Privacy
Updated 23 October 2026
BUSGAS — Business Guidance And Support — is the sole-trader practice of Ashley Dawson, based in Barnsley. Ashley Dawson is responsible for personal information handled by the practice. For questions, information requests, accessibility requests or privacy complaints, email [email protected].
Information we use
When you visit this website, the hosting provider, Cloudflare, processes technical information needed to deliver and protect it. This can include your IP address, requested pages, browser information and connection or security events.
If you contact us or work with us, we use information relevant to the enquiry or agreed work. Depending on the work, this may include:
- Contact details and correspondence: names, work contact details, enquiries and meeting arrangements.
- Client and project information: proposals, contracts, meeting notes, working documents and deliverables.
- Accounting information: invoices, receipts, expenses and payment records.
- Research information, where a project involves it: survey responses, interview notes, participant details or recordings. Project-specific arrangements are explained separately.
We ask you to avoid sending personal information unrelated to the enquiry or agreed work.
This website has no contact form, advertising or visitor analytics. Fonts and the decorative artwork are hosted with the website.
Why we use it
- To deliver and secure this website: our legitimate interests in operating a reliable and safe business website.
- To respond to enquiries and organise our work: our legitimate interests in communicating with people about the practice, or taking steps at your request before entering a contract with you.
- To carry out an agreed contract with you, and keep the records necessary to manage that work.
- To meet applicable legal obligations, including necessary accounting records.
- To handle complaints and establish, exercise or defend legal claims: our legitimate interests in resolving concerns and protecting legal rights proportionately.
Where legitimate interests apply, you can object to the use of your information. We consider the reason for using it and the effect on you.
If you represent an organisation we work with, we normally use your work contact details under our legitimate interests in managing that relationship. A contract with your organisation does not by itself make you personally a party to that contract.
Research and client projects
Our standard approach is to use anonymous research information where practical and limit identifiable information to what the project needs. Identifiable research, sensitive information or work involving children needs a separate review and suitable information for the people involved before collection. Where a client determines the purpose and use of the information, the project's arrangements must identify who is responsible and what instructions apply.
Service providers and sharing
Cloudflare provides website hosting and email forwarding. Email correspondence is handled through our existing email service. We use service providers only for the functions needed to operate the practice; we do not sell personal information or add enquirers to a marketing list automatically.
We may also need to share relevant information with a professional adviser or an authority where necessary for the work, a legal obligation or a legal claim. Any project-specific sharing should be explained as part of that project.
Providers may process information outside the UK. The arrangements depend on the provider and destination; applicable protections may include UK adequacy regulations or contractual safeguards. Contact us for details relevant to your information. Cloudflare explains its handling of information in its privacy policy.
How long we keep it
Our standard retention schedule is:
| Enquiries that do not lead to work | Normally deleted within 12 months of the last meaningful contact. |
|---|---|
| Tax and accounting records | For self-employment tax records, normally until at least five years have passed from the relevant tax year's 31 January filing deadline. Applicable exceptions or an unresolved tax enquiry may require longer. |
| Essential contract and project administration | Normally up to six years after the work ends where needed for contractual obligations or legal claims. We remove unnecessary detail sooner and observe any longer applicable legal requirement. |
| Other working notes | Reviewed when the project closes and normally deleted within 12 months unless a documented need remains. |
| Research identifiers and recordings | Our default is to remove them within 90 days of project completion once checking is finished, unless a separately explained project requirement justifies longer. |
| Privacy requests, complaints and incident decisions | Normally a minimal record for up to three years after closure, reviewed earlier to remove unnecessary supporting information, unless a legal obligation or ongoing claim requires longer. |
We review exceptions and any need to retain information for an ongoing complaint, claim or legal obligation. Truly anonymous findings can be retained without identifying individuals. Hosting and email providers have their own processing and backup arrangements; contact us about information relevant to a particular request.
Deleting an email from a mailbox can leave a recoverable copy in the provider's systems for a further period. We take account of those recovery and backup arrangements when handling a deletion request and do not promise immediate removal of every backup copy.
Cookies and connection diagnostics
We do not use advertising or analytics cookies on this website. Cloudflare may use essential security functions when needed to protect a connection. Connection diagnostics and provider-side processing are explained in Cloudflare's Network Error Logging documentation. We review optional diagnostics separately from essential security.
Your rights
Depending on the reason we use your information, you may have rights to access it, correct it, ask for deletion, restrict its use, object to its use, or receive a portable copy. If we rely on consent for a particular activity, you can withdraw that consent. Contact us using the email above; we may need proportionate information to confirm your identity.
We normally respond to a rights request without undue delay and within one calendar month. If a lawful extension or clarification process applies, we explain what is needed and the relevant timing.
We do not use personal information to make solely automated decisions with legal or similarly significant effects.
Complaints
Please contact us if you have a concern. We acknowledge privacy complaints within 30 days and investigate, keep you informed and communicate the outcome without undue delay. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office.
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