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Privacy Policy

Welcome to Gemserv’s privacy notice.

For clarity, “we” refers to Gemserv Ltd, as will “our”, “business”, “company” and “us”. “You” are the person, firm, business, representative, or organisation reading this notice.

This privacy notice will inform you as to how we look after your personal data when you visit our website (regardless of where you visit it from) and tell you about your privacy rights and how the law protects you, in accordance to the UK Data Protection Act 2018. At this point it is important for you to know that we are governed by the UKs Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and they have in-depth information about the General Data Protections Regulations (GDPR) and how it applies to business within the United Kingdom, detailed guidance on your rights can be found here https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/.

This privacy notice is provided in a layered format so you can click through to the specific areas set out below. Please also use the Glossary at the bottom of the page, this will be useful resource to understand the meaning of some of the terms used in this privacy notice.

1. Gemserv Ltd – Important Information

Gemserv Ltd is committed to safeguarding your privacy; this privacy notice aims to give you information on how Gemserv collects, processes and treats your personal data through your use of this website. This includes any data you may provide through this website when you sign up to our newsletters, submit information to download one of our whitepapers or apply for a job on our careers page. We should make it clear that this is a business website and is not designed, nor intended, for children. Therefore, we do not knowingly collect data relating to children.

It is important that you read this privacy notice together with any other privacy notice or fair processing notice we may provide on specific occasions when we are collecting or processing personal data about you so that you are fully aware of how and why we are using your data. This privacy notice supplements the other notices and is not intended to override them.

2. Your Legal Rights

Gemserv would like to make you aware in this instance your legal rights, so that as you are reading the rest of this notice you are aware of any rights you have under data protection laws (Data Protections Act 2018 & GDPR) in relation to your personal data. If you wish to exercise any of the rights set out above, please contact us or use the details of our dedicated Data Protection Officer in Section 3.

Under certain circumstance you have the following rights under data protection laws:

  • Request access to your personal data.
  • Request correction of your personal data.
  • Request erasure of your personal data.
  • Object to processing of your personal data.
  • Request restriction of processing your personal data.
  • Request transfer of your personal data.
  • Right to withdraw consent.

You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal data (or to exercise any of the other rights) if the request is legitimate. However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive or excessive. Alternatively, we may refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances whereby we would have a legal ability to do so. Gemserv will never refuse any request without first reviewing the request and considering the circumstance.

We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal data (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up our response.

We try to respond to all legitimate requests within one month. Occasionally it may take us longer than a month if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, we will notify you and keep you updated.

3. Gemserv ltd – Data Controller & Contacting Us

For the purpose of the applicable national data protection legislation and to abide by GDPR requirements, you should be aware that the data controller responsible for your personal data you submit to this webpage is:

Gemserv Ltd, 8 Fenchurch Place, London, EC3M 4AJ bearing the company number 04419878.

Our Data Protection Officer (referred to as a DPO) is responsible for overseeing questions in relation to this privacy notice. If you have any questions about this privacy notice, including any requests to exercise your legal rights, please contact the DPO using the details set out below:

Contact details:

Gemserv Ltd
DataPrivacy@gemserv.com
8 Fenchurch Place, London, EC3M 4AJ
020 7090 1000

You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues (www.ico.org.uk). We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO so please contact us in the first instance, if we aren’t made aware that something has happened we won’t be able to improve our approach in the future.

4. Third Party Links, or, Links Away From Gemserv.com

There are many websites on the internet that are related to the services, schemes and contracts that Gemserv either administers or is involved with, we recommend that when visiting these pages, you review the Privacy Policies as some may be determined or have slight variations because of involvement by additional Data Controllers (such as HM Government) or Joint Controllers.

Gemserv’s website(s) may also include links to third-party websites, plug-ins and applications. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy statements. When you leave our website, we encourage you to read the privacy notice of every website you visit.

5. The Data Gemserv Collects About You

Personal data, or personal information, means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include data where the identity has been removed (anonymous or ‘anonymised’ data).

We may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal data about you which we have grouped together as:

  • Identity Data includes first name, last name, username or similar identifier, title.
  • Contact Data includes company address, home address, email address and telephone number.
  • Technical Data includes internet protocol (IP) address, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform and other technology on the devices you use to access this website (such as smart phones, laptops or desktops).
  • Usage Data includes information about how you use our website, products and services.
  • Marketing and Communications Data includes your preferences in receiving marketing from us and our third parties and your communication preferences, usually from downloading one of our whitepapers.

