PRIVACY NOTICE

BACKGROUND:

We understand that your privacy is important to you and that you care about how your information is used and shared online. We respect and value the privacy of everyone who visits our Site and will only collect and use information in ways that are useful to you and in a manner consistent with your rights and our obligations under the law.

This Notice applies to Our use of all data collected by us in relation to your use of Our Site. Please read this Privacy Notice carefully and ensure that you understand it. You will be required to read and accept this Privacy Notice when signing up for an Account. If you do not accept and agree with this Privacy Notice, you must stop using Our Site immediately.

  1. Definitions and Interpretation

In this Notice the following terms shall have the following meanings:

“Account”

Means an account required to access and/or use certain areas and features

of our site;

“Cookie”

Means a small text file placed on your computer or device by our site when

you visit certain parts of our site and/or when you use certain features of

our site. Details of the Cookies used by our site are set out below;

“Our Site”

Means this website, www.benefitsguru.co.uk;

“Cookie Law”

Means the relevant parts of the GDPR;

“Personal data”

Means all data that relates to an identifiable person who can be

identified from the data either directly or indirectly. In this case, it means

personal data that you give Us via Our Site. This definition shall, where

applicable, incorporate the definitions provided in The General Data

Protection Regulation (“GDPR”); and

“We/Us/Our”

Means The Financial Technology Research Centre, a limited company

registered in England under 02484495, whose registered address is 14

Halifax Court Fernwood Business Centre Newark Nottinghamshire NG24 3JP

and whose main trading address is Orega Business Centre, 70 Gracechurch

Street, London. EC3V 0HR.

 

  1. Information About Us

 This web site is owned and operated us and our Data Protection Officer can be contacted by writing to us or by calling us on our main telephone number which is 020 3740 0000.

  1. Scope- What Does This Notice Cover?

This Privacy Notice applies only to your use of our Site.

This site may contain links to other websites. Please note that we have no control over how your data is collected, stored, or used by other websites and We advise you to check the privacy policies of any such websites before providing any data to them.

  1. Your Rights

As a data subject, you have the following rights under the GDPR, which this Notice and Our use of personal data have been designed to uphold:

  • The right to be informed about Our collection and use of personal data;
  • The right of access to the personal data We hold about you;
  • The right to rectification if any personal data We hold about you is inaccurate or incomplete;
  • The right of erasure – i.e. the right to ask Us to delete any personal data we hold about you. This is not an absolute right and we will endeavour to meet your request;
  • The right to restrict the processing of your personal data;
  • The right to data portability (obtaining a copy of your personal data to re-use with another service or organisation);
  • The right to object to Us using your personal data for particular purposes; and;
  • Your right to human oversight with respect to automated decision making and profiling.

If you have any cause for complaint about Our use of your personal data, please contact us and we will do our best to solve the problem for you. If We are unable to help, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with the UK’s supervisory authority, the Information Commissioner’s Office www.ico.org.uk.

For further information about your rights, please contact the Information Commissioner’s Office whose web site is at www.ico.org.uk

  1. What Data Do We Collect?

Some data will be collected automatically by Our Site, other data will only be collected if you voluntarily submit it, for example, when signing up for an Account. Depending upon your use of our site, we may collect some or all of the following data:

  • name;
  • business/company name
  • job title;
  • profession;
  • contact information such as email addresses and telephone numbers;
  • demographic information such as post code, preferences and interests;
  • IP address (automatically collected);
  • web browser type and version (automatically collected);
  • operating system (automatically collected);
  • a list of URLs starting with a referring site, your activity on Our Site, and the site you exit to (automatically collected);
  • FCA Number

FTRC has deployed Google Analytics version 4 (GA4) and collects statistical data of your interaction with this website.

  1. How Do We Use Your Data?

All personal data is stored securely for no longer than is necessary considering the reason(s) for which it was first collected. We will comply with our obligations and safeguard your rights under the GDPR.

Our use of your personal data will always have a lawful basis, either because it is necessary for our performance of a contract with you, because you have consented to our use of your personal data (e.g. by subscribing to emails), or because it is in our legitimate interests. Specifically, we may use your data for the following purposes:

  • Providing and managing your account;
  • Providing and managing your access to our site;
  • Personalising and tailoring your experience on our site;
  • Supplying our services to you;
  • Personalising and tailoring our services for you;
  • Responding to emails from you;
  • Analysing your use of our site and gathering feedback to enable us to continually improve our site and your user experience;
  • Auditing;
  • Analysing usage in aggregate to measure features users’ find important.
  1. Validating a user’s eligibility to use the site.

