We are Essential Legal Services, a trading style of Essential Financial Solutions Limited, company registration number 09357813, whose registered office is First Floor, Cloister House, Riverside, New Bailey Street, Manchester, M3 5FS. We ask that you read this Privacy Notice carefully as it contains information about how we will use your personal data.

 

For the purposes of the Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK GDPR, we are the ‘Data Controller (i.e. the firm that is responsible for, and controls the processing of, your personal data.

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What information we collect and use

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We collect or use the following information to:

1. provide and improve products and services for customers

2. operate your customer account with us

3. for the prevention, detection, investigation or prosecution of crimes

4. information updates or marketing purposes

5. comply with legal requirements

6. dealing with queries, complaints or claims

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Based on these reasons, we will collect the following types of information:

 

• Names and contact details

• Residential Addresses

• Gender / sex

• Occupation

• Date of birth

• Marital status

• Third-party information (such as family members or other relevant parties including Next of Kin, Will executors and relevant beneficiaries)

• Financial data (including income and expenditure)

• Transaction data (including details about payments to and from you and details of products and services you have purchased)

• Usage data (including information about how you interact with and use our website, products and services), Employment details (including salary, sick pay and length of service)

• Health information (such as medical records or health conditions)

• Information relating to compliments or complaints

• Video recordings (where we speak to you over video chat (e.g., Microsoft Teams or Zoom)

• Audio recordings (e.g., recorded telephone calls)

• Records of meetings and decisions

 

• Website user information and technical data including information about browser and operating systems

• Information used for security purposes

• Marketing preferences

• Health information

• Financial information e.g. for fraud prevention or detection

• IP addresses

• Identification documents

• Any other personal information required to comply with legal obligations

• Correspondence.

 

Your data protection rights

Under data protection law, we must have a “lawful basis” for collecting and using your personal information.

Which lawful basis we rely on may affect your data protection rights which are in brief, set out below.

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• Your right of access - You have the right to ask us for copies of your personal information. You can request other information such as details about where we get personal information from and who we share personal information with. There are some exemptions which means you may not receive all the information you ask for.

• Your right to rectification - You have the right to ask us to correct or delete personal information you think is inaccurate or incomplete.

• Your right to erasure - You have the right to ask us to delete your personal information, though based on our type of processing, and to comply with legal requirements, this may not always be possible.

• Your right to restriction of processing - You have the right to ask us to limit how we can use your personal information.

• Your right to object to processing - You have the right to object to the processing of your personal data.

• Your right to data portability - You have the right to ask that we transfer the personal information you gave us to another organisation, or to you.

• Your right to withdraw consent – If we use consent as our lawful basis you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time.

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Our lawful bases for the collection and use of your data

Our lawful bases for collecting or using personal information to provide and improve products and services for our customers and the operation of customer accounts are:

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• Performance of a contract – we have to collect or use the information so we can enter into, or carry out a contract. Without this information a contract could not be arranged for you.

 

Our lawful bases for collecting or using personal information for the prevention, detection, investigation or prosecution of crimes are:

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• Legal obligation – we have to collect or use your information so we can comply with the law. All of your data protection rights may apply, except the right to erasure, the right to object and the right to data portability.

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Our lawful bases for collecting or using personal information for information updates or marketing purposes are:

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• Legitimate interests – we’re collecting or using your information because it benefits you, our organisation or someone else, without causing an undue risk of harm to anyone. All of your data protection rights may apply, except the right to portability. Our legitimate interests are:

 

In the nature of what we do, we must keep our customers informed about important legal updates, best practices for estate planning, and other relevant services that may be beneficial to them. To achieve this, we may process personal data for information updates and marketing purposes under the lawful basis of legitimate interests, as permitted by the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.

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Why We Rely on Legitimate Interests

We have conducted an assessment and determined that processing personal data for information updates and marketing purposes is necessary, proportionate, and does not unfairly impact individual rights. Our reasons are as follows:

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1. Providing Customers with Important Legal and Service Updates

The laws governing Wills, estate planning, and inheritance tax frequently change. We provide non-intrusive updates to our customers regarding legal or regulatory changes that may affect their existing Wills or estate planning needs. These updates help customers ensure their Wills remain valid and effective over time.

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2. Encouraging Customers to Keep Their Wills Up to Date

Many customers do not realise when their Will needs updating due to life events (e.g., marriage, divorce, the birth of children, changes in financial circumstances). Periodic reminders help customers avoid outdated Wills, reducing the risk of disputes or unintended consequences after their passing.

