Privacy Policy

About this privacy notice

At Verco we respect your privacy and are committed to protecting your personal data.  This “privacy notice” explains what we do with your personal data, why we want to use it, how we protect it, and what rights you have to control our use of it.

It applies not just to use of our websites, but also personal data that we process through other interactions with individuals in the course of running our organisation and delivering our services, such as people working for our customers, partners or suppliers. Our website and services are not intended for children and we do not knowingly collect data relating to children.

Information about us

This privacy notice is for the Verco Advisory Services Ltd (company number 01974812) (referred to as “Verco”, “we”, “us” or “our” in this privacy notice). We collect, use and are responsible for certain personal data about you. When we do so we are regulated under the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), which applies across the European Union (including the United Kingdom) and we are responsible as “data controller” of that personal information for the purposes of the law.

If you want to contact us about any of the points on this notice, or just generally about how we protect your privacy, please email us at support@vercoglobal.com. Our contact address is Overmoor, Neston, Corsham, Wiltshire, SN13 9TZ.

The purpose and lawful basis for processing your personal data, how we collect it and how long we hold it for

Personal data, or personal information, means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include data where the identity has been removed (anonymous data).

We use personal data from different categories of individual for several different purposes and each with its own lawful basis. This section describes these in detail and, although it’s technical, we’re required by law to explain this to you.

If you visit our website:

We use Google Analytics on our website to track visitor numbers and user activity. We record your computer’s IP address so we can tell how each user and repeat visitor is using our site (your IP address is also a piece of your personal data) as well as browser type and information about technology on the devices you use to access this website. We do this on the basis that it is necessary for our legitimate interests in monitoring and improving our website. The information will be held for 26 months after last user activity.

If you fill in a form on our website to contact us or download a document: we will store the data you enter (name, contact details, message/subject, job title, organisation, phone number) for the purposes of (1) answering your enquiry and/or (2) marketing and business development. We do this on the basis that it is necessary for our legitimate interests in promoting our business to interested parties. We store your data for as long as we need to interact with you for these purposes. In all cases if you would like us to update or delete your information, please send us an email (see “How to contact us” below) or use the unsubscribe links on marketing emails.

If you are a Carbon Desktop account holder: we will hold your name, username, organisation, email address and phone number for the purpose of providing you with secure access to your account. We do this on the basis that it is necessary for our legitimate interests in operating our energy and resource data platform for clients. You (or in some cases your employer) will have provided these details through the account creation process. If you want to update your details you can log in and do so. If you no longer require your account or want to delete your data please email us (see “How to contact us” below). We will hold your information until you or we delete your account.

If you work for a client, or in our clients’ supply chain or if you are an industry contact or working in a field relevant to our mission: we may hold your name, company, job title and contact details. We will have been provided with this data either by you or your employer or in some cases we may have sourced it from publicly available sources, such as Linked In and internet searches. We need this data in order to interact with you (or your employer) for the following purposes:

Operating and promoting our business

To communicate in a proportionate way with interested people regarding events, news and updates.

We do this on the basis that it is necessary for our legitimate interests in running and growing our business. We will hold your details for as long as we need to interact with you for these purposes. In all cases if you would like us to update or delete your information, please send us an email (see “How to contact us” below).

If you are a supplier or work for a supplier: we may hold your name and contact details because we have a legitimate interest in doing business with your company. Our purpose for processing your personal data is to interact with you or your employer to procure and pay for goods and services. We will hold this information for as long as we need to interact with you for these purposes. In all cases if you would like us to update or delete your information, please send us an email (see “How to contact us” below).

Who we share your personal data with

Data processors

We use a number of different service providers (acting as ‘data processors’) who provide services or cloud-based software to enable us to operate our business and the services we provide to our customers. Your personal data is transferred to (and stored by) these service providers (as our ‘data processors’), who generally fall under the following categories:

  • Website analytics
  • Website and data hosting
  • IT and system administration
  • Document storage
  • Email, contacts and calendar
  • CRM, accounting and billing
  • Project management

These ‘data processors’ only process data on our behalf, they won’t use your personal data for their own purposes and we only permit them to use it in accordance with our instructions and the law.

