Privacy policy
This website (prade.co.uk) describes Prade, the client-management system used by Tax Accountant franchisees, and invites accountants to find out about the franchise. This policy explains what we collect when you visit it or register your interest, what we do with it, and the rights you have. We have written it in plain English and we mean every word of it.
1. Who we are
The Tax Accountant franchise is offered by Financials Direct Limited, trading as Tax Accountant, a company registered in England and Wales (company no. 07496275) with its registered office at 3 Brindley Place, Birmingham B1 2JB. Financials Direct Limited owns the Tax Accountant name and logo and is the data controller for the personal information described in this policy. We are registered with the Information Commissioner's Office under number ZA133802.
You can reach us about anything in this policy at info@taxaccountant.co.uk or by post at the address above, marked "Data protection".
Franchisees of the Tax Accountant network are independently owned and operated practices. Each is a separate data controller for its own clients and has its own privacy notice; this policy covers only this public website and our franchise recruitment. The Prade portal itself (portal.prade.co.uk) is a private system: when a franchisee or their client uses it, the franchisee's own privacy notice applies and is attached to every engagement letter, and this policy does not.
2. What we collect and why
When you register your interest
The form asks for your name, email address and telephone number, where you are based and where you would like to practise, your professional qualifications and memberships, your experience, whether you currently hold a practising certificate, professional indemnity insurance and anti-money-laundering supervision, your right to work in the UK, the capital you have available, when you could start, and whether you have any disciplinary, insolvency or criminal history that we would need to know about. You may also write a message.
We ask these questions because a Tax Accountant franchisee acts for the public in a regulated profession. Before we invite anyone to a conversation we must be satisfied that they can lawfully and competently run an accountancy practice. The lawful basis for this processing is our legitimate interest in recruiting suitable franchisees and protecting the people who will become their clients, and, once we are in discussions, the steps taken at your request before entering into a contract. Where you tell us about criminal convictions we rely on the substantial-public-interest condition for preventing or detecting unlawful acts and for regulatory requirements relating to the profession.
You do not have to answer every question, but if you leave out the screening questions we will usually not be able to take your enquiry further.
When you simply visit the site
Our hosting provider records standard server logs: your IP address, the pages you request, the time, and the browser and device you use. We use these to keep the site secure and working, and we keep them for no more than 90 days. We do not use advertising cookies or sell any data. If we add analytics in future we will update this policy first and, where the law requires it, ask for your consent.
3. What we do with your information
- Your registration is emailed to our recruitment team at info@taxaccountant.co.uk and reviewed by the people responsible for franchise recruitment, and by no one else.
- If your answers meet our criteria we will contact you to arrange a confidential conversation. If they do not, we will tell you so.
- If discussions progress we may ask for documents to verify what you have told us (identity, qualifications, practising certificate, insurance, references). We will explain at that point what we need and why.
- We never use your details to send marketing unrelated to your enquiry, and we never pass them to third parties for their own marketing.
4. Who we share it with
Only with the providers who help us run this process, each acting on our instructions under contract: our website and email hosting, and, if discussions progress, a screening provider for identity and background checks and our professional advisers. We will share information with a regulator, professional body or law-enforcement agency where the law requires it. We do not transfer your information outside the United Kingdom except to providers whose processing is covered by UK adequacy regulations or appropriate safeguards.
5. How long we keep it
- Enquiries that do not progress: deleted 12 months after your last contact with us, unless you ask us to delete them sooner.
- Enquiries that progress to interview or offer: kept for the duration of the discussions and, if you become a franchisee, as part of your franchise file under the franchise agreement.
- If you tell us you no longer wish to be considered, we delete your registration within 30 days, keeping only a note that you asked us to.
6. Your rights
You can ask us for a copy of the information we hold about you, ask us to correct it, ask us to delete it, object to our processing, ask us to restrict it, and, where processing is based on consent or contract, ask for it in a portable format. You can also withdraw consent at any time where we rely on it. Write to info@taxaccountant.co.uk; we respond within one month. If you are unhappy with how we have handled your information you may complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or on 0303 123 1113, although we would welcome the chance to put things right first.
7. Security
The site is served over HTTPS. Registrations are sent to a mailbox that only the recruitment team can open, protected by multi-factor authentication. We do not store your form answers in a public database. No system is perfectly secure; if a breach were ever to affect your information we would tell you and the ICO as the law requires.
8. Children
This site is for professionals and is not directed at anyone under 18. We do not knowingly collect information from children.
9. Changes to this policy
We will post any changes on this page with a new date at the top. Significant changes will be explained in a short note here for at least 30 days.