Whereby we need to collect personal data from you by law, or under the terms of a contract we have with you and you fail to provide that data when requested, we may not be able to perform the contract we have or are trying to enter with you (for example, to provide you with services). In this case, we may have to cancel a service you have with us but we will notify you if this is the case at the time.

We should also inform you that Gemserv may collect, use and share Aggregated Data such as statistical or demographic data. Aggregated Data may be derived from your personal data but is not considered personal data in law as this data does not directly or indirectly reveal your identity. For example, we may aggregate your Usage Data to calculate the percentage of users accessing a specific website feature. However, if we combine or connect Aggregated Data with your personal data so that it can directly or indirectly identify you, we treat the combined data as personal data which will be processed only in accordance with this privacy notice.

Gemserv do not, and will not, collect any Special Categories of Personal Data about you (this includes details about your race or ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, sex life, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership, information about your health and genetic and biometric data). Nor do we collect any information about criminal convictions and offences.

If you are approached by someone pertaining to be from Gemserv, or, if a webpage that appears to be Gemserv marked asks for Special Categories of data or information relating to criminal convictions and offences, we ask that you contact us in the immediate instance.

6.How Gemserv Collects Your Personal Data

If you apply to work with us we will only use the information you give us to process your application and to monitor recruitment statistics. If we want to disclose information to someone outside Gemserv Ltd such as if your next business requests a reference or need to get a ‘disclosure’ from the Criminal Records Bureau, we will make sure we tell you beforehand. This is unless we are required to not disclose this information by law.

If you are unsuccessful in your job application, we hold your personal information for 12 months after we’ve finished recruiting for the post you applied for. After this date we will destroy or securely delete your information. We keep de-personalised statistical information about applicants to develop our recruitment processes, but this does not contain any information that could be used to identify individual job applicants.

If you begin employment with us, we will put together a file about your employment. We keep the information in this file secure and will only use it for matters that apply directly to your employment and we then have internal policies and procedures that dictate how we treat this information.

7. How Gemserv Uses Your Personal Data

We will only use your personal data when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your personal data in the following circumstances:

  • To contact you in response to an enquiry
  • Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests.
  • Where we need to comply with a legal, or regulatory, obligation.

More details on the types of lawful basis that we will rely on to process your personal data can be found in Section 9 and definitions can be found in the Glossary of this notice. The ICO also publishes guidance and definitions on all the lawful basis for processing here.

Generally, we do not rely on consent as a legal basis for processing your personal data other than in relation to sending third party direct marketing communications to you via email. You have the right to withdraw consent to marketing at any time by contacting us.

You should be aware of any time you have provided your consent to Gemserv as we will ensure that it is explicit and requires a positive opt-in (no more pre-ticked boxes).

8. Information for Job Applicants and Employees

If you apply to work with us we will only use the information you give us to process your application and to monitor recruitment statistics. If we want to disclose information to someone outside Gemserv Ltd such as if your next business requests a reference or need to get a ‘disclosure’ from the Criminal Records Bureau, we will make sure we tell you beforehand. This is unless we are required to not disclose this information by law.

If you are unsuccessful in your job application, we hold your personal information for 12 months after we’ve finished recruiting for the post you applied for. After this date we will destroy or securely delete your information. We keep de-personalised statistical information about applicants to develop our recruitment processes, but this does not contain any information that could be used to identify individual job applicants.

If you begin employment with us, we will put together a file about your employment. We keep the information in this file secure and will only use it for matters that apply directly to your employment and we then have internal policies and procedures that dictate how we treat this information.

9. Purposes for which Gemserv Will use Your Personal Data

We have set out below, in a table format, a description of all the ways we plan to use your personal data, and which of the legal bases we rely on to do so. We have also identified what our legitimate interests are where appropriate. Note that we may process your personal data for more than one lawful ground depending on the specific purpose for which we are using your data.

