Privacy Policy

Last updated: September 2026

Introduction

Smith & Johnson ("we", "us", "our") is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. This policy explains how we collect, use, and safeguard your personal data when you visit our website at smithjohnson.co.uk or engage with our services.

We are a UK chartered accountancy firm and act as the data controller for the personal data described in this policy. We process your data in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

What Data We Collect

We may collect the following types of personal data:

• Contact form submissions - your name, email address, phone number, and any message you provide when using our contact or enquiry forms.
• Quote requests - details you submit when requesting a quote, including your name, email address, business information, and information about the services you require.
• Site statistics - anonymous counts of visits to our pages, collected by Vercel Web Analytics without cookies. See "Anonymous site statistics" below.
• Google Analytics data - if you accept analytics cookies, information about how you use our website, including pages visited, time spent on pages and your approximate location. Google Analytics links this to a random identifier stored in a cookie on your device. See "Google Analytics" below.
• Technical data - your IP address, browser type and version, operating system, and device information collected automatically when you visit our website.

How We Use Your Data

We use the personal data we collect for the following purposes:

• To respond to your enquiries and provide information about our accounting and advisory services.
• To prepare and deliver quotes for our professional services.
• To provide accounting, tax, and advisory services where you become a client.
• To improve our website and understand how visitors interact with our content.
• To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations as a chartered accountancy firm.

Our legal bases for processing your data include your consent (for Google Analytics cookies), our legitimate interests in counting visits so we can improve the site (for anonymous site statistics), the performance of a contract or steps taken at your request prior to entering into a contract, our legitimate interests in operating and improving our business, and compliance with legal obligations.

Anonymous site statistics

We count visits to our website with Vercel Web Analytics, provided by Vercel Inc., which also hosts our website. It uses no cookies. It tells us how many people visit, which pages they view and where they came from, only ever as totals. We use it for no other purpose than to understand how the site is used so we can improve it.

Vercel does not identify you. It recognises a visit using a hash worked out from the incoming request and discards that hash after 24 hours. It does not follow you across other websites. We remove any web address details that could identify you, such as email addresses, tokens or quote references, before anything is sent. Vercel acts as our data processor under its Data Processing Addendum, which covers transfers of UK data.

We rely on the exception in the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations for collecting statistics to improve our website, as amended by the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025. You can object at any time, free of charge: click "Cookie settings" at the foot of any page and switch off "Anonymous site statistics". We stop counting your visits straight away. Our Cookie Policy lists exactly what is collected.

Google Analytics

If you click "Accept" on our cookie banner, we also use Google Analytics (tracking ID: G-GPGB5MCSNX) to understand how visitors use our website in more detail. Google Analytics is not anonymous: it stores a randomly generated identifier in cookies on your device so it can recognise you on later visits and link your page views together. It records:

• Pages you visit and how long you spend on them.
• How you arrived at our website (e.g. search engine, direct visit, referral).
• Your approximate geographic location (city level).
• Your device type, browser and operating system.
• Whether you started or submitted a quote request.

We do not use Google Analytics for advertising and do not allow it to use your data for ads. It is processed by Google and helps us improve our website content and user experience. Google Analytics data is retained for 14 months. Google Analytics only runs if you accept it, and you can withdraw that consent at any time by clicking "Cookie settings" at the foot of any page and choosing "Essential only". You can also install the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on to block it on every website.

For more information on how Google processes your data, please see Google's Privacy Policy.

Data Sharing

We do not sell your personal data to third parties. We may share your data with:

• Vercel, our website host, which counts visits to our website for us as our processor.
• Google (through Google Analytics) for website usage analysis, if you accept analytics cookies.
• Our professional service providers who assist in operating our website and business systems, under strict data processing agreements.
• Regulatory bodies such as HMRC or ICAEW where we are legally required to do so.

Data Retention

We retain your personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected:

• Contact form and quote request data - retained for up to 24 months from your last interaction with us, unless you become a client.
• Client data - retained for a minimum of 7 years after the end of our engagement, in line with our professional and regulatory obligations.
• Site statistics - Vercel discards the hash used to recognise a visit after 24 hours. Only aggregate totals are kept after that.
• Google Analytics data - retained by Google Analytics for 14 months.

Your Rights Under UK GDPR

Under the UK General Data Protection Regulation, you have the following rights in relation to your personal data:

• Right of access - you can request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Right to rectification - you can ask us to correct any inaccurate or incomplete personal data.
• Right to erasure - you can ask us to delete your personal data where there is no compelling reason for us to continue processing it.
• Right to restrict processing - you can ask us to suspend the processing of your personal data in certain circumstances.
• Right to data portability - you can request that we transfer your personal data to another organisation or directly to you, in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format.
• Right to object - you can object to the processing of your personal data where we are relying on a legitimate interest.
• Right to withdraw consent - where we rely on your consent to process your data, you can withdraw that consent at any time.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the details below. We will respond to your request within one month.

Data Security

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. Our website uses HTTPS encryption to secure data transmitted between your browser and our servers.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this privacy policy from time to time. Any changes will be posted on this page with an updated revision date. We encourage you to review this policy periodically.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about this privacy policy, wish to exercise your data rights, or have concerns about how we handle your personal data, please contact us:

• Email: info@smithjohnson.co.uk
• Company: Smith & Johnson

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) if you believe your data has been handled unlawfully. You can contact the ICO at ico.org.uk.