Privacy Policy
AR Financial & Payroll Services Limited
Updated October 2026
This notice explains how AR Financial & Payroll Services Limited ("we", "us") collects, uses and protects personal information about our clients, our clients' employees, visitors to our website and anyone who contacts us. We are committed to handling your information lawfully, fairly and securely, in line with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.
1. Who we are
We are the data controller for the personal information described in this notice.
Company: AR Financial & Payroll Services Limited, registered in England & Wales, company no. 09127239
Address: 146 Demesne Drive, Stalybridge, Cheshire, SK15 2PP
Contact for data protection: Angela Rathbone, Director – angela@arfinancialservices.co.uk
ICO registration number: ZC277451
2. The information we collect
Clients (individuals, sole traders, landlords, company directors): name, address, phone, email, date of birth, National Insurance number, Unique Taxpayer Reference, identity documents and proof of address (for anti-money laundering checks), bank details, income, expenses, business and financial records, and tax information.
Our clients' employees (when we run payroll): name, address, date of birth, National Insurance number, tax code, pay, hours, holiday, bank details, pension details, starter and leaver information, and, where needed for statutory sick or parental pay, limited health or family information.
People who contact us: name, contact details and anything you tell us in your enquiry, including messages sent through the contact form on our website.
Website visitors: technical information such as your IP address, browser and device type and the pages you visit, collected by our website host and, only if you agree, by analytics cookies (see section 12).
3. Where we get it from
Mostly from you directly. We may also receive information from your employer (if we run their payroll), HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), pension providers, your previous accountant or bookkeeper, public registers such as Companies House, and the identity, sanctions and politically exposed person (PEP) checks we must carry out.
4. Why we use it and our legal basis
Providing the bookkeeping, payroll, VAT, Self Assessment, Making Tax Digital and other services you have engaged us for – performance of our contract with you.
Running payroll for our clients' employees, including submissions to HMRC and pension providers – legal obligation (tax and employment law) and our contract with the employer.
Verifying identity and carrying out anti-money laundering checks, and keeping the records the law requires – legal obligation (Money Laundering Regulations 2017 and tax law).
Calculating statutory sick or parental pay (limited health or family information) – legal obligation, and the employment and social security condition for special category data.
Answering enquiries, running our website, managing our business, keeping accounts and dealing with complaints or claims – our legitimate interests.
Sending existing clients occasional updates about deadlines and our services – our legitimate interests (you can opt out at any time).
Website analytics cookies – your consent, which you can withdraw at any time.
We do not sell your information, and we do not use it for automated decision-making or profiling.
5. Who we share it with
We share personal information only where needed to provide our services or where the law requires it:
HMRC, Companies House, The Pensions Regulator and pension providers
The National Crime Agency, where we are required by law to report a suspicion of money laundering (the law may not allow us to tell you)
Our anti-money laundering supervisor (HMRC), our insurers and professional advisers, if required
Your previous or next accountant, with your agreement
Trusted software and IT providers who store or process information for us, such as cloud accounting, payroll, email, website hosting and secure file storage services. They act on our instructions and must keep your information secure.
6. Transfers outside the UK
Some of our software providers may store information on servers outside the UK. Where this happens, we make sure appropriate safeguards are in place, such as UK adequacy regulations or the International Data Transfer Agreement, so your information has the same level of protection.
7. How long we keep it
Client accounting and tax records: 6 years after the end of the tax year or accounting period they relate to
Payroll records: 6 years after the end of the tax year they relate to
Anti-money laundering identity and due diligence records: 5 years after our business relationship ends (as the law requires)
Enquiries that do not lead to us acting for you: 12 months
After these periods we securely delete or destroy the information.
8. How we protect it
We keep personal information secure using password-protected and encrypted devices, two-factor authentication on our software, secure cloud storage, and secure methods for sending documents. Access is limited to people who need it to provide our services.
9. Your rights
You have the right to:
ask for a copy of the information we hold about you
ask us to correct information that is wrong or incomplete
ask us to delete your information, or to restrict how we use it, where the law allows
object to us using your information based on our legitimate interests, including for updates and marketing
ask us to transfer information you gave us to another organisation
withdraw your consent to analytics cookies at any time
Some rights are limited where we must keep information by law (for example, for anti-money laundering or tax purposes). To use any of these rights, contact us using the details in section 1. We will respond within one month and there is normally no charge.
10. Complaints
If you have a concern about how we use your information, please contact us first and we will try to put it right. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO): ico.org.uk, telephone 0303 123 1113.
11. Changes to this notice
We review this notice regularly and will publish any updates on this page. The date at the top shows when it was last updated.
12. Our website and cookies
Our website is hosted by IONOS. When you visit it, the host's servers automatically record technical information (such as your IP address, browser type and the date and time of your visit) to keep the site running securely.
If you use our contact form, your name, email address and message are sent to us by email so that we can reply. We keep enquiries for 12 months if they do not lead to us acting for you.
We use essential cookies that the website needs to work. We only use analytics cookies, which help us understand how visitors use the site, if you agree to them in our cookie banner. You can change your choice at any time using the cookie or privacy settings icon on the website, or by clearing cookies in your browser.
Our website may link to other websites. We are not responsible for their privacy practices.