Privacy Policy & Terms and Conditions

We make every effort to ensure we accurately represent our services and their potential for helping individuals and businesses.

Disclaimer

Please find below our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions. We encourage you to read through these policies before you use our site. By using our site you automatically accept the policies listed below.

SHMS Contracting Ltd ('SHMS', 'We', 'Our', 'Us') have a commitment to protect and respect your privacy. Our Privacy Policy, along with any other documents referred to below, explain the basis on which any personal data we collect from you, or that you provide, will be handled and processed by SHMS.

Privacy Policy (last edited May 2018)

SHMS Contracting Ltd ('SHMS', 'We', 'Our', 'Us') registered office SHMS House, 20 Little Park Farm Road, Fareham, Hampshire, PO15 5TD, company registration number 6846409 (part of the SHMS Contracting Group of Companies - SHMS Contracting Ltd 6846409, SHMS Contracting (Southern) Ltd 8827694) is committed to the protection of our website's users' privacy and, in accordance with the principles of the Data Protection Act 1998, this policy explains how the personal data collected by SHMS via our website is used and the purposes for which that information is held.

This Privacy Policy exists to inform you of our privacy practices and terms and conditions under which data we collect from you will be used, shared and treated. It will also instruct you in verifying the accuracy and controlling certain uses of the information you provide to us. You agree to be bound by this Privacy Policy by accessing the SHMS Contracting Ltd website and, where applicable, providing personally identifiable data about yourself.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We encourage regular users to occasionally check to make sure that they are fully up-to-date with any such amendments. Please refrain from using the SHMS website if at any time you disagree to the terms of our Privacy Policy.

You confirm your acceptance and agreement of this Privacy Policy by continuing to use this website. You also consent that we may process your information about you in accordance with the terms.

How do you collect my personal information?

SHMS Contracting collect personal data in a few ways. Visitors to www.shmscontractingltd.co.uk can browse this website without disclosing any personal data. Your computer downloads the pages you view, along with cookies, when you use our site. We are not alone in doing this. In fact most, if not all, websites use cookies to allow the website publisher to access information that may help it with its marketing of its business.

Information supplied by cookies helps us to provide a better service and assists us to analyse our visitors' profiles. For example: if on a previous visit you clicked onto the Services page, then the cookie may well help us to highlight this on a second visit.

SHMS then passively collect information to monitor the use of our websites. We collect no personal information in this way and we cannot personally identify you with this information.

Submitting your personal information

To use some of our services, we must collect personal information from you. You volunteer and apply any such information. SHMS receives personal data about our website visitors if they join us, send us an email, submit an enquiry form or Refer A Friend online.

We have an online portal for our contractors. This is a secure, interactive area on our site. Any personal data SHMS collect via interactive areas of our website may include personal contact information (typically name, address and phone number), identity information (typically date of birth and nationality) and invoicing information.

What is a cookie?

Most websites you visit will automatically issue your internet-enabled device with a cookie. Cookies are text files that identify your internet-enabled device to our server. They do not identify you; just the machine you are using. Like most others, we do this to track visitor traffic to our site which in turn helps us to develop an improved visitor experience. We may use cookies for remarketing purposes. A cookie in no way gives us access to your computer or any information about you, other than the data you choose to share with us.

Some first-party cookies are in use on this site. First-party cookies allow you to log into your account securely. They do not store any personal information and the client portal we use is externally run.

We place remarketing cookies and tags on our web page to enable third-party vendors to show our ads on other websites. SHMS shows these ads to people who have previously visited our websites. Third-party vendors include Google, and show our online display ads. These third-party cookies are usually used for understanding how the website performs, how you interact with the website and how we can provide a better user experience for website visitors in future.

Cookies only record areas of the site that the internet-enabled device in question visits, and for how long. Users have the opportunity to change the settings on the internet-enabled device to accept all cookies, or to notify them when a cookie is issued, or not to receive cookies at all. If a user declines the use of cookies then certain personalised elements of the website experience cannot be provided.

