Privacy Policy

01 Who We Are

Frederick George is a specialist legal referral service focused exclusively on settlement agreements. We are not a law firm and are not regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. We introduce individuals and businesses to specialist, SRA-regulated solicitors who can provide independent legal advice. We are registered in England and Wales.

For the purposes of data protection legislation, Frederick George is the data controller responsible for your personal information. Our website is operated at frederickgeorge.com.

If you have any questions about how we handle your data, please contact us using the details in section 12.

02 Information We Collect

We collect information in the following ways:

Information you provide directly:

• Your name, email address and phone number when you submit an enquiry form
• A summary of your employment situation or legal query
• Whether you are contacting us as an employee or an employer
• Any additional information you choose to share during a consultation or correspondence

Information collected automatically:

• Technical information including your IP address, browser type and operating system
• Pages you visit on our website and how long you spend on them
• The website or search engine that referred you to us
• Cookie and tracking data (see section 8)

03 How We Use Your Information

We use your personal information for the following purposes:

• To respond to your enquiry and assess how we can best assist you with your settlement agreement
• To match you with an appropriate specialist, SRA-regulated solicitor within our network
• To fulfil our obligations under data protection law and other applicable legal requirements
• To keep records of enquiries and referrals as required by our business and legal obligations
• To improve our website and the quality of our services
• To measure the effectiveness of our advertising (via anonymised analytics data)

We will never use your information for unsolicited marketing without your explicit consent, and we will never sell your personal data to third parties.

04 Legal Basis for Processing

Under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), we rely on the following legal bases to process your personal data:

• Contract: Processing is necessary to provide the referral and introduction service you have requested, or to take steps at your request before a referral is made
• Legal obligation: We are required to process certain information to comply with applicable legal requirements, including data protection law
• Legitimate interests: We have a legitimate interest in understanding how our website is used and in responding to initial enquiries, where this does not override your rights and interests
• Consent: Where you have given explicit consent, for example if you opt in to receive updates from us

05 Sharing Your Information

We treat your information with the utmost confidentiality. We do not sell, trade or rent your personal information to third parties. We may share your data only in the following limited circumstances:

• Specialist solicitors in our network: With your knowledge and consent, we will pass your contact details and a summary of your situation to the SRA-regulated solicitor best placed to assist you. Those solicitors operate under their own data protection and professional confidentiality obligations
• Service providers: Trusted third-party suppliers who help us operate our website and deliver our services (such as our form submission provider, Formspree, and hosting providers). These parties are contractually bound to handle your data securely and only for the purposes we specify
• Analytics providers: We use Google Analytics to understand how our website is used. This data is anonymised and aggregated
• Advertising platforms: Google Ads conversion tracking is used to measure the effectiveness of our advertising. This does not involve sharing your personal information with Google
• Legal and regulatory requirements: Where we are required by law to disclose information

06 How Long We Keep Your Data

We retain your personal information for as long as is necessary for the purposes for which it was collected and to comply with our legal obligations.

• Enquiries that do not proceed to a referral: We retain contact details and enquiry information for up to 12 months, after which they are securely deleted
• Completed referrals: Where we have introduced you to a solicitor, we retain records of that referral for up to 3 years for business record-keeping purposes, after which they are securely deleted
• Financial records: Retained for 7 years in accordance with HMRC requirements
• Website analytics data: Retained in anonymised form for up to 26 months

When your data is no longer required, it is securely deleted or anonymised in accordance with our data retention policy.

07 Your Rights

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

• Right of access: You have the right to request a copy of the personal information we hold about you (a Subject Access Request)
• Right to rectification: You have the right to ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information
• Right to erasure: You have the right to ask us to delete your personal data in certain circumstances (the "right to be forgotten")
• Right to restrict processing: You have the right to ask us to limit how we use your data in certain circumstances
• Right to data portability: You have the right to receive your personal data in a structured, machine-readable format in certain circumstances
• Right to object: You have the right to object to processing based on legitimate interests or for direct marketing purposes
• Rights related to automated decision-making: We do not use automated decision-making or profiling in our service

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at the details in section 12. We will respond within one month of receiving your request. There is no charge for exercising your rights in most circumstances.

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your personal data, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk or by calling 0303 123 1113.

08 Cookies

Our website uses cookies — small text files placed on your device — to help us provide a better experience and to measure the effectiveness of our advertising.

We use the following types of cookies:

• Essential cookies: Necessary for the website to function correctly. These cannot be disabled
• Analytics cookies: Google Analytics uses cookies to help us understand how visitors use our site. All data collected is anonymised and aggregated
• Advertising cookies: Google Ads conversion tracking uses cookies to measure whether visitors who click our ads go on to submit an enquiry. This helps us understand the effectiveness of our campaigns

You can control and manage cookies through your browser settings. Please note that disabling certain cookies may affect the functionality of our website. For more information about cookies and how to manage them, visit aboutcookies.org.

09 Data Security

We take the security of your personal information seriously and have implemented appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect it against unauthorised access, loss, destruction or alteration.

• Our website uses HTTPS encryption to protect data in transit
• Access to personal data is restricted to authorised personnel only
• We use secure, reputable third-party services for form submission and data storage
• We regularly review our security practices and update them where necessary

In the unlikely event of a personal data breach that is likely to result in a risk to your rights and freedoms, we will notify you and the ICO in accordance with our obligations under UK GDPR.

10 Children's Privacy

Our website and services are not directed at children under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has provided us with personal data, please contact us immediately and we will take steps to delete it.

11 Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology, legal requirements or other factors. When we make significant changes, we will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page.

We encourage you to review this policy periodically to stay informed about how we are protecting your information. Your continued use of our website following the posting of changes constitutes your acceptance of those changes.

12 Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, wish to exercise your data rights, or have a concern about how we have handled your personal information, please get in touch: