Privacy Notice
(How we use your personal information)

Document No: AMSPOL011

arbnco Ltd is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. This privacy notice explains when and why we collect personal information about you, how we use it, the conditions under which we may disclose it to others, how we keep it safe and secure and your rights and choices in relation to your information.

This Privacy Notice applies to our customers, visitors to our software services, website or our premises, potential applicants to our vacant job positions, and any other business contacts such as suppliers or contractors. We have a separate Privacy Notice for our employees available on request.

Who are we?

arbnco is a registered Company having our Registered Office at Inovo – Ground Floor Suite F, 121 George Street, Glasgow, G1 1RD
arbnco takes the issue of security and data protection very seriously, including compliance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation, the UK Data Protection Act 2018 and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations. We are registered as a data controller with the Information Commissioner’s Office (‘ICO’) and our registered number is ZA416552.

How do we collect information from you?

We obtain information about you in the following ways:

Information you give us directly

We collect information from you:

•  when you register an account with us for the provision of our services;
• when you make an enquiry via telephone or via our website Contact Us forms, or otherwise provide us with your personal details;
• during visits to our premises;
• when you use our website, through the use of cookies, tracking and website analytics;
• when you enter any other information on our website, or attend an online virtual meeting in platforms such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams;
• and from your use of any of our other online services, website, social media, etc.

If you apply for a job with us, we collect information about you from your job application. If you are successful in joining our team, we will also collect information from you in relation to your employment. The personal data we use during your employment with us can be reviewed within our employee privacy notice. We will also collect contact details from our business partners, suppliers and contractors when we begin our business relationship with you.

Information we recieve regarding you indirectly

• Your information may be shared with us by third parties, which might include subcontractors acting on our behalf who provide us with technical, payment or other services, and our business partners.
• we may receive information from our third-party sources, which may include energy suppliers, network operators, property managers, and publicly available data sources.
• when you visit our website, we place cookies on your device to run the website. For more information about cookies and how we use them please see our Cookie Notice.
• when we collect your personal data via automated data collection: including smart meters, IoT sensors, or analytics tools tracking your energy usage.
• when you interact with us on social media platforms such as Facebook, we may obtain information about you (for example, when you like or post on our Facebook page). The information we receive will depend on the privacy preferences you have set on those types of platforms. You should check any privacy policy / notice provided to you where you give your data to a third party, for example, when you post to our Facebook page.
• during our employment process, we may contact you using your personal data in relation to employee reference checks.
• when you are noted as the emergency contact or next of kin of an employee, we may contact you when a situation arises; and
• when we are contacted by local authorities and law enforcement in relation to ongoing investigations.

What type of information is collected from you? Why do we need it and how will it be used?

The personal information we collect, store and use, depends on your relationship with us.
We may collect the following information about you:

If you are our customer:

•  Name
• Address
• Gender 
• Telephone number
• E-mail address
• Other contact details as deemed appropriate
• Billing Information
• Employment information, including company name and job title
• Online identifiers & technical data, such as social media profiles, IP addresses, device information, browser type, and website usage data
• Signature
• Bank account details

Additionally, we also collect energy data from our customers, in the form of:

• Consumption Data: Electricity, gas, and water usage, including smart meter readings and interval data, related specifically to building assets owned and or operated by our end customer.
• Building and Asset Data: Further Information about your building assets which relates to the operation, size and usage of the property and its energy consumption.
• Energy Performance Data: Carbon footprint, energy efficiency ratings and other energy and sustainability related benchmarking data.
• Technical Data: Device and Usage Data: IP address, browser type, device information, usage analytics.
• Communication Data: Customer support queries, emails, and chat interactions. 

As an employee of the organisation that is our customer or client, we may use your personal data to contact you about the work we are doing for your organisation. This personal data will typically be limited to employee contact details such as name, business telephone number and email address, and job title.

Additionally, if you are a potential customer or client, and have expressed an interest in our services, we may contact you in relation to the services which you have requested information about, and in order to enter into a contract with you or your organisation.

We may use this personal information to:

• to undertake and perform our obligations and duties to you in accordance with the terms of our contract/agreement either with you or another person.
• to deliver our software services, including account management, access control, energy analytics, reporting, monitoring, and optimization solutions and technical support.
• to analyse performance information we collect, so that we can improve the energy efficiency and carbon performance in buildings and operations.
• to contact you and send you details of any changes to our services, or other relevant service notifications, which might affect you.
• to respond to any queries or complaints, and to analyse these further in order to continuously improve our service.
• to meet our regulatory and legal obligations, including carbon reporting or energy efficiency regulations.
• to undertake research and development, to further improve our energy analytic tools, develop new features, and enhance user experience. This includes improvement of our website and software that you interact with.
• to undertake marketing related activities in line with UK Laws; and
• for all other purposes consistent with the proper performance of our operations and business.

