Privacy Policy

This policy explains how AKS Solicitors collects, uses and protects your personal information, and the rights you have over it. It applies to this website and to the legal services we provide.

Who we are

AKS Solicitors is a firm of solicitors based at Inspired Business Centre, 747 Stockport Road, Manchester, M19 3AR. We are the “data controller” for the personal information described in this policy, which means we decide how and why it is used.

If you have any question about this policy, or about how we handle your information, contact us at info@akssolictors.co.uk or on 0161 566 5043.

The information we collect

What we hold depends on how you deal with us.

• When you contact us — your name, email address, telephone number and anything you choose to tell us in your message or during a consultation.
• When we act for you — the information needed to run your case. Depending on the matter this can include your date of birth, nationality and immigration status, address history, family and relationship details, financial circumstances, employment details, and copies of identity documents.
• Identity and anti-money-laundering checks — passport, biometric residence permit or other ID, proof of address, and the results of any electronic verification check we are required to carry out.
• Legal aid applications — evidence of your income, savings, benefits and outgoings, which we must supply to the Legal Aid Agency to assess whether you qualify.
• When you use this website — technical information such as your IP address, browser type and the pages you visit, collected through cookies and similar technologies.

Special category and criminal offence information

Immigration, asylum and family work often involves particularly sensitive information — for example your racial or ethnic origin, religious beliefs, political opinions, health, sexual orientation, or details of criminal allegations or convictions. Where we need this information we handle it under the additional protections the law requires, and we only use it for your case.

How we collect it

Most of the information we hold comes directly from you. We may also receive information from other people involved in your matter — for example a family member acting on your behalf, another solicitor, a barrister, the Home Office, a court or tribunal, the Legal Aid Agency, an interpreter, or a medical or country expert instructed on your case.

Why we use it, and our lawful basis

• To provide legal services and act on your instructions — because it is necessary to perform our contract with you, or to take steps at your request before entering into one.
• To establish, exercise or defend legal claims — which is the basis on which we handle sensitive information about your case.
• To meet our legal and regulatory duties — including anti-money-laundering checks, our obligations to the Solicitors Regulation Authority, and reporting to the Legal Aid Agency where legal aid applies.
• To run and improve our practice — file management, accounts, insurance, training and quality checks. This is in our legitimate interests as a business, balanced against your rights.
• To respond to enquiries made through this website — on the basis of your consent, or our legitimate interest in replying to you.

We do not sell your information, and we do not use it for automated decision-making or profiling.

Who we share it with

Everything you tell us is confidential and covered by legal professional privilege where that applies. We share information only where it is necessary, and only with:

• barristers, experts, interpreters and translators instructed on your case;
• courts, tribunals, the Home Office and UK Visas and Immigration, where your matter requires it;
• the Legal Aid Agency, where you have applied for or been granted legal aid;
• identity and anti-money-laundering verification providers;
• our regulators, auditors, insurers and professional advisers;
• our IT and case-management suppliers, who act on our instructions and are bound to keep the information secure.

We may also disclose information where the law requires it — for example a court order, or a report we are legally obliged to make and which we may not be permitted to tell you about.

Where your information is held

Your information is stored on systems within the United Kingdom or the European Economic Area. If it ever needs to be transferred outside that area — for example where a matter involves an overseas authority, or a supplier hosts data abroad — we make sure appropriate safeguards recognised under UK data protection law are in place.

How long we keep it

We keep client files for at least six years after your matter closes, which reflects the period in which a claim could still be brought and the requirements of our insurers and regulator. Some files are kept longer where the subject matter makes it necessary — for example matters involving children, or immigration records you may need to rely on years later. Enquiries that do not become instructions are normally deleted within 12 months. Once a retention period ends, records are securely destroyed.

Keeping it secure

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your information, including access controls, encryption in transit, secure storage of paper files, and staff training on confidentiality. No system can be guaranteed completely secure, but we take these obligations seriously and will tell you and the Information Commissioner’s Office if a breach occurs that is likely to affect your rights.

Your rights

Under UK data protection law you have the right to:

• ask for a copy of the personal information we hold about you;
• ask us to correct anything that is inaccurate or incomplete;
• ask us to delete information, or to restrict how we use it, in certain circumstances;
• object to us using your information where we rely on our legitimate interests;
• ask us to transfer information you gave us to another organisation, where that applies;
• withdraw your consent at any time, where consent is the basis we rely on.

Some of these rights are limited — we may not be able to delete information we are required to keep, or to disclose material that is privileged or that concerns someone else. To make a request, contact us using the details above. We will respond within one month, and there is normally no charge.

Cookies

This website uses cookies to make the site work and to understand how visitors use it. Cookies that are strictly necessary for the site to function are always set. You can block or delete cookies through your browser settings, though some parts of the site may then not work as intended.

Complaints

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your information, please tell us first so we can put it right. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office, the UK regulator for data protection, at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113.

Complaints about our legal service are dealt with under our separate complaints procedure, and may be referred to the Legal Ombudsman or the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

Changes to this policy

We review this policy regularly and will publish any updates on this page. Please check back from time to time to see the current version.