Cope & Associates Limited
Last updated: March 2026
Cope & Associates Limited respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal data.
This Privacy Notice explains how we collect, use, store and share personal data when you:
1. Who we are
Cope & Associates Limited is a company registered in England and Wales under company number 12869338.
Trading name: Cope & Associates
For the purposes of data protection law, Cope & Associates Limited is the data controller of the personal data covered by this notice, except where we process personal data on behalf of a client as a data processor for a specific service.
Contact details
Cope & Associates Limited
Email: contact@copeandassociates.co.uk
Website: www.copeandassociates.co.uk
ICO registration number: ZA555673
2. The personal data we collect
The personal data we collect will depend on the nature of our relationship with you, but may include:
We may also receive personal data from third parties such as:
3. How we collect your personal data
We collect personal data:
4. How we use your personal data
We use personal data to:
5. Our lawful bases for processing
Depending on the circumstances, we rely on one or more of the following lawful bases:
Contract
Where processing is necessary to take steps before entering into a contract with you or to perform our contract with you.
Legal obligation
Where processing is necessary for us to comply with legal or regulatory obligations, including anti-money laundering, tax, accounting, regulatory and professional obligations.
Legitimate interests
Where processing is necessary for our legitimate interests or those of a third party, provided those interests are not overridden by your rights and interests. This may include:
Consent
Where we rely on consent, such as for certain marketing communications or where special category personal data is involved and consent is the appropriate basis. You may withdraw consent at any time, but this will not affect processing carried out before withdrawal.
6. Special category data
We do not generally seek to collect special category personal data unless it is necessary for a specific service, legal requirement or issue that arises in the course of acting for you.
Where we do process special category data, we will do so only where we have an appropriate lawful basis and, where required, an additional condition for processing under data protection law.
7. Who we share personal data with
We may share personal data with, where relevant:
We require third parties working with us to respect the security of personal data and to process it lawfully.
8. International transfers
We may use software, systems or service providers that store or process personal data outside the UK.
Where we transfer personal data outside the UK, we will take reasonable steps to ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place in accordance with applicable data protection law.
9. Data security
We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against unauthorised or unlawful processing, accidental loss, destruction or damage.
These measures may include access controls, passwords, secure systems, staff training and the use of reputable third-party service providers.
However, no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is completely secure, and where you choose to communicate with us by ordinary email or other unencrypted methods, you accept the inherent risks of those channels.
10. How long we keep personal data
We keep personal data only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, including to satisfy legal, regulatory, tax, accounting and professional requirements and to deal with disputes or claims.
As a general guide:
We may retain data for longer where there is a legal, regulatory or evidential reason to do so.
11. Your rights
Subject to applicable law, you may have the right to:
These rights are not absolute and may not apply in every case.
If you wish to exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the details above.
12. Complaints
If you have any concerns about how we use your personal data, please contact us first and we will try to resolve the issue.
You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK regulator for data protection matters.
13. Marketing
We may contact you about our services where permitted by law.
You can ask us to stop sending marketing communications at any time by:
14. Website analytics and cookies
Our website may use cookies and analytics tools to help us understand how visitors use the site and to improve website performance and user experience.
These tools may collect information such as:
For more information, please see our [Cookie Notice / Cookies section].
15. Links to other websites
Our website may contain links to third-party websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of those websites. You should review their privacy notices separately.
16. Changes to this Privacy Notice
We may update this Privacy Notice from time to time.
The latest version will always be available on our website at:
www.copeandassociates.co.uk/privacy
Last updated: March 2026
Cope & Associates Limited respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal data.
This Privacy Notice explains how we collect, use, store and share personal data when you:
- enquire about our services;
- become our client;
- visit our website;
- communicate with us by email, phone, portal or other electronic means; or
- otherwise interact with us in the course of our business.
1. Who we are
Cope & Associates Limited is a company registered in England and Wales under company number 12869338.
Trading name: Cope & Associates
For the purposes of data protection law, Cope & Associates Limited is the data controller of the personal data covered by this notice, except where we process personal data on behalf of a client as a data processor for a specific service.
Contact details
Cope & Associates Limited
Email: contact@copeandassociates.co.uk
Website: www.copeandassociates.co.uk
ICO registration number: ZA555673
2. The personal data we collect
The personal data we collect will depend on the nature of our relationship with you, but may include:
- name, trading name and business name;
- postal address, email address and telephone number;
- date of birth;
- tax references, National Insurance number, VAT number, company number and other identifiers;
- financial and accounting records;
- payroll information;
- bank details and payment information;
- copies of identification documents and verification information for anti-money laundering purposes;
- correspondence and records of communications with you;
- information required to provide accountancy, tax and related professional services;
- website usage data, including technical information collected through cookies and analytics tools.
We may also receive personal data from third parties such as:
- HMRC;
- Companies House;
- banks, software providers and payment processors;
- your previous accountant or adviser;
- your employees, subcontractors or representatives;
- identity verification providers; and
- other parties where you have authorised this.