If you apply for a job with us:

• your contact details, previous employment history and qualifications
• we may collect details of ethnicity and disability – for equalities monitoring and so that we can make any appropriate adjustments to your workplace
• we may collect references from third parties whose details you have provided

We require this information as part of our recruitment process. If your application is unsuccessful, we will keep your application for six months so that we can contact you if a similar job becomes available.

If you are a business contact, such as a supplier or contractor:

• we may collect your business contact details such as your name, business address and business e-mail and your company’s bank account details. If you are a sole trader this may be your personal details. 

We need these details in order to provide our services, run our business and pay or invoice suppliers and contractors.

If you are a potential business contact, proposing to offer services to us, we may process your personal data in relation to entering into a contract with you or your organisation, including undertaking suitable due diligence.

When you visit our website:

• if you allow the relevant Cookies, we may collect information about your activities on our website and about the device used to access it, for instance your IP address and geographical location. For more information, please see our Cookie Notice.
• We utilise analytics and tracking tools in order to resolve website issues or make improvements to the usability and layout of our website. To do this, we analyse your interaction with the website, via reviewing user clicks.
• any other personal information shared with us via our website forms, such as our Contact Us page. We will use this information to help provide the services you have requested.

Links to other websites:

Our website may contain links to other websites run by other organisations. This privacy notice applies only to our website‚ so we encourage you to read the privacy statements on the other websites you visit. We cannot be responsible for the privacy policies and practices of other websites even if you access those using links from our website.

In addition, if you linked to our website from a third-party site, we cannot be responsible for the privacy policies and practices of the owners and operators of that third party site and recommend that you check the privacy notice of that third party site.

When you visit our premises:

• your image and audio may be captured by the landlord’s CCTV cameras. Notices are available where the cameras are in operation.

CCTV is being used for security of all staff and customers and to assist with the prevention and detection of crime, or as evidence in a complaint.

If you do not wish to provide your personal data

You have obligations under your contract / potential contract with us to provide us with the necessary data. If you do not provide this information, this may prevent the Association’s ability to enter into or maintain a contract with you.

Who has access to your information?

The information you provide to us will be treated in accordance with data protection law. Depending on your type of contract or other business relationship with us, we may disclose your personal data to any of our employees, officers, contractors, insurers, professional advisors (including legal advisers and our Data Protection Officer), agents, suppliers or subcontractors, selected third parties, government agencies and regulators for the purposes set out in this notice, or for purposes approved by you, including the following:

• if we enter into a joint venture with, or merge with, another business entity.
• if required by law, we will disclose your information to statutory bodies such as auditors or solicitors, or to local authorities and law enforcement.
• if we are conducting a survey of our services, your information may be disclosed to third parties assisting in the compilation and analysis of the survey results; and
• we may pass your information to our third party service providers, suppliers, agents, subcontractors and other associated organisations for the purposes of completing tasks and providing services to you on our behalf. This includes software providers, IT technical services providers, payment providers, cloud services providers, etc

Unless required to do so by law, we will not otherwise share, sell or distribute any of the information you provide to us without your consent.

Lawful Processing

Data protection law requires us to rely on one or more lawful grounds to process your personal information. We may process your personal data under the following lawful basis:

Performance of a contract

Where we are entering into a contract with you or performing our obligations under it, such as processing your personal data as part of the services contract we have with you.

Consent

Where you have given your explicit consent for us to process your data, for example to receive marketing emails from us.

Legal obligation

Where necessary so that we can comply with a legal or regulatory obligation to which we are subject, for example where we are ordered by a court or regulatory authority like HMRC, or where we carry out environmental reporting, or process data with regards to our compliance with energy regulations.

Vital interests

Where it is necessary to use your data to protect your own, or someone else’s, life.

Legitimate interests

Where it is reasonably necessary to achieve our or others’ legitimate interests (as long as what the information is used for is fair and does not duly impact your rights).

We consider our legitimate interests to be:

• protecting our staff and customers and assisting with the prevention and detection of crime through the use of CCTV recordings by landlord;
• enhancing, modifying, personalising or otherwise improving our services for the benefit of our customers;
• better understanding how people interact with our website;
• sending you direct marketing by email or text, where you have previously shown an interest in our services, and where we have provided you with a choice to opt-out;
• contacting you in relation to applicant reference checks;
• storing previously unsuccessful applications for a short term, for future consideration;
• responding to website, email, telephone or postal enquiries; and
• processing of our clients’ and suppliers’ employees’ personal data.