How do I change my cookie preference settings?

Some cookies are essential for the full functionality of this site. They allow us to maintain user sessions and prevent any security threats.

Preference cookies help us store your settings and browsing preferences like language so that you have a better and more efficient experience on future visits to the website. If you would like to change your cookie preferences, you can do so by clicking on the Cookie Policy tab on your screen. This will display the consent notice again and you can choose to either re-consent or reject the cookies. You can also do this in your browser settings.

Does your website contain links to other websites?

Our website may contain links to third-party websites for visitors' convenience and information. If a visitor clicks on these links they will move to another website. SHMS does not accept any responsibility for the data policies or procedures, or the content of third-party websites linked to our websites.

Can I access my personal information?

As detailed in the Data Protection Act 1998 you may have the right to access your personal information held by SHMS. You also have the right to request that any inaccuracies are amended or updated.

If you would like to see your personal information held by SHMS you can exercise your rights by contacting SHMS. We require you to put this request in writing to info@shmsgroup.com. We charge a £10 admin fee for this service, which is payable in advance.

How do you protect my information?

We store all information you provide to us on our secure servers. Where we have given you, or where you have chosen, a password which enables you to access certain parts of our site, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We ask you not to share a password with anyone.

Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we will do our best to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of data that you transmit to our website and any transmission is therefore at your own risk. Once we receive your information, we use strict internal procedures and security features to try to prevent unauthorised access.

We also keep your information confidential.

How do you use my information?

SHMS use information held about you in the following ways:

To provide you with information, products or services that you request from us or which we feel may interest you, where you have consented to be contacted for such purposes.
To carry out our obligations arising from any contracts entered into between you and us.

We may also use your data to provide you with information about goods and services which may be of legitimate interest to you. We may contact you about these by email, SMS, post or telephone.

If you are an existing customer, we will only contact you by electronic means (email or SMS) with information about goods and services similar to those which were the subject of a previous sale to you. If you are a new customer, we will contact you be electronic means only if you have consented to this.

Should you not want us to use your data in this way, please let us know by emailing us at info@shmsgroup.com.

When might you disclose my data to third parties?

SHMS may disclose your personal information to third parties on a very limited number of occasions:

Where we engage the business services of a third party to provide services directly to SHMS Contracting. Rest assured that any third parties are strictly prohibited from using your personal data for any other purposes other than those relating to their business with SHMS.
In the event that we sell or buy any businesses or assets, in which case we may disclose your personal data to the prospective seller or buyer of such business or assets.
If SHMS Contracting or substantially all of its assets are acquired by a third party, in which case personal data held by it about its customers will be one of the transferred assets.
If we are under a duty to disclose or share your personal data in order to comply with any legal obligation, or in order to enforce or apply our terms of use and other agreements; or to protect the rights, property, or safety of SHMS Contracting, our customers, or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organisations for the purposes of fraud protection and credit risk reduction.

Do I need to consent for you to use my information?

By submitting your information you consent to the use of that information as set out in this policy. Due to the global reach of the Internet, the information you provide may be transferred in transit to countries outside the European Economic Area that do not have similar protections in place regarding your data and its use as set out in this policy. However, we have taken the steps outlined above to try to improve the security of your information. By submitting your information you consent to these transfers.

Standard Terms & Conditions of Business

These Standard Terms & Conditions of Business are subject to occasional change and the latest version will apply. Changes will be notified to you periodically. The latest version is available on request.

These Standard Terms & Conditions of Business (and any document expressly referred to in them) represent the basis of the agreement between SHMS and the Client in relation to the subject matter of these conditions, and shall supersede any prior agreement, understanding or arrangement between the Client and SHMS, whether oral or in writing. The Client and SHMS acknowledge that, in entering into the agreement with SHMS, the Client and SHMS have not relied on any representation, undertaking or promise given by the other or be implied from anything said or written in negotiations between the Client and SHMS prior to such contract except as expressly stated in these Conditions.

