Privacy Policy — Benchmark TM

Benchmark Traffic Management Ltd ("we", "us", "our") is committed to protecting your personal data. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, and share information about you when you visit benchmarktm.co.uk or use our services. We act as the data controller for the personal data described in this policy.

We process personal data in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

1. Data We Collect

1.1 Information You Provide

Contact & enquiry data — name, email address, phone number, and message content when you contact us or submit a form.
Registration data — name, email, password (hashed), and role when you create a portal account.
Partner application data — personal details, right-to-work documents, driving licence, qualifications (Lantra, NHSS), UTR/CIS/VAT numbers, DBS certificate details, and any other information submitted during the onboarding process.
Client data — company name, contact details, and booking/job information.

1.2 Information Collected Automatically

IP address, browser type, operating system, and pages visited (via server logs).
Session cookies used to maintain your login state in the member portal.

2. How We Use Your Data

We use personal data to:

Provide and manage our staffing and traffic management services.
Process Partner applications and verify compliance documentation.
Manage client bookings, job allocations, and invoicing.
Send transactional communications (e.g. job offers, compliance alerts, account notifications).
Comply with legal obligations, including right-to-work checks and health & safety requirements.
Improve the Site and our services through aggregated analytics.
Respond to your enquiries and provide customer support.

Legal Bases (UK GDPR Article 6)

Contract — processing necessary to perform a contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering a contract.
Legal obligation — processing necessary to comply with a legal obligation (e.g. right-to-work verification).
Legitimate interests — processing necessary for our legitimate interests (e.g. fraud prevention, site security, service improvement) where these are not overridden by your rights.
Consent — where we have asked for and received your consent (e.g. marketing communications).

3. Sharing Your Data

We do not sell your personal data. We may share it with:

Clients — operative details (name, qualifications, availability) shared with clients for job allocation purposes.
Service providers — third-party processors who assist us in operating the Site and delivering services (e.g. email delivery, hosting), bound by data processing agreements.
Regulatory authorities — where required by law or to protect the rights, property, or safety of Benchmark Traffic Management Ltd, our clients, operatives, or the public.

4. Data Retention

We retain personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, or as required by law. Partner compliance records are retained for a minimum of 6 years following the end of the working relationship. Portal account data is retained until you request deletion or your account is closed.

5. Your Rights

Under UK GDPR you have the right to:

Access — request a copy of the personal data we hold about you (Subject Access Request).
Rectification — request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data.
Erasure — request deletion of your data in certain circumstances ("right to be forgotten").
Restriction — request that we restrict processing of your data in certain circumstances.
Portability — receive your data in a structured, machine-readable format.
Object — object to processing based on legitimate interests or for direct marketing.
Withdraw consent — where processing is based on consent, withdraw it at any time without affecting the lawfulness of prior processing.

Portal members can exercise rights directly via the GDPR self-service page in their account. All others may contact us at [email protected]. We will respond within one calendar month.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk.

6. Cookies

We use strictly necessary session cookies to maintain your authenticated session in the member portal. These cookies are not used for advertising or tracking purposes. No third-party analytics or advertising cookies are currently deployed on this Site.

7. Security

We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. Passwords are stored as one-way hashes and are never stored in plain text. All data in transit is encrypted via TLS.

8. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The current version will always be available at this URL with the effective date shown at the top. Material changes will be notified to registered portal users by email.

9. Contact Us

For any privacy-related queries or to exercise your rights:

Email: [email protected]
Phone: 03330 903 618
Post: Benchmark Traffic Management Ltd, United Kingdom