When we legitimately process your personal information in this way, we consider and balance any potential impact on you (both positive and negative), and your rights under data protection laws. We will not use your personal information where our interests are overridden by the impact on you, for example, where use would be excessively intrusive (unless, for instance, we are otherwise required or permitted to by law).

Processing special category personal data

Special categories of personal data means information about your racial or ethnic origin; political opinions; religious or philosophical beliefs; trade union membership; health; sex life or sexual orientation; criminal convictions, offences or alleged offences; genetic data; or biometric data for t hepurposes of uniquely identifying you.

The special categories of personal information require higher levels of protection. We need meet additional legal requirements for collecting, storing, and using this type of personal information.

Where we process your special category data, our legal basis for processing this will be one of the following:

(a) Explicit consent
(b) Employment, social security and social protection
(c) Vital interests
(d) Made public by the data subject
(e) Legal claims or judicial acts
(f) Reasons of substantial public interest (with a basis in law) (includes equality of opportunity)
(g) Preventative and occupational medicine, provision of health and social care
(h) Public health (with a basis in law)
(i) Archiving, research, and statistics (with a basis in law)

How long is your information kept for?

We review our data retention periods regularly and will only hold your personal data for as long as is necessary for the relevant activity, or as required by law (we may be legally required to hold some types of information), or as set out in any relevant contract we have with you. Once your data is no longer required, we will securely destroy or anonymise it. Our full retention schedule is available by contacting us. Contact details are mentioned at the end of this privacy notice.

We review our retention periods on a regular basis.

Where do we keep your data?

Your information will only be stored within the United Kingdom except where international
transfers are authorised by law.

How do we keep your data safe?

When we are provided with personal data, we take steps to make sure that your personal information is kept secure and safe. All data is held in accordance with arbnco’s data protection policies and procedures. Our systems are password protected, and all electronic data is stored securely, with encryption enabled during transit and at rest. Additionally, we utilise Microsoft 365 and its associated security features in order to protect your personal data, such as access management controls, data classification controls, and more. We conduct regular security assessments to prevent unauthorised access, loss, or misuse of the data we process. All paper files are kept in secure locked cabinets.

Keeping your information up to date

We take reasonable steps to ensure your information is accurate and up to date; however please help us keep our records updated by informing us of any changes to your email address and other contact details.

Your Rights

Under UK data protection law, you have certain rights over the personal information that we hold about you.

Right of access

You have a right to request access to the personal data that we hold about you and to request a copy of it, and we will provide you with this unless legal exceptions apply. If you want to access your information, please send a description of the information you would like to see to the contact details at the bottom of this privacy notice. We may ask for proof of your identity before proceeding with your request.

Right to have your inaccurate personal information corrected

You have the right to have inaccurate or incomplete information we hold about you corrected.

Right to restrict use

You have a right to ask us to restrict the processing of some or all of your personal information if there is a disagreement about its accuracy, or we’re not lawfully allowed to use it.

Right of erasure

You may ask us to delete some or all of your personal information and in certain cases, and subject to certain exceptions; we will do so as far as we are required to.

Right for your personal information to be portable

If we are processing your personal information (1) based on your consent, or in order to enter into or carry out a contract with you, and (2) the processing is being done by automated means, for example, via you completing a form on our website, you may ask us to provide it to you or to another service provider in a machine-readable format.

Right to object

You have the right to object to processing where we are using your personal information (1) based on legitimate interests, (2) for direct marketing or (3) for statistical/research purposes.

If you want to exercise any of the above rights, please contact us at the details below. We may be required to ask for further information and/or evidence of identity. We will endeavour to respond fully to all requests within one month of receipt of your request, however if we are unable to do so we will contact you with reasons for the delay.

Please note that exceptions apply to a number of these rights, and not all rights will be applicable in all circumstances. For more details we recommend you consult the guidance published by the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office.

Queries and Complaints

We seek to directly resolve any queries or complaints about how we handle information and would request that they be directed, in the first instance, via 0141 559 7130 or info@arbnco.com.

Our Data Protection Officer is provided by RGDP LLP and can be contacted either via 0131 222 3239 or info@rgdp.co.uk.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office in relation to our use of your information. The Information Commissioner’s contact details are noted below:

Telephone: 0303 123 1113
Online: https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/

Changes to this privacy notice

Any changes we may make to this Privacy Notice in the future will be posted on our website, so please check occasionally to ensure that you’re happy with any changes. If we make any significant changes to the way we process your personal data, we’ll make this clear on our website.

Date: 10 February 2025
Review: 01 April 2025
Issue No: 04