The Standard Terms & Conditions of Business apply to SHMS Contracting Ltd's service portfolio. All services and contracts performed by SHMS are subject to these Standard Terms & Conditions of Business in their entirety, except where changes are expressly agreed by both parties in writing.

The specific services and fees related to these services which any client has asked SHMS to provide will be set out in a separate Letter of Engagement. You must read and agree the Letter of Engagement in conjunction with these Standard Terms & Conditions of Business. SHMS' contract with all its clients comprises of everything detailed in the Letter of Engagement, the Standard Terms & Conditions of Business, and the Client Registration Form.

Parties to the contract

Your contract is with SHMS Contracting Ltd (SHMS) which is a Limited Liability Company registered in England and Wales. SHMS Contracting Ltd ('SHMS', 'Company', 'Firm', 'We', 'Us', 'Our'), registered office SHMS House, 20 Little Park Farm Road, Fareham, Hampshire, PO15 5TD, company registration number 6846409 (part of the SHMS Contracting Group Of Companies - SHMS Contracting Ltd 6846409, SHMS Contracting (Southern) Ltd 8827694).

There is no contract between you and any Director, Individual, Employee or Consultant of SHMS. Any advice given to (or other work done for) you by any Director, Individual, Employee or Consultant of SHMS is given (or done) by that person on behalf of SHMS and not in his or her individual capacity and no such person assumes any personal responsibility to you for the advice or other work.

Persons who are not party to this agreement shall have no rights under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 to enforce any term of this agreement. This clause does not affect any right or remedy of any person which exists or is available otherwise than pursuant to that Act.

All advice given by SHMS is for your sole use and does not constitute advice to any third party to whom you may communicate it. We accept no responsibility to third parties for any aspect of our professional services or work made available to them.

Professional Obligations

SHMS owe a duty to provide services under all contracts with reasonable care and skill.

SHMS will observe the Code of Ethics of the Associated Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) available on their website and accept instructions to act of the basis that we will act in accordance with this Code.

Where you give SHMS confidential information, we shall at all times keep it confidential, except as required by law or as provided for in regulatory, ethical, or other professional pronouncements applicable to this engagement.

SHMS reserve the right to act during this engagement for other clients whose interests may be averse to yours. We will notify you immediately should we become aware of any conflict of interest to which we are subject in relation to you.

Fees & Charges

SHMS' fees are calculated on the basis notified to you at the commencement of the engagement or in the letter of engagement. The fees are specific to any services to be provided, and may be modified by any later agreement or notification.

All fees and charges other than standard processing charges will reflect the time spent on your affairs by our Director, Employees and Consultants, and on the levels of skill/responsibility involved.

If it is necessary for SHMS to carry out work outside the responsibilities outlined in the specific letter of engagement, this may involve additional fees or charges.

Invoices for fees, charges and disbursements (payments to third parties incurred in dealing with your affairs, also travel, accommodation and similar charges) are payable in full within 30 days of issue, unless covered by agreed arrangements detailed in the letter of engagement.

Unless otherwise agreed, we will invoice all fees and charges separately for each of the main classes of work performed by SHMS. We will invoice you as we carry out and complete the work.

You acknowledge and agree that SHMS' fees are non-refundable. If, as a result of a subsequent investigation or enquiry by HMRC, any monies received by you becomes repayable to HMRC for any reason whatsoever, including (without limitation) the provision of incorrect information by you, SHMS shall not be liable to refund you any fee paid in relation to such monies.

Fees when terminating contracts

In the event you engage another agent without terminating any contract with SHMS, or during the termination period with SHMS, to act on your behalf the fees payable for SHMS' services remain payable based on our standard fees or those fees specified as a percentage of net income received from the FRS in your specific Letter of Engagement based on the work we would have carries out on your behalf.

Any special fee arrangement (such as fixed or capped fee) agreed for a matter will not cover additional work not identified when the arrangement was agreed.