To register you as a new customer

Type of data:

  1. Identity
  2. Contact

Purpose for use:

  • Performance of a contract with you

To manage our relationship with you which will include:

  1. Notifying you about changes to our terms or privacy policy
  2. Asking you to leave a review or take a survey

Type of data:

  1. Identity
  2. Contact
  3. Profile
  4. Marketing
  5. Communications Preferences

Purpose for use:

  1. Performance of a contract with you
  2. Necessary to comply with a legal obligation
  3. Necessary for our legitimate interests (to keep our records updated and to study how customers use our products/services).

To administer and protect our business and this website

(including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, system maintenance, support, reporting and hosting of data)

Type of data:

  1. Identity
  2. Contact
  3. Technical

Purpose for use:

  1. Performance of a contract with you
  2. Necessary to comply with a legal obligation
  3. Necessary for our legitimate interests (to keep our records updated and to study how customers use our products/services).

To deliver relevant website content and advertisements to you and measure or understand the effectiveness of the advertising we serve to you

Type of data:

  1. Identity
  2. Contact
  3. Profile
  4. Usage
  5. Marketing and Communications
  6. Technical

Purpose for use:

  1. Necessary for our legitimate interests (to keep our records updated and to study how customers use our products/services).

To use data analytics to improve our website, products/services, marketing, customer relationships and experiences

Type of data:

  1. Technical
  2. Usage

Purpose for use:

Necessary for our legitimate interests (to keep our records updated and to study how customers use our products/services).

10. Marketing

We strive to provide you with choices regarding certain personal data uses, particularly around marketing and advertising. We have established the following personal data control mechanisms:

Promotional Offers from Us; We may use your Identity, Contact, Technical, Usage and Profile Data to form a view on what we think you may want or need, or what may be of interest to you. This is how we decide which products, services and offers may be relevant for you.

Third Party Marketing; Gemserv does not engage in third party advertising and currently has no plan to do so. If you receive marketing from a business that claims to be doing so on the behalf of Gemserv we request that you contact us in the first instance.

Opt-out; You can ask us to stop sending you marketing messages by contacting us at any time. Please be aware that where you opt out of receiving marketing messages, this will not apply to personal data provided to us as a requirement for continuing to receive our services or continue our business operations with you this will have been provided to us, by you, during a separate ‘transaction’.

11. Cookies

Cookies are small files saved to your computer’s hard drive that track, save and store information about your interactions and usage of our website. Cookies allow us to store your preferences to correctly present content, options or functions throughout our website. They also enable us to see information like how many people use our website and what pages they tend to visit.

Overall, cookies help us provide you with a better website by enabling us to monitor which pages you find useful and which you do not. A cookie in no way gives us access to your computer or any information about you, other than the data you choose to share with us.

When you visit our website for the first time, we will show you a pop-up with an explanation about cookies and the options available. Functional cookies cannot be declined as they are necessary for this website to work properly. You can consent by opting-in to the use of analytical, preferences and advertising cookies. As soon as you click on “Save preferences”, the relevant cookies and plug-ins as described in the pop-up and this cookie statement will be used by us.

You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when websites set or access cookies. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of this website may become inaccessible or not function properly. If you would like more information about this practice, including how to prevent it, please visit www.aboutcookies.orgwww.allaboutcookies.org or optout.networkadvertising.org

Below is a list of all cookies utilised within our website:

First Party – Gemserv Ltd Cookies

Host –.gemsev.com

Name – _gid

Description – Associated with Google Universal Analytics; we use this to inform us of each unique page visit

Host – .gemsev.com

Name – _gat

Description – Associated with Google Universal Analytics; we use this to limit collection on high traffic pages.

Host – .gemsev.com

Name – _ga

Description – Associated with Google Universal Analytics; we use this to identify unique users by assigning them unique client identifiers

Host – careers.gemserv.com

Name – ajax_search_cookie

Description – Used for the search function on our careers page.

Host – careers.gemserv.com

Name – lastaccesstime5453

Description – Used to determine a user’s last access time to our careers page.

Host – careers.gemserv.com

Name – sessionid5453

Description – Used to track the session from when the user logs in to our careers page.

Host – careers.gemserv.com

Name – civicAllowCookies

Description  Used to remember the User preference for our career page interface.

Third Party – Gemserv Ltd Cookies

Host .vimeo.com

Name – player

Description  This is for hosting and sharing videos on our website.

Host .vimeo.com

Name – vid

Description  This is to identify the videos on our website.

Host .doubleclick.net

Name – id

Description  DoubleClick is Googles real time bidding advertising exchange.

