TopQuote Privacy Policy
We are authorised by The Financial Conduct Authority.
Your Personal Information
Your privacy and the protection of your personal data is important to us. This document tells you how Top Quote and our FCA Principal firm, Openwork Ltd, use the information you provide and how we protect your privacy. This document also explains your rights under the General Data Protection Regulations.
Our Details
Top Quote Limited (hereinafter ‘we’ or ‘us’ or ‘our’) gather and process your personal information in accordance with this privacy notice and in compliance with the relevant data protection Regulation and laws. This notice provides you with the necessary information regarding your rights and our obligations, and explains how, why and when we process your personal data.
Top Quote Limited’s office is at 14th Floor, Manchester One, 53 Portland St, Manchester, M1 3LD and we are a company registered in England and Wales under company number 04648763. We are registered on the Information Commissioner’s Office Register; registration number Z7555904.
A Data Controller is someone who determines the purposes for which and the manner in which your personal data should be processed. Both TopQuote and Openwork are data controllers in respect of your personal information.
Why do we process personal information?
Top Quote Limited processes your personal information to meet our legal, statutory and contractual obligations and to provide you with our products and services. We will never collect unnecessary personal data from you and do not process your information, in any way, other than as specified in this notice.
What information do we collect about you?
The information we collect is limited to the information we need to be able to arrange financial services on your behalf such as life insurance policies and property insurances. This will be the type of information typically required to complete application forms for insurance policies. For life insurance policies we will need to collect health and medical information from you, this is called ’Sensitive’ or ‘Special Category Data’.
How do we collect information about you?
We usually collect information about you during telephone conversations with you. We may also receive information about you from other organisations to process on their behalf. On occasion we may also purchase lists of consumers to contact.
We may also collect information about you if you subscribe to our newsletters or take part in competitions we organise, or via contact or query forms on our website.
How will we use the information about you?
We take your privacy very seriously and will never disclose, share or sell your data without your consent, unless required to do so by law. We only retain your data for as long as is necessary and for the purpose(s) specified in this notice. Where you have consented to us providing you with promotional offers and marketing, you are free to withdraw this consent at any time.
The purposes and reasons for processing your personal data are detailed below: –
- We collect your personal data in the performance of a contract or to provide a service.
- We collect and store your personal data as part of our legal obligation for business accounting and tax purposes.
- We have a legal obligation to share your personal data with other organisations to provide insurance policies or to provide us with identification verification.
- We will occasionally contact you where we have assessed that it is beneficial to you as a customer and in our interests. Such information will be non-intrusive and is processed on the grounds of legitimate interests.
- If you have freely given your explicit consent, we may contact you by email, SMS, or by telephone about other products and services we think may be of interest to you.
- Under certain circumstances we may be asked to provide your information to financial service regulatory bodies and other fraud prevention agencies – we will only do so if we are required by law to comply.
None of the information gathered will be used in automated decision making.
How will we use the information about you?
If you apply for some types of insurance (e.g life cover, critical illness cover, income protection cover) you will be required to provide details of your health. Under GDPR, this is regarded as sensitive personal data.
We need your specific consent to collect and process your health details, which, of course you may withdraw at any time. We will obtain your freely given consent to obtain and process this sensitive personal data as part of our telephone conversations with you and will then ask you to sign this Privacy Notice.
Marketing
If you have freely given your consent, we may contact you by email, SMS or telephone for marketing purposes.
You have a right at any time to stop us from contacting you for marketing purposes or giving your information to other businesses. If you no longer wish to be contacted for marketing purposes, please contact the data controller to amend your preferences (please see contact details in ‘How to Contact us’)
Your rights
You have the right to access any personal information that we process about you and to request information about: –
- What personal data we hold about you
- The purposes of the processing
- The categories of personal data concerned
- The recipients to whom the personal data has/will be disclosed
- How long we intend to store your personal data for
- If we did not collect the data directly from you, information about the source
If you believe that we hold any incomplete or inaccurate data about you, you have the right to ask us to correct and/or complete the information and we will strive to do so as quickly as possible, unless there is a valid reason for not doing so, at which point you will be notified.