In the event SHMS cease to act in relation to your affairs, and you request SHMS deals with your new service provider, you agree to meet all reasonable costs of SHMS providing information to your new service provider.

Liability to clients

You agree if, as a matter of law, a duty of care would otherwise be owed to you by any Director, Individual, Employee or Consultant of SHMS, such duty is hereby excluded and you agree you will not bring any claim against any Director, Individual, Employee or Consultant of SHMS in respect of any loss or damage you or any person or company associated with you suffer or incur, directly or indirectly, in connection in any way with any advice given to, services provided, or other work done, for you.

Accordingly, any claim you wish to make can only be made against SHMS Contracting Ltd and not against any Director, Individual, Employee or Consultant of SHMS Contracting Ltd.

Nothing in these Terms & Conditions of Business and the specific services Letter of Engagement excludes or limits:

Any claim you may have against any Director, Individual, Employee or Consultant of SHMS arising out of any fraudulent or dishonest conduct on the part of such Director, Individual, Employee or Consultant.
Any liability or claim that cannot be excluded under English law.
Or, any liability or claim that cannot be excluded under any relevant professional rule or regulation.

Each Director, Individual, Employee or Consultant of SHMS shall be entitled to the benefit of these provisions under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999, but the company's contract with you may be varied from time to time or terminated without the consent of any such person.

Accepting liability

SHMS accept no liability for any:

Loss of income, revenue, business, profits, contracts, anticipated savings or data.
Waste of management or office time.
Indirect or consequential loss or damage of any kind however arising and whether caused by TORT (including negligence) breach of contract or otherwise, even if foreseeable.

For the avoidance of doubt, our total aggregate liability under our agreement with you, whether for any negligence, breach of contract or otherwise, shall be limited to an amount of fees paid to us by you for our services. Nothing in these Conditions shall limit or exclude our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or for any matter for which it would be illegal for us to exclude.

SHMS will endeavour to provide professional services with reasonable care and skill. However, we will not be responsible for any losses, penalties, surcharged, interest or additional tax liabilities arising from the supply by you or others of incorrect or incomplete information, or your or others' failure to supply any appropriate information or your failure to act on our advice or respond promptly to communications from us or HMRC or other authorities.

Updating your details

It is your responsibility to inform SHMS of any changes to your personal details. These include, but are not limited to:

Postal address.
Email address.
Telephone numbers.
Bank details.
Turnover.

Failure to notify SHMS may result in the company being unable to perform its services and obligations to you. SHMS will not accept any liability for such failure and will seek to recover all unpaid charges as detailed in the client's specific letter of engagement.

In the event HMRC commences any enquiry whatsoever in respect of your tax position (including, without limitation, an enquiry under section 9A Taxes Management Act 1970 in respect of a self-assessment tax return), SHMS will not charge for providing HMRC with any information it requests.

Service levels

If at any time you would like to discuss with us how our service to you could be improved, or if you are dissatisfied with the service you are receiving, please contact our management team to discuss this or to obtain details of our complaints handling procedures. We look into any complaint carefully and promptly and do all we can to resolve any issues.

As part of our ongoing commitment to providing a quality service, our files, records and working papers are periodically subject to independent audit. Experienced professionals undertake all audit work. All are bound by the same requirements of confidentiality as our principles and staff.

From time to time we are obliged to let external regulators and other third parties have access to clients' files and data. Wherever relevant, SHMS will have confidentiality agreements in place with these persons.

Client monies

SHMS will, from time to time, by the nature of some of the services provided, hold money on a client's behalf. We hold such money in trust in a client bank account. SHMS segregate this bank account from the company's own monies. We operate the account, and deal with all monies contained therein, in accordance with the company's Client Bank Account Policy.

Retention of Records/Data and Information Ownership

All information belongs to SHMS such as, but without being an exhaustive list:

Working papers.
Letters.
Emails.
Memoranda.
Notes of meetings.
Notes or recordings of phone calls.
Copies of original documents which SHMS create or which we receive either as principal in our own right or as your agent.