With your permission, we may also use your data for marketing purposes which may include contacting you by email with information, news and offers on our products or services. We will not, however, send you any unsolicited marketing or spam and will take all reasonable steps to ensure that we fully protect your rights and comply with Our obligations under the GDPR and the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003, as amended in 2004, 2011, 2015 and 2019.

You have the right to withdraw your consent to us using your personal data at any time, and to request that we delete it.

We do not keep your personal data for any longer than is necessary considering the reason(s) for which it was first collected. Data will therefore be retained for as long as you are a registered user of our website.

  1. Do We Share Your Data?

We may compile statistics about the use of our site including data on traffic, usage patterns, user numbers, sales and other information. All such data will be anonymised and will not include any personally identifying information. We may from time to time share such data with third parties such as prospective investors, affiliates, partners and advertisers. Data will only be shared and used within the bounds of the law.

  1. How and Where Do We Store Your Data?

Your data will only be stored within the European Economic Area (“the EEA”) (The EEA consists of all EU member states, plus UK, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein).

Data security is of great importance to us, and to protect your data, we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure data collected through our site.

Notwithstanding the security measures that we take, it is important to remember that the transmission of data via the internet may not be completely secure. You are therefore advised to take suitable precautions when transmitting data to us via the internet.

In certain circumstances, we may be legally required to share certain data held by us, which may include your personal data, for example, where we are involved in legal proceedings. This will be a situation where we are complying with legal requirements, a court order, or a governmental authority.

  1. How Can You Control Your Data?

In addition to your rights under the GDPR, when you submit personal data via our site, you may be given options to restrict our use of your data. We have in place strong controls on our use of your data for direct marketing purposes. This includes the ability to opt-out of receiving emails from us which you may do by unsubscribing using the links provided in our emails, at the point of providing your details and by managing your account.

You may also wish to sign up to one or more of the preference services operating in the UK: The Telephone Preference Service (“the TPS”), the Corporate Telephone Preference Service (“the CTPS”), and the Mailing Preference Service (“the MPS”). These may help to prevent you receiving unsolicited marketing mail and emails. Please note, however, that these services will not prevent you from receiving marketing communications that you have consented to receiving.

  1. How Can You Access Your Data?

You have the right to ask for a copy of your personal we hold. The GDPR states that no fee is payable. We will provide any and all information in response to your request within 30 days. Please contact us for more details at [email protected], or using the contact details below.

  1. Cookies

A cookie is a small file which asks permission to be placed on your computer’s hard drive. Once you agree, the file is added and then the cookie helps analyse web traffic or lets you know when you visit a particular site. Cookies allow web applications to respond to you as an individual. The web application can tailor its operations to your needs, likes and dislikes by gathering and remembering information about your preferences.

We use traffic log cookies to identify which pages are being used. This helps us analyse data about webpage traffic and improve our website in order to tailor it to individual needs. We only use this information for statistical analysis purposes and then the data is removed from the system.

Overall, cookies help us provide you with a better website experience, by enabling us to monitor which pages you find useful and which you do not. A cookie does not give us access to your computer or any information about you.

You can choose to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. This may prevent you from taking full advantage of the website.

The Cookies we use are:

  • _ga which is a third-party demographic information cookie
  • _gid which is used for Google analytics
  • wp-settings-time-670 which controls WordPress settings
  • wordpress_sec which is WordPress session ID cookie
  • _ga disable which is used when the user opts out for using cookies
  1. Contacting Us

If you have any questions about Our Site or this Privacy Notice, please contact Us by email at [email protected] or by telephone on 020 3740 0000. Please ensure that your request is clear, particularly if it is a request for information about the data held about you.

  1. Changes to Our Privacy Notice

We may change this Privacy Notice as we may deem necessary from time to time, or as may be required by law. Any changes will be immediately posted on our site and you will be required to read and accept the terms of the Privacy Notice on your first use of our site following the alterations. We recommend that you check this page regularly to keep up to date. This Privacy Notice was last updated in June 2023.