For security reasons we do not name all our service providers in this privacy notice. The types of personal data we hold about you (and that may be transferred to our data processors) are set out above. Please contact us (see below) if you want further information on specific data processors or the types of personal data they process for us.

Other circumstances in which we may need to share personal data with third parties

We may also share your personal data with the following third parties in certain circumstances:

Other companies within our group

Law enforcement or regulatory authorities (such as tax authorities) if required by applicable law

Professional advisors such as lawyers, bankers, accountants or auditors in order to provide legal, finance, accounting or auditing services.

We may also share personal information with third parties to whom we may choose to sell, transfer, or merge parts of our organisation or our assets or in situations where acquire other organisations or merge with them. If a change happens to our business, then the new owners may use your personal data in the same way as set out in this privacy notice.

We will not sell or rent your information to third parties and we will never share your information with third parties for marketing purposes.

International transfers of personal data, and the measures in place to safeguard it

We do not directly transfer any of your personal data outside the European Economic Area (EEA). However, some of our data processors may do so and this section explains the impact of these international transfers and how your information is protected.

Many of our data processors operate “cloud-based systems”, which means the information is held in information data centres in different locations.

All the cloud-based systems we use reserve the right to hold copies of your personal information outside the EEA. Please note that the reason companies may choose to do this is to hold back-up copies, so they can guarantee recovery.

In each case our processors and/or we employ one or more of the following means that are designed to help safeguard your privacy rights and give you remedies in the unlikely event of abuse:

  • Certain processors only transfer your personal data to countries that have been deemed to provide an adequate level of protection for personal data by the European Commission. For further details, see European Commission: Adequacy of the protection of personal data in non-EU countries.
  • Providers storing data in the US, may be self-certified to the EU-US Privacy Shield which requires them to provide similar protection to personal data shared between the Europe and the US. For further details, see European Commission: EU-US Privacy Shield.
  • With certain service providers, we may use specific contractual clauses approved by the European Commission which give personal data the same protection it has in Europe. For further details, see European Commission: Model contracts for the transfer of personal data to third countries.

Please contact us (see above) if you want further information on the specific mechanisms used by our data processors when transferring your personal data out of the EEA.

Your personal data rights

The personal data we hold about you is your data, so you have certain rights over the data under the GDPR. This section summarises your rights and how you can exercise them (generally free of charge).

You have the right to request a copy of all personal data we hold relating to you. You also have the right to require us to correct any mistakes in the personal data we hold relating to you.

Where we are processing your data based on your consent you can withdraw that consent and we must immediately stop processing your data. Please note that up to that point, we’re acting lawfully with your consent, withdrawal of consent cannot be backdated.

Where we process your data based on a “legitimate interest” (underlined in the section on “purpose and lawful basis”, above) you still have the right to object to our processing of that data if you feel it impacts on your fundamental rights and freedoms. From that point, we must stop processing your data until we have determined whether your rights override our interests.

You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal data for direct marketing purposes. The easiest way to do this is to use the unsubscribe links at the bottom of all marketing emails.

In certain situations, you have the right to require us to erase personal data where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. However, note that we may not always be able to comply with your request of erasure for specific legal reasons which will be notified to you, if applicable, at the time of your request.

You have the right to request restriction of processing of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of your personal data in the following scenarios: (a) if you want us to establish the data’s accuracy; (b) where our use of the data is unlawful but you do not want us to erase it; (c) where you need us to hold the data even if we no longer require it as you need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims; or (d) where you have objected to our use of your data but we need to verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds to use it.

Finally, you have the right to request the transfer of your personal data to you or a third party in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format. Note that this right only applies to automated processing of information about you, if carried out based on your consent or where it is necessary to perform a contract with you.

For further information on each of these rights, including the circumstances in which they apply, see the Guidance from the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) on individuals rights under the General Data Protection Regulation.

If you would like to exercise any of these rights, the easiest way is by dropping us an email (see “How to contact us” below). Please note:

We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal data (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it.

We try to respond to all legitimate requests quickly, but in any event within one month. Occasionally it may take us longer than a month if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, we will notify you and keep you updated.

