Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how RISE Flood Recovery Consultancy collects, uses, stores, and protects your personal data when you visit this website or engage our services. It complies with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

1. Who We Are

RISE Flood Recovery Consultancy is operated by Sebastian O'Connell, a sole trader based in Buckinghamshire, England. For the purposes of UK data protection law, Sebastian O'Connell is the data controller.

Business name	RISE Flood Recovery Consultancy
Data controller	Sebastian O'Connell, sole trader
Location	Buckinghamshire, England
Email	sebastian@risefloodrecovery.co.uk
Phone	07414 898944

2. What Personal Data We Collect

2.1 Contact form submissions

When you submit a contact form on this website, we collect your name, email address, phone number (if provided), and the content of your message. This data is transmitted by email to Sebastian O'Connell for the purpose of responding to your enquiry.

2.2 Free guide requests

When you request our free guide, we collect your email address for the sole purpose of sending you the guide. We do not add you to a mailing list without your explicit consent.

2.3 Consultancy engagements

In the course of a consultancy engagement, we may collect additional personal data relevant to your situation, including details about your property, your insurance policy, your insurer and loss adjuster, your household, and the circumstances of your flood. This data is collected only as necessary to provide the services agreed in your consultancy agreement.

2.4 Website visits

This website does not use analytics software, tracking pixels, or advertising cookies. The only data stored in your browser is a single cookie recording your cookie consent preference. No personal data is collected passively through website visits.

3. How We Use Your Personal Data

Purpose	Data used	Lawful basis (UK GDPR Art. 6)
Responding to your enquiry	Name, email, phone, message	Legitimate interests (Art. 6(1)(f)) — responding to a request you have initiated
Sending the free guide	Email address	Legitimate interests (Art. 6(1)(f)) — fulfilling a specific request you have made
Providing consultancy services	All data relevant to your engagement	Performance of a contract (Art. 6(1)(b)) — the consultancy agreement between us
Meeting legal and tax obligations	Financial records and correspondence	Legal obligation (Art. 6(1)(c)) — HMRC record-keeping requirements
Remembering your cookie preference	A single browser cookie	Legitimate interests (Art. 6(1)(f)) — avoiding repeated consent prompts

4. How Long We Keep Your Data

We do not retain personal data for longer than is necessary for its purpose.

Enquiry data where no engagement follows — deleted within 12 months of your enquiry.
Client engagement data — retained for 6 years from the end of the engagement, in line with standard legal and HMRC requirements, then securely deleted.
Financial and accounting records — retained for 6 years as required by HMRC.
Cookie consent record — stored in your browser until you clear your browser data. It contains no personal information.

5. Who We Share Your Data With

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal data. We do not share your personal data with third parties for marketing purposes.

We may share limited personal data with third parties only in the following circumstances:

Where necessary to perform services on your behalf — for example, engaging a drainage engineer, commissioning a survey, or making formal representations to a local authority on your behalf. Only the data necessary for that specific purpose is shared.
Where required by law — for example, in response to a court order or regulatory requirement.
Email transmission — contact form submissions are transmitted by email. Your data passes through standard encrypted email infrastructure and is received directly by Sebastian O'Connell. No third-party email marketing platform is used.

We do not use third-party analytics services, advertising networks, or social media tracking pixels on this website.

6. International Data Transfers

We do not knowingly transfer your personal data outside the United Kingdom. Where email infrastructure is used, standard contractual protections apply. If this position changes, we will update this policy accordingly.

7. How We Protect Your Data

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data, including:

All data transmitted via this website is encrypted in transit using HTTPS.
Contact form submissions are transmitted by encrypted email directly to Sebastian O'Connell.
Client engagement records are stored on password-protected devices.
Paper records, where held, are stored securely and disposed of by confidential shredding.

No method of electronic transmission or storage is completely secure. If you wish to transmit sensitive personal information, please call us directly on 07414 898944 rather than using the website contact form.

8. Cookies

This website uses one cookie only:

Cookie	Purpose	Duration	Type
rise_cookies_accepted	Remembers that you have accepted our cookie notice so it is not shown again	Until browser storage is cleared	Functional — strictly necessary

No analytics, advertising, or tracking cookies are used on this website. You can remove this cookie at any time by clearing your browser's local storage or site data.

9. Your Rights Under UK GDPR

You have the following rights in relation to your personal data held by us. To exercise any of these rights, contact us at sebastian@risefloodrecovery.co.uk. We will respond within one calendar month.

Right of access Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you (a Subject Access Request).
Right to rectification Ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete personal data.
Right to erasure Ask us to delete your personal data in certain circumstances. This does not apply where we are legally required to retain data.
Right to restrict processing Ask us to limit how we use your personal data in certain circumstances.
Right to data portability Where we process your data under contract or consent, receive your data in a structured, machine-readable format.
Right to object Object to processing based on legitimate interests. We will cease processing unless we have compelling legitimate grounds that override your interests.
Right to withdraw consent Where processing is based on consent, withdraw it at any time without affecting the lawfulness of prior processing.

10. Your Right to Complain

If you are not satisfied with how we have handled your personal data, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's independent data protection supervisory authority. We would appreciate the opportunity to address your concerns directly first — please contact us before approaching the ICO.

ICO website	ico.org.uk
Helpline	0303 123 1113
Address	Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF

11. Third-Party Links

This website contains links to external websites including the Environment Agency, FloodRe, the Property Care Association, the National Flood Forum, and others. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of those sites and recommend you review their individual privacy policies before submitting any personal data to them.

12. Children's Data

Our services are directed at adults. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children under the age of 16. If you believe we have inadvertently received data relating to a child, please contact us immediately and we will delete it without delay.

13. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or legal requirements. When we do, we will update the date at the top of this page. We encourage you to review this page periodically. Continued use of this website after any update constitutes your acceptance of the revised policy.

14. How to Contact Us

For any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy or about how we handle your personal data:

Email	sebastian@risefloodrecovery.co.uk
Phone	07414 898944
Response time	Within 5 working days for general queries; within 1 calendar month for formal data rights requests