You also have the right to request erasure of your personal data or to restrict processing (where legally possible) in accordance with the data protection laws, as well as to object to any direct marketing from us. Where applicable, you have the right to data portability of your information and the right to be informed about any automated decision-making we may use.
If we receive a request from you to exercise any of the above rights, we may ask you to verify your identity before acting on the request; this is to ensure that your data is protected and kept secure. There will be no charge for such requests, and we aim to respond to you within 4 weeks of receiving your request.
Safeguarding measures
Top Quote Limited takes your privacy seriously and takes every reasonable measure and precaution to protect and secure your personal data. We work hard to protect you and your information from unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure or destruction and have several layers of security measures in place. We ensure that personal data is physically protected through secure storage methods and when electronically held the systems are protected by firewalls and anti-virus software. Data is also backed-up to prevent total erasure by incidents such as fire or other disasters.
How long do we keep your data?
We retain personal information for only as long as is necessary and we have review and retention policies in place to meet these obligations. We are required under various examples of UK law to keep records of our financial and business activities, including your personal data, for a minimum of 6 years. If we have no contractual relationship with you at the end of six years your personal data will be erased from our records.
When we have a relationship with you in respect of a contract, such as an insurance policy, we will retain your information for the duration of the of the contract.
Where you have freely and explicitly consented to us using your details for direct marketing, we may keep such data until you notify us otherwise and/or withdraw your consent.
Changes to our Privacy Policy
We keep our privacy policy under regular review, and we will place any updates on this web page.
Cookie Policy
TopQuote, and any of their group companies (together “TopQuote” or “we” or “our”), use “cookies” and other technologies when you use our website, mobile site and you can find out more about cookies and how to control them.
Your Consent
By using our websites, mobile sites and mobile apps you accept the use of cookies in accordance with this cookie policy or any alternate policy provided by the specific site or app. This policy applies additional to any other Terms of Use or contract provision for the particular TopQuote service being used. If you do not accept the use of cookies, please disable them as explained below or in any other notice provided to you when you visit the TopQuote website.
What is a Cookie?
Cookies are text files containing small amounts of information which are downloaded to your device when you visit a website. Cookies are then sent back to the originating website on each subsequent visit, or to another website that recognises that cookie. Cookies are useful because they allow a website to recognise a user’s device. Cookies do lots of different jobs, like letting you navigate between website pages efficiently, remembering your preferences and generally improve user experience. Cookies are widely used on the internet and allow a website/portal to recognise a user’s device, without uniquely identifying the individual person using the computer. These technologies help to make it easier for you to log on and use the site, provide feedback to us as to which parts of the website you
visit, so we can assess the effectiveness of the site and provide a better user experience. They can also help to ensure that adverts you see online are more relevant to you and your interests. For more information about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage, block and delete them, see http://www.allaboutcookies.org. You may also be able to configure your browser not to accept cookies, although please bear in mind that this may affect your ability to use the services we provide.
Is there more than one type?
There are different types of cookies and they are usually split into the following categories, but note that not all these types will be used on every website you visit and some cookies fit into multiple categories:
‘Strictly necessary’ cookies
These cookies are essential in order to enable you to move around the website and use its features, such as accessing secure areas of the website. Without these cookies, services you have asked for, like shopping baskets or e-billing, cannot be provided. So, basically, these cookies enable services you have specifically asked for.
‘Performance’ cookies
These cookies collect information about how visitors use a website. For instance, which pages visitors go to most often and if they get error messages from web pages. These cookies don’t collect information that uniquely identifies a visitor. All information that these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. It is only used to improve how a website works. So, basically, these cookies collect anonymous information on the website pages you visited.
