1.1 This is the privacy policy of TalkTalk Business Direct. Registered address is Soapworks, Ordsall Lane, Salford, M5 3TT. Registration No: 11347230. We provide telephony, broadband, fibre, ethernet and cloud and security services. We are responsible for your personal data where we operate as a data controller.

1.2 We have a Data Protection Officer who is responsible for all issues relating to the protection of personal data. The data protection officer can be contacted at the below:

The Data Protection Officer,

TalkTalk, Soapworks,

Ordsall Lane, Salford,

M5 3TT,

United Kingdom

1.3 This privacy policy replaces all previous versions and applies from 4th September 2024.

2.1 This privacy policy applies to:          

(a) Customers;

(b) Prospective customers;

(c) Individuals that use our websites;

(d) Former customers;

(e) Nominated users or individuals acting under a power of attorney; and

(f) Shareholders.

2.2. Our services are not intended for children, unless we expressly state otherwise, and we do not knowingly collect or process personal data relating to children, or anyone aged under 18 years.

2.3. It is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current. It’s your responsibility to keep us up to date if you make any changes to your personal data either through updating your Support Centre details or contacting us here.

3.1. Personal data is any information that can identify a natural person. We may collect, use, store and transfer different categories of personal data to enable us to deliver our services, as follows:

(a) Data about your Identity including first name, last name, title, date of birth and gender;

(b) Data about your contact details including service address, correspondence/billing address, address, landline telephone number and mobile phone number;

(c) Financial data including your bank account details for a direct debit and payment card details and your credit rating;

(d) Data relating to a transaction including details about payments to and from you and about the products and services that you have purchased from us;

(e) Technical data including IP address, your login data, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform, TalkTalk Business webmail emails, online chat logs and other information on the devices you use to access our services;

(f) Data about your portal or API profiles including your 1Portal or Support Centre username and password, your interests, preferences, feedback and survey responses;

(g) Data about your usage of our products and services including the amount of time you spend online, websites you visit, or when you make a call, the number, destination and length of your call;

(h) Data relating to your marketing and communications choices including what method you would like to receive marketing (managed via our preference centre) and how frequently; and

(i) Special categories of personal data including information about your health that we may need to know to provide you with the best service for you and biometric data that you may give us to gain quicker access to your account information.

3.2. We may also collect and use non-personal data such as statistical or demographic data. This data may be derived from your personal data but is not considered personal data as this data cannot identify you.

4.1 Information you give us

(a) When you place an order with us for any of our services (for example over the phone, online or through a third-party affiliate), we will need certain information to process your order.

(b) When you contact us to discuss your services, we may ask for certain information to be able to confirm your identity, check our records and answer your questions quickly and accurately.

(c) If you take part in any trials, complete any survey, provide information as part of receiving a download or whitepaper, or enter any competitions/prize draws we may ask for information about you, which we will make clear to you at the time and for the purpose we will be using this information.

4.2 Information we automatically collect

We will automatically collect information:

1. when you use our services; and

2. when you visit our websites or use our mobile applications, we may collect and process information about your usage of these by using “cookies” and other similar technologies to help us make improvements to the websites and to the services we make available.

3. when you download or use mobile applications created by us and, where applicable, have requested or consented to location services, we may receive information about your location and your mobile device, including a unique identifier for your device. We may use this information to provide you with location-based services, such as search results, and other personalised content. Most mobile devices allow you to turn off location services. Our mobile application does not collect precise information about the location of your mobile device.

4.3 Information we receive from other sources

We may receive personal data about you from third parties, publicly available sources and other entities and companies within the following categories:

(i) companies contracted by us to help us provide services to you;

(ii) companies we are in contract with to help us provide services to you;

(iii) other telecommunications operators when transferring services;

(iv) marketing organisations;

(v) credit reference agencies or fraud prevention agencies.

5.1 The information we collect helps us to better understand what you need from us and to improve the provision of our services to you.

5.2 We use the information collected for example to:

(a) verify your identity when you use our services or contact us;

(b) process your enquiries, orders or applications, for example when assessing an application, we may use automated decision-making systems;

(c) carry out credit checks and to manage your accounts (click here to see our Credit Reference Agency Information Notice);

(d) monitor, record, store and use any telephone, e-mail or other electronic communications with you for training purposes, so that we can check any instructions given to us and to improve the quality of our customer service, and in order to meet our legal and regulatory obligations;

(e) where you have agreed, provide you with information about other TalkTalk Business services, offers or products which you may be interested in;

(f) to tell you about changes to our websites, services or terms and conditions;

(g) carry out any personal data and/or marketing analysis, profiling or create statistical or testing information to help us personalise the services we offer you and to understand our users/customers better, understand what our users/customers want and how they use our products and services;

(h) recover any monies you may owe to us for using our services;

(i) analyse our services with the aim of improving them;

(j) prevent or detect a crime, fraud or misuse of, or damage to our network, and to investigate where we believe any of these have occurred; and

(k) monitor network traffic from time to time for the purposes of backup and problem solving, for example our automated system may monitor email subjects to help with spam and malware detection.

5.3 Your data may also be used for other purposes for which you give your specific permission or, in very limited circumstances, when required by law.      

5.4 We may supplement the information directly collected by us with data from third parties (for example: socio-demographic data) to further improve the services or products we offer customers.

6.1 We may need to share your information with organisations outside TalkTalk Business e.g. to help us provide our services to you.       

6.2 The categories of non-TalkTalk Business parties that we would share your details with are:

(a) Third party suppliers who help TalkTalk Business to perform our services;

(b) Professional advisors;

(c) Law enforcement agencies;

(d) Other companies as part of the process of selling one or more of our businesses or part of those businesses; and

(e) Regulators (such as Ofcom or the ICO).                                                                                         

6.3 Where we share your information with third parties they are required to follow our express instructions in respect of the use of your personal information and they must comply with all applicable UK data protection laws to protect your information and keep it secure.