SHMS acquire a variety of information during the course of our work. Certain documents may legally belong to you. SHMS does not segregate documentation by legal ownership. We return original documents to the client after completion of an assignment, or when we no longer require the original. When this is not practical, SHMS store original documents along with our records for six years.

Whilst certain documents may legally belong to you, SHMS will intend to destroy correspondence and other papers we may be storing which are older than six years, other than documents which we consider to be of continuing significance. If you require retention of any document beyond this period, you must notify us of this in writing.

SHMS reserve the right to convert records and data, irrespective of ownership, into electronic format (for example digital images) and may not keep the original. If you require items to be returned, then you agree that SHMS may supply it in electronic format or as a print of the image where the original is no longer held. You acknowledge and agree that as part of the Self-Assessment Services and VAT Management Services that may be offered, SHMS may submit to HMRC on our clients' behalf a self-assessment tax return or VAT return online without sending a copy of the form to the client for approval prior to the submission of the form, on the basis that all relevant information has been supplied to SHMS as agreed.

Applicable Law and service of Legal Proceedings, Notices or other legal documents

SHMS' engagements, all specific engagement letters and SHMS' Standard Terms & Conditions of Business are governed by and construed in accordance with English law. The Courts of England will have exclusive jurisdiction in relation to any claim, dispute or difference concerning these documents and any matters arising from them. Each party irrevocably waives any right it may have to object to any action being brought in those courts, to claim that the action has been brought in an inappropriate forum, or to claim that those courts do not have jurisdiction.

If any provision in SHMS' Standard Terms & Conditions of Business or in any specific or associated engagement letter, or its application, are found to be invalid, illegal or otherwise unenforceable to any extent, in any respect by any court or administrative body of competent jurisdiction, the validity, legality or enforceability of any other provisions shall not in any way be affected or impaired, and will continue to be valid to the fullest extent permitted by law.

You agree to hold harmless and indemnify SHMS against any misrepresentation, whether intentional or unintentional, supplied to us orally or in writing in connection with any agreement between us.

You agree you will not bring any claim in connection with services provided to you by SHMS against any of our employees on a personal basis.

We will not accept service of legal proceedings, notices or other legal documents by fax or email. Acceptable methods are personal service, first-class post and by recognised document exchange system, and must be to the company's registered office.

Liability

SHMS shall have no liability to its clients under this agreement if we are prevented from, or delayed in performing, any of our obligations under this agreement or from carrying out on our business by acts, events, omissions or accidents beyond our reasonable control, including (without limitation):

Strikes.
Lock-outs or other industrial disputes.
Failure of a utility service.
Act of God.
Fire.
Flood.
Storm.
Accident.
War.
Riot.
Civil commotion.
Malicious damage.
Compliance with any law of governmental order, rule, regulation or direction.

Any failure to exercise or any delay in exercising a right or remedy in connection with these Conditions shall not constitute a waiver of that right or remedy or of any other rights or remedies. A waiver of any breach of any of the terms of these Conditions or of a default under these Conditions shall not constitute a waiver of any other breach or default and shall not affect the other terms of these Conditions.

Money Laundering & Proceeds of Crime Act

In common with all accountancy and legal practices, the firm is required by the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and the Money Laundering Regulations 2007 to:

Maintain identification procedures for clients and beneficial owners of clients.
Maintain records of identification evidence and the work undertaken for the client.
Under s.330 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, report if we know, or have reasonable cause to suspect, that any client, or anyone connected with a client's business, are or have ever been involved in money laundering. Failure on our part to make a report where we have knowledge or reasonable grounds for suspicion would constitute a criminal offence.

As such, all clients agree to comply with the request for documentation to confirm identity and/or that electronic checks can be performed.