Host . facebook.com

Name – datr

Description  This is used by Facebook to serve targeted advertising to its users when logged into its services. It is not directly tied to individual Facebook user.

Host .google.com

Name – APISID

Description  Google uses this along with the data gathered from services to profile the interests of web users and sell advertising space to organisations based on such interest profiles as well as aligning adverts to the content on the pages where its customer’s adverts appear.

Host .google.com

Name – SSID

Description  Google uses this along with the data gathered from services to profile the interests of web users and sell advertising space to organisations based on such interest profiles as well as aligning adverts to the content on the pages where its customer’s adverts appear.

Host .google.com

Name – NID

Description  Google uses this along with the data gathered from services to profile the interests of web users and sell advertising space to organisations based on such interest profiles as well as aligning adverts to the content on the pages where its customer’s adverts appear.

Host .google.com

Name – PREF

Description  This is a common Google cookie, used across several of their services. Stores user preference and can be used to personalise ads on google searches.

Host .google.com

Name – SID

Description  This cookie is used by Google in combination with HSID to verify a Google user account and most recent login time.

Host .google.com

Name – SAPISID

Description  Google uses this along with the data gathered from services to profile the interests of web users and sell advertising space to organisations based on such interest profiles as well as aligning adverts to the content on the pages where its customer’s adverts appear.

Host .google.com

Name – HSID

Description  Used by Google in combination with SID to verify Google user account and most recent login time.

Host .siteimproveanalytics.com

Name – _cfduid

Description  Associated with sites using CloudFlare, used to speed up page load times.

Host .api.at.getsocial.io

Name – _smb_api_session

Description  related to visits referrals and site shares.

Host – LSW_WEB

Name – _smb_api_session

Description  related to visits referrals and shares.

Host .api.at.getsocial.io

Name – gs_pvid

Description  related to visits referrals and shares for private IDs.

Host .api.at.getsocial.io

Name  _mkto_trk

Description – This cookie is associated with an email marketing service provided by Marketo. This tracking cookie allows a website to link visitor behaviour to the recipient of an email marketing campaign, to measure campaign effectiveness.

Host marketo.com

Name – gs_user_id

Description – related to visits referrals and shares for User IDs.

Host marketo.com

Name – _fbp

Description – Used by Facebook to deliver a series of advertisement products such as real time bidding from third party advertisers

Host Hotjar

Name _hjFirstSeen

Description – dentifies a new user’s first session.

Host Hotjar

Name _hjIncludedInSessionSample

Description – Set to determine if a user is included in the data sampling defined by your site’s daily session limit.

Host Hotjar

Name _hjSession_*

Description – Holds current session data

Host Hotjar

Name _hjIncludedInPageviewSample

Description – Set to determine if a user is included in the data sampling defined by your site’s pageview limit

Host Hotjar

Name _hjAbsoluteSessionInProgress

Description – Used to detect the first pageview session of a user

Host Hotjar

Name _hjSessionUser_*

Description –Set when a user first lands on a page

12. Change of Purpose

We will only use your personal data for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose. If you wish to get an explanation as to how the processing for the new purpose is compatible with the original purpose, please contact us.

If we need to use your personal data for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to do so.

Please note that we may process your personal data without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law and where there is no confliction with the requirements of the GDPR or Data Protection Legislation.

13. Disclosure of Your Personal Data

We may have to share your personal data with the parties set out below for the purposes set out in the table in Section 9 above. This could include:

  1. Internal Third Parties
  2. External Third Parties
  3. Third parties that we may choose to sell, transfer, or merge parts of our business or our assets with. Alternatively, we may seek to acquire other businesses or merge with them. If a change happens to our business, then the new owners may use your personal data in the same way as set out in this privacy notice.

We require, and demand, that all third parties respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes and only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.

14. International Transfers

We share your personal information and service data within the Gemserv Group. By accessing or using our services or otherwise providing personal information or service data to us, you are informed that we may process, transfer or store your personal information or Service Data within the European Economic Area (EEA).

Gemserv does not transfer your personal data outside of the European Economic Area (EEA). Should this situation change then we will always ensure you are made aware prior to the commencement of international transfers.

15. Data Security

Gemserv is accredited to the Information Security Management Systems standard ISO27001:2015. This means we have a robust framework of policies and procedures that includes all legal, physical and technical controls involved in an organisation’s information risk management processes.

