PRIVACY NOTICE

Accentus Language Services Ltd

Reference DIR-01-P-R-16 | Version 1.0 | Approved by Gabriela Lemoine, Managing Director, 29 September 2026 | Next review: September 2027

1. Who we are

Accentus Language Services Ltd (“Accentus”, “we”, “us”) provides translation, transcription, subtitling and related language services. We are registered in England and Wales (company number 12839471) and with the Information Commissioner’s Office (registration ZA795673). Our registered office is 20-22 Wenlock Road, London N1 7GU.

Our data protection lead is Gabriela Lemoine, Managing Director. You can contact her at gabriela@accentuslanguages.co.uk, on +44 (0)7432 633541, or by post at the address above.

2. Who this notice is for

This notice explains how we use personal information about:

people who work for our clients and contact us about our services;
people whose information appears in documents or recordings that clients send us to translate, such as patients and service users;
translators, revisers and other linguists who work with us, and people who apply to work with us;
our staff;
people who contact us through our website, by email or by phone, and contacts at organisations we tender to.

Our website Privacy Policy gives more detail for customers and website visitors, including marketing, analytics and cookies. Both documents are published on our website.

This notice is available in other formats on request, including large print, Easy Read and other languages.

3. When we act for our clients

When a client, such as an NHS Trust, sends us a document or recording to translate, the client decides how that information is used. The client is the “controller” and we are the “processor”. We only use the information to carry out the work the client asked for, under a written contract, and we follow the client’s instructions. If you are a patient or service user, the client’s own privacy notice explains how your information is used, and you should contact the client first about your rights.

4. What information we collect and why

Group	Information we hold	Why we use it	Legal basis
Client contacts	Name, job title, work email and phone, organisation, order and invoice details	To quote, deliver and invoice our services and manage our relationship	Contract; legitimate interests
People in client documents	Whatever the document contains, which may include health information	Only to translate, check and return the document to the client	We act on the client’s instructions (see section 3)
Linguists and applicants	Contact details, CV, qualifications, identity and right-to-work evidence, bank details, test results, quality records, DBS check details	To check suitability, assign and pay work, monitor quality and meet client safeguarding requirements	Contract; legal obligation; legitimate interests; for DBS information, safeguarding (Data Protection Act 2018, Schedule 1)
Staff	Contact details, contract, pay, bank details, absence and training records	To employ and pay staff and meet our legal duties	Contract; legal obligation; for health information, employment obligations (Data Protection Act 2018, Schedule 1)
Enquiries and business contacts	Name, contact details and what you tell us	To answer your enquiry and take part in tenders	Legitimate interests

We do not sell personal information, use it for automated decision-making, or put client material into public machine translation or generative AI tools.

5. Who we share information with

The translator and reviser assigned to a job, who see only the material they need and are bound by confidentiality and data protection agreements.
Our technology providers: Google (Google Workspace, which hosts our email, files and systems) and Xero (accounting). They act on our instructions.
Our accountant, HMRC and other bodies where the law requires it.
The Disclosure and Barring Service, or its registered body, when we carry out DBS checks.
The client who owns the material, when we return completed work.

6. Sending information outside the UK

Some of our linguists work outside the UK, and Google and Xero may store data outside the UK. Where information goes to a country the UK recognises as having adequate protection, such as countries in the European Economic Area and Argentina, or to US providers certified under the UK-US data bridge, we rely on that. Elsewhere, we use the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or the UK Addendum to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses. Where a client requires work to stay in the UK, we use only UK-based linguists.

7. How long we keep information

Client documents and translations: 12 months after delivery, or less if the client asks.
Client contact and contract records: for the length of our relationship plus 6 years.
Finance records: 6 years from the end of the financial year.
Linguist records: for as long as they work with us plus 6 years; applications that do not go ahead, 12 months. We record the details of DBS checks but do not keep copies of certificates for more than 6 months.
Staff records: 6 years after employment ends.

8. How we keep information safe

We hold Cyber Essentials certification and are certified to ISO 17100, ISO 18587 and ISO 18841. Our systems use multi-factor authentication, access limited to the people who need it, encryption and daily backups. Staff and linguists are trained in data protection when they join and every year. If something goes wrong, we investigate straight away, tell the client within 24 hours when their information is affected, and report to the ICO when required.

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;
ask us to delete information, or limit how we use it, in some circumstances;
object to us using your information for our legitimate interests;
ask us to transfer information you gave us to another organisation, in some circumstances;
withdraw consent at any time, where we rely on consent.

To use any of these rights, contact us using the details in section 1. We will reply within one month. There is normally no charge.

10. Complaints

If you are unhappy with how we have used your information, please contact us first. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office: ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint, 0303 123 1113, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.

11. Changes to this notice

We review this notice at least once a year and whenever we change how we use personal information. The date of the latest version is shown at the top.