Legal

1. Who we are

Anchor Accounts & Books Ltd (“we”, “us”, “our”) is a company registered in England and Wales. We provide bookkeeping and accounting services to individuals and small businesses. As the controller of your personal data, we are committed to protecting your privacy and handling your information transparently and responsibly in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

2. What personal data we collect

We may collect and process the following types of personal data:

• Identity data: your name, date of birth, National Insurance number, Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR)
• Contact data: email address, phone number, postal address
• Financial data: income details, expenses, bank statements, payroll information, VAT records, company financial records
• Technical data: IP address, browser type, pages visited on our website (via analytics tools)
• Communication data: messages sent to us via email, phone or contact forms

3. How and why we use your data

We use your personal data for the following purposes and under the following lawful bases:

• Providing accounting and bookkeeping services — performance of a contract
• Complying with legal and regulatory obligations (e.g. HMRC requirements, anti-money laundering) — legal obligation
• Communicating with you about your account, deadlines and service updates — legitimate interests
• Processing enquiries submitted via our website — legitimate interests / consent
• Improving our website and services using anonymised analytics — legitimate interests

4. Who we share your data with

We do not sell your personal data. We may share it with:

• HMRC — as required for filing tax returns, VAT returns and payroll submissions
• Companies House — for statutory filings on your behalf
• Cloud software providers (e.g. QuickBooks, FreeAgent, Xero) — as necessary to deliver our services
• Our professional advisers (e.g. insurers, legal advisers) — where necessary
• AAT — as our regulatory body, where required

5. How long we keep your data

We retain client records for a minimum of 6 years from the end of the relevant tax year, in line with HMRC requirements. Website enquiry data is held for up to 2 years unless you become a client, in which case it becomes part of your client record. We will securely delete or anonymise your data once the applicable retention period has passed.

6. Your rights

Under UK GDPR, you have the following rights in relation to your personal data:

• Right of access — request a copy of the data we hold about you
• Right to rectification — ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data
• Right to erasure — request deletion of your data (where no legal obligation requires retention)
• Right to restrict processing — ask us to limit how we use your data
• Right to data portability — receive your data in a structured, machine-readable format
• Right to object — object to processing based on legitimate interests

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at luke@anchoraccountsandbooks.co.uk. We will respond within 30 days.

7. Cookies

Our website may use cookies for basic functionality and analytics. You can control cookies through your browser settings. We do not use cookies for advertising or tracking purposes across other websites.

8. Data security

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, loss or destruction. All client data is held within secure, reputable cloud platforms with encryption at rest and in transit.

9. Complaints

If you have concerns about how we handle your personal data, please contact us first. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk or by calling 0303 123 1113.

10. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The current version will always be available on this page with the date of the most recent update noted at the top.