‘Functionality’ cookies
These cookies allow the website to remember choices you make (such as your user name, language or the region you are in) and provide enhanced, more personal features. For instance, a website may be able to provide you with local weather reports or traffic news by storing in a cookie the region in which you are currently located. These cookies can also be used to remember changes you have made to text size, fonts and other parts of web pages that you can customise. They may also be used to provide services you have asked for such as watching a video or commenting on a blog. The information these cookies collect may be anonymised and they cannot track your browsing activity on other websites. So, basically, these cookies remember choices you make to improve your user experience.
‘Targeting’ cookies
These cookies are used to deliver adverts more relevant to you and your interests. They are also used to limit the number of times you see an advertisement as well as help measure the effectiveness of advertising campaigns. They are usually placed by advertising networks with the website operator’s permission. They remember that you have visited a website and this information is shared with other organisations such as advertisers. Quite often targeting or advertising cookies will be linked to site functionality provided by the other organisation. So, basically, these cookies collect information about your browsing habits in order to make
advertising relevant to you and your interests.
How to control and delete cookies through your browser
The ability to disable or delete cookies can also be carried out by changing your browser’s settings. In order to do this, follow the instructions provided by your browser (usually found in the ‘Help’, ‘Edit’ or ‘Tools’ facility). Some pages may not work if you completely disable all cookies, but many third party cookies can be safely blocked. If you do switch off cookies at a browser level, your device won’t be able to accept cookies from any website. This means you will struggle to access the secure area of any website you use and you won’t enjoy the best browsing experience when you are online.
Behavioural Advertising and Online Privacy
A guide to behavioural advertising and online privacy has been produced by the internet advertising industry which can be found at www.youronlinechoices.eu. The guide contains an explanation of the IAB’s self-regulatory scheme to allow you greater control of the advertising you see.
Using browser settings to manage Cookies
The help menu on the menu bar of most browsers will tell you how to prevent your browser from accepting new cookies, how to have the browser notify you when you receive a new cookie and how to disable cookies altogether. You can also disable or delete similar data used by browser add-ons, such as Flash cookies, by changing the add-on’s settings or visiting the website of its manufacturer. However, because cookies allow you to take advantage of some of the websites essential features, we recommend you leave them turned on. For example, if you block or otherwise reject cookies you will not be able to benefit from automatic form fills. If you leave cookies turned on, remember to sign off when you finish using a shared computer.
Disclosing your information
We will never disclose your information to anyone outside TopQuote except where we have your consent; where we are required or permitted to do so by law, to other companies who provide a service to us, or any successors in title to our business. Whenever we transfer personal information to countries outside the European Economic Area we will ensure that appropriate security measures are taken.
What is a tracking Cookie?
Tracking Cookies are a specific type of cookie that is distributed, shared, and read across two or more unrelated websites for the purpose of gathering information or potentially to present customised data to you. Tracking cookies are non-malicious text files and are sometimes referred to as ‘third party cookies’. We use them in our emails to gain a greater insight into your online behaviour when visiting the Worldpay website. They will not capture any information you may input on a form;
they just tell us which pages you are browsing. For more details on cookies, please visit the Information Commissioner’s Office for details and legal insight. The ICO has been set up as a UK Independent Authority to uphold information rights in the public interest.
How to contact us
If you would like further details on how we use your personal information or if you have any data protection queries, please contact:
The Data Protection Officer,
TopQuote Ltd, 14th Floor,
Manchester One,
53 Portland Street,
Manchester,
M1 3LD
OR:
The Data Protection Officer
Openwork Ltd
Washington House
Lydiard Fields
Swindon
SN5 8UB
Complaints
If you have any complaints about the way we have handled your personal information, please contact the customer services manager at the TopQuote address:
Address: 14th Floor,
Manchester One,
53 Portland Street,
Manchester, M1 3LD.
You can also complain to the ICO if you are unhappy with how we have used your data.
The ICO’s address:
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House,
Water Lane,
Wilmslow,
Cheshire,
SK9 5AF
Helpline number: 0303 123 1113
ICO website: https://www.ico.org.u