 

3. Offering Relevant Services That May Be of Interest

We may inform customers about additional services that can enhance their estate planning, such as Lasting Powers of Attorney, Trusts, or Probate Assistance. Our marketing is always relevant to our core services, ensuring that communications remain beneficial and not intrusive.

 

4. Improving Our Customer Service and Our Operations

We gather insights from past interactions to provide tailored service recommendations, making our communications more useful and specific to customers’ needs. By understanding customer preferences, we can reduce unnecessary messages, ensuring a more efficient and user-friendly experience.

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5. Balancing Our Interests Against Individual Rights

We recognise that individuals have a right to privacy, and we take proactive steps to ensure that our processing for marketing and information updates is fair, transparent, and respects individual choices. To achieve this, we:

• Ensure Relevance – We only send information that is genuinely useful to our customers.

• Use Minimal Data – We only process basic contact details (e.g., name, email, phone number) necessary for communication.

• Offer Easy Opt-Out Options – Customers can unsubscribe at any time from non-essential communications through clear opt-out links or by contacting us directly.

• Do Not Sell or Share Data – We never sell, trade, or share personal data with third parties for unrelated marketing purposes.

• Limit Frequency – We ensure that marketing and updates are sent at reasonable intervals, preventing unnecessary or excessive communications.

 

Conclusion

Our legitimate interest in processing personal data for information updates and marketing is based on ensuring that customers remain informed about changes that could impact their estate planning and have access to services that may benefit them. We have taken appropriate measures to balance our interests against individual privacy rights, ensuring that our communications remain relevant, minimal, and easily manageable by customers.

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Our lawful bases for collecting or using personal information to comply with legal requirements:

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• Legal obligation – we have to collect or use your information so we can comply with the law. All of your data protection rights may apply, except the right to erasure, the right to object and the right to data portability.

 

Our lawful bases for collecting or using personal information for dealing with queries, complaints or claims are:

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• Legal obligation – we have to collect or use your information so we can comply with the law. All of your data protection rights may apply, except the right to erasure, the right to object and the right to data portability.

 

 

Where we get personal information from and the sharing of your information

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• Directly from you

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• Suppliers and service providers

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• Related and/or associated third parties:

  • We are owned and operated by Essential Finance Group (UK) Limited, which trades as Essential Insurance, and offers protection insurance products. If during the process of progressing one of their customer enquiries it becomes apparent that Essential Legal Services may be well placed to offer Estate Planning services, they will make an introduction to us.

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•  Data processors

  • We also work by arrangement with Countrywide Tax and Trust Corporation Limited (company registration number 04844596) in order to help us provide our services to you.

 

They, and any other third-party data processor that we work with cannot do anything with your personal information, unless we instruct them to. They will not share your personal information with any other organisation without our prior authorisation. They will hold it securely and they must comply with their data protection obligations.

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Others we share personal information with

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• Other financial or fraud investigation authorities

• Professional or legal advisors

• External auditors

• Organisations we’re legally obliged to share personal information with

 

How long we keep information

We’ll hold on to your information for as long as is needed to be able to provide our services to you, and for at least as long as your Will is in force.

 

Your personal information will also be held for as long as is necessary or required for the necessity of maintaining your Will and to comply with legal or regulatory requirements, resolve disputes, prevent fraud, dishonesty and abuse, or to handle complaints. For these reasons we’ll keep your information for accurate records and evidence that may be required to help resolve the problem, provide risk related reporting and quality of service analysis.

 

We may even keep your information for a reasonable period of time after your policy or your relationship with us has ended. However, we do periodically review data that we hold to decide whether it is still necessary to keep your information, if your policy is no longer in place, has been cancelled, has expired or your information is no longer needed for us to provide the services to you.

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In the absence of specific legal, regulatory or contractual requirements but it’s necessary to keep your information for administrative, management forecasting and planning and statistical purposes, we will limit what we keep where possible to minimise risk and safeguard personal information.

 

How to complain

If you have any concerns about our use of your personal data, you can make a complaint to us using the contact details below:

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Data Protection Officer (DPO)
Essential Legal Services
Marshall House
Sale
Greater Manchester
M33 6HE

Tel: 0161 696 4971
Email: dpo@essentiallegalservices.co.uk

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If you remain unhappy with how we’ve used your data after raising a complaint with us, you can also complain to the ICO.

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The ICO’s address:           

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

 

Tel: 0303 123 1113

Website: https://www.ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint

 

We keep our privacy notice under regular review. Any future updates to this privacy notice will be found on this page.

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ELS PN V1 03/2025 last updated: March 2025