Evaluation of Uncertain Tax Treatment: Privacy notice

What is the research about?

This privacy notice sets out how your information will be used for the evaluation of the Uncertain Tax Treatment commissioned by the HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

As part of this evaluation, the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen), an independent social research organisation, will carry out interviews with businesses who are eligible for interaction with UTT.

What is the legal basis for processing my data?

For the purpose of data protection legislation, HMRC are the data controllers and NatCen are the data processers. This means HMRC is responsible for deciding the purpose and legal basis for processing data from this study. For this study, the legal basis for processing data is ‘Public Task’.

Who will have access to my personal data?

NatCen are carrying out this research on behalf of HMRC who have provided NatCen with a list of businesses who are within scope of the UTT requirement and have been invited to take part. This includes businesses who by definition have a turnover above £200 million and/or a balance sheet total over £2bn.

The research team at NatCen will have access to businesses’ contact details (including a named contact at each organisation), business sector, turnover total, audio recordings and transcripts. The NatCen research team will record the discussions. The recording will be professionally transcribed by a company called McGowan Transcriptions who are on NatCen’s approved supplier list and are compliant with NatCen’s information security policies. No one else besides NatCen and McGowan Transcriptions will have access to the audio recordings and transcripts.

How NatCen will use your information

Data will only be used for research purposes. NatCen will write up the findings in presentations and a report in a way that protects your anonymity as far as possible. The presentations and report may include quotes of what you have said. The quotes will be labelled anonymously.

NatCen will not attribute views to your business but report the overall views of all the businesses that participated. NatCen will also not tell anyone else what you have personally said, nor will NatCen include any names or personal details in the report. The findings of the research will be published externally.

You can withdraw from the study at any time prior to analysis of interviews. If you wish to do so, please contact the NatCen research team on the study email address or freephone number provided below.

HMRC have also requested to see a sample of anonymised transcripts for quality assurance purposes. Any information that may identify you would be removed from the transcript before it is shared with HMRC. You do not have to consent to your transcript being shared with HMRC. We will ask at the end of the interview whether you consent to sharing or not.

Storing your information

The data held by NatCen will be stored securely in the UK, in line with international best practice and NatCen’s ISO 27001, ISO 20252 and Cyber Essentials Plus certifications. Data will not be stored in overseas servers. All personal data will be securely deleted once the project has been completed.

Requesting access to your personal data

You can request access to your personal data and for it to be deleted or updated by NatCen, as well as an explanation of how it has been used, at any time before it has been destroyed. Rights requests will be responded to within 30 days. Analysis produced from personal data is not personal data, and the process of removing identifiable information is not reversible. Individual rights requests apply to personal data only, and there may be some occasions where you will receive an explanation of why the request you've made cannot be complied with. If you would like to make a request about your data, please get in touch with the NatCen research team via the contact details provided below.

Who to contact if you have a query or a complaint?

We would welcome the opportunity of discussing the research with you to address any concerns directly. Please do feel free to contact:

• The research team at NatCen via email to UTTresearch@natcen.ac.uk or telephone on 0800 652 9295, or by post to UTT research team, National Centre for Social Research, 35 Northampton Square London EC1V OAX.
• If you prefer to speak to somebody at HMRC or you believe the evaluation has not complied with your data protection rights, you can contact: HMRC’s research team at: customer.research@hmrc.gov.uk
• Under GDPR, you also have the right to lodge a complaint about how information has been used or managed with the Information Commissioner’s Office. You can do this by:
  • Post: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 5AF
  • Phone: 0303 123 1113
  • Website: https://ico.org.uk/concerns

Who are NatCen?

NatCen is an independent social research institute. We design, conduct, and analyse research studies in the fields of social and public policy. You can find out more about NatCen on www.natcen.ac.uk