Your rights to lodge a complaint with the Regulator

At all times, you have the right to report a concern or lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office. Please refer to the ICO at https://ico.org.uk/concerns/ or by calling them on 0303 123 1113. Of course, we hope that we can resolve your issue quickly and fairly ourselves.

Automated processing of your personal data

We do not undertake any automated decision-making, or profiling, using personal data.

Note that you have a right to object to any decisions being taken through the processing of your personal data by automated means if they produce legal effects concerning you or similarly significant effects on you. We do not use your personal data in a way that makes such decisions.

Keeping your personal information secure

We have appropriate security measures in place to prevent personal information from being accidentally lost, or used or accessed in an unauthorised way. In addition, we limit access to your personal data to those employees, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal data on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

We also have procedures in place to deal with any suspected data security breach. We will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected data security breach where we are legally required to do so.

Changes to this privacy notice

This privacy notice was last updated on 18th May 2018 and historic versions can be obtained by contacting us.

We may change this privacy notice from time to time by amending this page.

How to contact us

If you have any questions, concerns or just want some more information about our privacy management, drop us a line at support@vercoglobal.com.

Cookie Policy

Our aim is to work with integrity and honesty. Our cookie policy reflects this. If you have any questions, concerns or just want some more information about our cookie management please let us know.

What are cookies?

Often it’s useful for a website to remember certain details about your visit, like settings you’ve changed. Most websites also collect anonymous usage data in order to improve their visitors’ experience.

A cookie is a small text file that’s sent by the site you visit and stored on your computer so that the site can retrieve it the next time you visit. Because your computer doesn’t share any personally identifiable data with a website, browsers use cookies to remember users’ preferences in a regulated and secure way.

Cookies are designed to keep your data and computer secure:

– they can only store a small amount of text
– all cookies have an expiry date
– they can only be read by the author that set them (though some websites allow third parties to set cookies on their sites)
– you can choose whether or not to receive cookies
– you can delete them from your browser

Types of cookies

The main function of cookies is to help make the user’s browsing experience as smooth as possible. Different types of cookies do this in different ways.

Session cookies

These allow sites to remember some of the user’s actions during a single browser session and they expire when you close your browser window. For example, they’re used to remember what you’ve put in a shopping basket.

Persistent cookies

These are stored on a user’s device between browser sessions to remember their preferences or actions across the site. For example, any settings they change during a browsing session will be remembered when they return to the same site later.

First party cookies

These cookies are set by the same website that you’re visiting, and can only be viewed by that site.

Third party cookies

These are set by a domain other than the one being visited. A website might use an embedded video from YouTube, for example, which might set its own cookies.

Cookies on this site

Our website uses:

Analytics and customisation cookies: These cookies collect information that is used either in aggregate form to help us understand how our websites are being used or how effective our marketing campaigns are, or to help us customise our websites for you. We us first party cookies to collect information about how visitors use the site in order to help us improve and customise it for you. They’re first party because only this domain sets them and no other website has access to the data.

Social networking cookies: These cookies are used to enable you to share pages and content that you find interesting on our websites through third party social networking and other websites.

Cookie: Session cookie
Name: PHPSESSID
Purpose: To provide users with basic website functionality during their visit.

Cookie: Google Analytics
Name: _ga, _gat, _gid, _gat_UA-112906340-3, _gat_gtag_UA_118603356_1
Purpose: We use these cookies to collect information, in an entirely anonymous format, about how visitors use the site. Click here for an overview of privacy at Google.

Cookie: Cookie consent
Name: cookielawinfo-checkbox-
Purpose: To allow users to consent to cookies and to remember their choice.

Cookie: Hubspot
Name: __hssrc, __hstc, hubspotutk, __hssc
Purpose: To track visitors on our website and help us to improve the information that we provide.

Why we love cookies

We think cookies make the Internet a better place. They’re safe, anonymous, and give people an easier, faster experience on websites. Cookies let sites remember if you wanted to save certain details, show developers the pages no-one ever visits, and recall what you’ve put in your shopping basket.

Carbon Desktop is built by
Verco, an award winning energy management and sustainability business with a proven track record in helping clients to achieve their zero carbon goals.