal data for specific and legitimate purposes and do not process personal data in a way that is incompatible with those purposes;
• collect and use adequate, relevant and minimal personal data;
• take reasonable steps to make sure personal data is accurate and kept up to date;
• do not keep personal data longer than necessary; and
• implement appropriate security measures.

We acknowledge that we may not always get things right, so if something has gone wrong, we need you to tell us. This will help us to improve our standards of service and data protection controls.

How to make a Data Protection complaint:

If you have a data protection complaint, please contact us as soon as you are aware of the problem so this can be addressed. Please address your concerns in writing to Jason Roberts, Practice Manager, WSP Solicitors Limited, 3-7 Rowcroft, Stroud, Gloucestershire GL5 3BJ or via email to jasonroberts@wspsolicitors.com

Acknowledging and verifying your complaint:

• We will acknowledge your complaint within 30 days of receiving it.
• We will take reasonable steps to verify the identity of the person making the complaint. This may involve requesting further information or documentation from you. If the complaint is made on behalf of someone else, we will also need to check that the person making the complaint is properly authorised to do so.
• If, having requested additional information, we are not in a position to identify the person making the complaint or we are not satisfied that they have proper authority to make the complaint, we may be unable to deal with it.

Investigating your complaint:

We will investigate your complaint. This will usually involve:

• reviewing your complaint;
• locating and reviewing the records we hold about you;
• establishing the relevant facts;

We may also need to ask you for further information or documents. If so, we will ask you to provide the information within a specific period of time.

We will update you on the progress of your complaint at appropriate times.

Notifying you of the outcome of our investigation:

We will inform you of the outcome of the complaint without undue delay.

We will explain clearly what we’ve done to resolve your complaint and, where appropriate, any action we have taken as a result.

What to do if we cannot resolve your complaint:

If you are unhappy with the outcome of your complaint, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) or you can seek to take action in the courts.

The ICO’s contact details are:

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

More details on how to complain to the ICO are available on the Complaints page of the ICO’s website.

You should usually submit your complaint to the ICO within three months of your last contact with us.