The offence of money laundering is defined by s.340(11) of the Proceeds of Crime Act and includes concealing, converting, using or processing the benefits of any activity that constitutes a criminal offence in the UK. It also includes involvement in any arrangement that facilitates the acquisition, retention, use or control of such a benefit.

This definition is very wide and would include (but this list is not exhaustive) such crimes as:

Deliberate tax evasion.
Deliberate failure to inform the tax authorities of known underpayment or excessive repayments.
Fraudulent claiming of benefits or grants.
Obtaining a contract through bribery.

Our obligations

Law obliges SHMS to report any instances of money laundering without your knowledge or consent. In fact, we may commit the criminal offence of tipping off under s.333 of the Proceeds of Crime Act if we were to inform you a report had been made. In consequence, neither the firm's principals nor staff may enter into any correspondence or discussions with you regarding such matters.

SHMS are not required to undertake work for the sole purpose of identifying suspicions of money laundering. We shall fulfill our obligations under the Proceeds of Crime Act in accordance with the guidance published by ACCA.

Data Protection

SHMS is registered with the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) as a Data Controller under registration number Z1649652.

SHMS may obtain, use, process and disclose personal data about you in order that we may discharge the services agreed under our specific Letter of Engagement, and for other related purposes including updating and enhancing client records, analysis for management purposes, statutory returns, crime prevention and legal and regulatory compliance. Clients have a right of access, under data protection legislation, to the personal data we hold about them.

Right Of Access

You can contact us to find out what personal information we have about you. We will provide this data free of charge. If a request is particularly excessive or repetitive, we will charge based on the administrative costs of providing the information.

Contract Cancellation

In accordance with the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000, all clients have the right to cancel their agreement with us within 7 working days beginning on the day after they post to SHMS the Letter of Authority and Client Registration Form containing the Declaration, with no penalty or de-registration costs.

Cancellation must be notified to SHMS in writing by post, hand, fax or email within the 7 working day period.

All other cancellations will be as per the details included in the specific Letter of Engagement.

The authorisation allowing SHMS to act as an agent with HMRC on a client's behalf can only be cancelled or withdrawn if the client contacts HMRC directly and notifies them of their wish to withdraw the appointment.

Refer A Friend

These Terms & Conditions relate to our Refer A Friend Scheme.

There is no purchase necessary.
The responsible owner of this scheme is SHMS Contracting Ltd.
This scheme is only for new referrals who ultimately sign up to use SHMS CIS.
The friend you refer will receive a margin-free week and you will receive £50.
Utilising our Refer A Friend Scheme binds you by these conditions.
To qualify for the margin-free week, the friend you refer must present all their required documentation within 48 hours of acceptance of the enquiry.
For the avoidance of doubt the enquiry starts from the time we speak to your friend via the telephone.
The friend you refer must be a new subcontractor engaged through SHMS CIS for six or more payments, and not a current subcontractor operating via SHMS CIS to receive £50. They must not have used any SHMS solution in the last six months. The £50 will be paid when the qualifying conditions have been met.
The £50 will be paid to you Gross in your next payment after the qualification period has been met. These sums of monies are subject to Tax and NICs.
We will send a cheque for the above values as payment to individuals who are not currently engaged through or working with SHMS. The individual is responsible for declaring this income to HMRC, if applicable.
You must include your details on the documentation submitted to qualify for the referral.
Employees of the SHMS Group of Companies are exempt from benefiting from the Refer A Friend Scheme.
SHMS Contracting Ltd reserves the right to withdraw this offer at any time without notice.
We accept no liability for lost, delayed or damaged documentation.
This offer cannot be combined with any other available offer.

Contacting us

We value your opinions. If you have any comments or questions about our Privacy Policy, you can contact us by the methods listed below.

Phone: 01489 584400.

Email: info@shmsgroup.com.

Live chat: in the bottom right corner on desktop, at the bottom of the page on mobile or on our contact page.

Post or in person: SHMS Contracting, SHMS House, 20 Little Park Farm Road, Fareham, Hampshire, PO15 5TD.