3. How we collect your personal data
We collect personal data:
- directly from you;
- from forms you complete, documents you provide, and correspondence with us;
- from phone calls, meetings and email exchanges;
- from our website, including analytics and cookies;
- from third parties where relevant to the services we provide; and
- from publicly available sources, where appropriate.
4. How we use your personal data
We use personal data to:
- assess whether we can act for you;
- carry out identity checks and comply with anti-money laundering requirements;
- provide bookkeeping, accounts, tax, payroll and related professional services;
- communicate with you about your affairs;
- manage our relationship with you;
- issue engagement documents, proposals and invoices;
- collect payment;
- maintain our records and internal administration;
- respond to complaints, claims or disputes;
- comply with legal, regulatory and professional obligations;
- improve our website, systems and services; and
- send marketing communications where permitted by law and, where required, where you have consented.
5. Our lawful bases for processing
Depending on the circumstances, we rely on one or more of the following lawful bases:
Contract
Where processing is necessary to take steps before entering into a contract with you or to perform our contract with you.
Legal obligation
Where processing is necessary for us to comply with legal or regulatory obligations, including anti-money laundering, tax, accounting, regulatory and professional obligations.
Legitimate interests
Where processing is necessary for our legitimate interests or those of a third party, provided those interests are not overridden by your rights and interests. This may include:
- running and administering our business;
- managing client relationships;
- maintaining records;
- improving our services;
- handling complaints or disputes; and
- protecting our legal position.
Consent
Where we rely on consent, such as for certain marketing communications or where special category personal data is involved and consent is the appropriate basis. You may withdraw consent at any time, but this will not affect processing carried out before withdrawal.
6. Special category data
We do not generally seek to collect special category personal data unless it is necessary for a specific service, legal requirement or issue that arises in the course of acting for you.
Where we do process special category data, we will do so only where we have an appropriate lawful basis and, where required, an additional condition for processing under data protection law.
7. Who we share personal data with
We may share personal data with, where relevant:
- HMRC;
- Companies House;
- software providers and cloud platforms;
- payment processors and direct debit providers;
- IT and cybersecurity providers;
- professional advisers and consultants;
- subcontractors and outsourced support providers;
- insurers;
- our professional body or supervisory authorities;
- identity verification and anti-money laundering providers;
- legal and regulatory authorities, courts, tribunals, law enforcement agencies or the ICO where required;
- other third parties where you have asked us to do so or authorised us to do so.
We require third parties working with us to respect the security of personal data and to process it lawfully.
8. International transfers
We may use software, systems or service providers that store or process personal data outside the UK.
Where we transfer personal data outside the UK, we will take reasonable steps to ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place in accordance with applicable data protection law.
9. Data security
We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against unauthorised or unlawful processing, accidental loss, destruction or damage.
These measures may include access controls, passwords, secure systems, staff training and the use of reputable third-party service providers.
However, no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is completely secure, and where you choose to communicate with us by ordinary email or other unencrypted methods, you accept the inherent risks of those channels.
10. How long we keep personal data
We keep personal data only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, including to satisfy legal, regulatory, tax, accounting and professional requirements and to deal with disputes or claims.
As a general guide:
- client records are usually retained for up to 7 years after the end of the relevant tax year, accounting period, engagement or business relationship, depending on the nature of the work and the records involved;
- anti-money laundering records may be retained for the period required by law;
- enquiry and prospect data is retained for a reasonable period and then deleted if no engagement follows;
- marketing data is retained until you unsubscribe or ask us to stop.
We may retain data for longer where there is a legal, regulatory or evidential reason to do so.
11. Your rights
Subject to applicable law, you may have the right to:
- request access to your personal data;
- request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data;
- request erasure of your personal data;
- request restriction of processing;
- object to processing;
- request transfer of your personal data to you or another provider;
- withdraw consent where we rely on consent.
These rights are not absolute and may not apply in every case.
If you wish to exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the details above.
12. Complaints
If you have any concerns about how we use your personal data, please contact us first and we will try to resolve the issue.
You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK regulator for data protection matters.
13. Marketing
We may contact you about our services where permitted by law.
You can ask us to stop sending marketing communications at any time by:
- clicking the unsubscribe link in any marketing email; or
- emailing us at contact@copeandassociates.co.uk
14. Website analytics and cookies
Our website may use cookies and analytics tools to help us understand how visitors use the site and to improve website performance and user experience.
These tools may collect information such as:
- IP address;
- browser type;
- device information;
- pages visited;
- time spent on pages;
- referral source; and
- interactions with the website.
For more information, please see our [Cookie Notice / Cookies section].
15. Links to other websites
Our website may contain links to third-party websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of those websites. You should review their privacy notices separately.
16. Changes to this Privacy Notice
We may update this Privacy Notice from time to time.
The latest version will always be available on our website at:
www.copeandassociates.co.uk/privacy