We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. In addition, we limit access to your personal data to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal data on our instruction and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so.

16. Data Retention

We will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.

To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements.

Our retention periods may vary, but the maximum periods are generally the following:

  • Unsuccessful job applicants: six months after the application
  • Customers: seven years after the end of the provision of the services
  • Prospects: three years after the last contact
  • Accounting and Tax: six years from the date when the record was made
  • Employees records: maximum six years
  • Health and Safety records: twelve years
  • Marketing information: two years from the last contact

Details of retention periods for different aspects of your personal data are available in our retention policy which you can request from us by contacting us.

17. Glossary

As mentioned at the start of this notice the following will provide useful definitions to help you better understand some of the legal terms associated with data protection and our responsibilities in protecting your data.

LAWFUL BASIS

Legitimate Interest; means the interest of our business in conducting and managing our business to enable us to give you the best service and the most secure experience. We make sure we consider and balance any potential impact on you (both positive and negative) and your rights before we process your personal data for our legitimate interests. We do not use your personal data for activities where our interests are overridden by the impact on you (unless we have your consent or are otherwise required or permitted to by law). You can obtain further information about how we assess our legitimate interests against any potential impact on you in respect of specific activities by Contacting us

Performance of Contract; means processing your data where it is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are a party or to take steps at your request before entering into such a contract. Many of our contracts we look after within Gemserv will fall under this lawful basis for processing and if you are a client, customer or otherwise involved in these activities conducted by Gemserv we advise you to contact us for further information.

Comply with a Legal or Regulatory Obligation; means processing your personal data where it is necessary for compliance with a legal or regulatory obligation that we are subject to.

THIRD PARTIES

Internal Third Parties; means any internal companies within Gemserv Ltd who are based within the European Economic Area (EEA) and provide services to Gemserv Ltd. We should state that none of these third parties will be granted access to any data you submit here in our website.

YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS

Request access to your personal data (commonly known as a “data subject access request”). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal data we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.

Request correction of the personal data that we hold about youThis enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate data we hold about you corrected, though we may need to verify the accuracy of the new data you provide to us.

Request erasure of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal data where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal data where you have successfully exercised your right to object to processing (see below), where we may have processed your information unlawfully or where we are required to erase your personal data to comply with local law. Note, however, that we may not always be able to comply with your request of erasure for specific legal or regulatory reasons which will be notified to you, if applicable, at the time of your request.

Object to processing of your personal data where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground as you feel it impacts on your fundamental rights and freedoms. You also have the right to object if we are processing your personal data for direct marketing purposes. In some cases, we may demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate grounds to process your information which override your rights and freedoms.

Request restriction of processing of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of your personal data in the following scenarios.

  • if you want us to establish the data’s accuracy
  • where our use of the data is unlawful but you do not want us to erase it
  • where you need us to hold the data even if we no longer require it as you need it to
    establish, exercise or defend legal claims; or
  • you have objected to our use of your data but we need to verify whether we have
    overriding legitimate grounds to use it.

Request the transfer of your personal data to you or to a third party. We will provide to you, or a third party you have chosen, your personal data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format. Note that this right only applies to automated information which you initially provided consent for us to use or where we used the information to perform a contract with you.

Withdraw consent at any time where we are relying on consent to process your personal data. This would be possible in a situation whereby we are processing your data based upon us gaining your explicit consent. However, this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdraw your consent. If you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide certain products or services to you. We will advise you if this is the case at the time you withdraw your consent.

Subject Access Requests. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) determines how we process personal data (information relating to living people). The regulation means you can ask to access the information we hold about you. These requests are called Subject Access Requests. You have the right to access to your information. It’s free and requests will be processed within one calendar month. Gemserv processes subject access requests for information held on our system. Follow these three steps to find out what information is held about you:

  1. Submit a subject access request to Gemserv
  2. Provide your proof(s) of identity
  3. Receive your information You can submit your request either by email (dataprivacy@gemserv.com) or by post (FAO: Data Privacy Team, Gemserv Ltd, 8 Fenchurch Pl, London EC3M 4AJ). It’s quicker and easier to submit a request by email, but we know that doesn’t suit everyone. Please note, if you are looking for information held about you by Gemserv administered schemes, please contact the relevant scheme administrators.