Last updated: 16 August 2026
1. Who we are
WS Brokers Limited, trading as WS Insurance Brokers, is an insurance intermediary providing insurance broking, advice, arrangement, administration and related support services.
WS Brokers Limited is the controller responsible for the personal information described in this Privacy Notice.
Company number: 13040856
Registered office: Francis Louis House, Belmont Road, Exeter, England, EX1 2HF
Financial Conduct Authority Firm Reference Number: 947769
Data protection contact:
Email: hello@wsinsurance.co.uk
Telephone: 01392 579110
Post: WS Insurance Brokers, Francis Louis House, Belmont Road, Exeter, England, EX1 2HF
This Privacy Notice explains how we collect, use, disclose and protect personal information when you:
visit our website;
request a quotation or callback;
ask us to arrange or administer insurance;
purchase or renew an insurance policy through us;
make an enquiry, complaint or claim;
communicate with us by telephone, email, post, online form or social media; or
otherwise use our services.
2. The personal information we collect
The information we collect depends on the insurance product or service you require. It may include:
Identity information
Your name, title, date of birth, age, marital status and other information required to identify you.
Contact information
Your postal address, email address, telephone number and communication preferences.
Insurance and risk information
Information about the person, property, vehicle, business, profession, liability or other risk to be insured. This may include:
occupation and employment information;
business activities, turnover, payroll and employee numbers;
property details, occupancy and construction;
vehicle and driving information;
existing insurance arrangements;
claims and loss history;
policy requirements, limits and excesses;
information provided in proposal forms or statements of fact; and
information relevant to underwriting, arranging or administering insurance.
Financial information
Payment details, premium information, premium-finance information, bank details where required for refunds or claims, and records of payments made or due.
We do not retain full payment-card details where payments are processed securely by a third-party payment provider.
Claims and complaints information
Details of incidents, losses, claims, complaints, correspondence, supporting documents and communications with insurers, loss adjusters, claims handlers, legal representatives or the Financial Ombudsman Service.
Technical and website information
Your IP address, device type, browser, approximate location, pages visited, referring website and information collected through cookies or similar technologies.
More information is available in our Cookie Policy.
Communications
Emails, letters, notes of telephone calls and other communications with you. If we record a telephone call, we will inform you where required.
3. Health and other special-category information
Some insurance products, particularly private medical insurance, life insurance, income protection and claims involving injury or illness, require us and insurers to process health information.
Health information is special-category personal data and receives additional legal protection.
Where necessary for an insurance purpose, we may process health information under:
an appropriate lawful basis under Article 6 of the UK GDPR;
Article 9(2)(g) of the UK GDPR, where processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest; and
the insurance condition contained in Schedule 1 of the Data Protection Act 2018.
In appropriate circumstances, we may instead rely on your explicit consent or another condition permitted by data-protection law.
We will only collect and use health or other special-category information where it is relevant and necessary for the insurance product, quotation, policy, claim or service concerned. We apply additional safeguards and maintain the documentation required by data-protection law.
4. Criminal-conviction and offence information
Information about criminal convictions, offences, allegations or related legal proceedings is not special-category data, but it is subject to separate legal protections.
Certain insurers may require this information when assessing particular risks or insurance products.
Where necessary for an insurance purpose, we may process criminal-offence information under:
an appropriate lawful basis under Article 6 of the UK GDPR;
Article 10 of the UK GDPR; and
the applicable insurance condition under Schedule 1 of the Data Protection Act 2018.
We will only collect this information where it is relevant and necessary. We apply appropriate safeguards and maintain an Appropriate Policy Document where required.
5. How we obtain personal information
We may obtain information:
directly from you;
from another person seeking insurance that includes or affects you;
from your authorised representative;
from insurers, underwriters and insurance-market participants;
from previous insurers or brokers, where authorised;
from claims handlers, loss adjusters and professional advisers;
from premium-finance providers;
from fraud-prevention and credit-reference agencies;
from publicly available sources, including Companies House and public registers;
from comparison, referral or lead-generation services where you have requested contact;
from our website, cookies and online forms; and
from other organisations where disclosure is lawful and relevant to the service requested.
If you give us information about another person, you should make them aware of this Privacy Notice and ensure that you are authorised to provide the information where necessary.
6. How we use your information
We may use personal information to:
respond to enquiries and callback requests;
understand your insurance requirements;
obtain and compare insurance quotations from our available insurer panel;
provide insurance advice or a personal recommendation where applicable;
arrange, administer, amend and renew policies;
collect or facilitate payment of premiums and fees;
arrange premium finance;
assist with claims and communicate with insurers or claims handlers;
handle complaints;
verify identity and information provided to us;
prevent and detect fraud, financial crime and misuse of our services;
meet FCA, legal, regulatory, tax, accounting and record-keeping obligations;
monitor and improve our services;
maintain the security of our website and systems;
establish, exercise or defend legal rights or claims; and
send marketing communications where legally permitted.
7. Our lawful bases
Depending on the circumstances, we may rely on one or more of the following lawful bases:
Contract
Processing may be necessary to take steps at your request before entering into a contract or to perform our contract with you.
This includes obtaining quotations and arranging, administering or renewing insurance.
Legal obligation
We may process information to comply with obligations imposed by the FCA, data-protection law, financial-crime requirements, tax law, court orders or other applicable legislation.
Legitimate interests
We may process information where necessary for our legitimate interests or those of another organisation, provided those interests are not overridden by your rights.
These interests may include:
operating and improving our insurance-broking business;
maintaining accurate records;
protecting our business and customers from fraud;
securing and monitoring our systems;
handling complaints and legal matters; and
communicating with existing business contacts about relevant services where legally permitted.
Consent
We may rely on consent where required, including for certain marketing communications or particular uses of sensitive information.
Where we rely on consent, you may withdraw it at any time. Withdrawal does not affect processing that took place before consent was withdrawn.
Substantial public interest and insurance purposes
Where we process health information or other protected information for an insurance purpose, we may rely on the insurance conditions contained in Schedule 1 of the Data Protection Act 2018, together with the relevant UK GDPR provisions.
8. Who we share information with
Where necessary, we may share personal information with:
insurers, underwriters, managing general agents and insurance-market participants;
Lloyd’s market participants and specialist insurance markets;
premium-finance providers;
claims handlers, loss adjusters, surveyors, medical professionals and repairers;
solicitors, accountants, auditors and other professional advisers;
fraud-prevention and credit-reference agencies;
regulatory authorities, including the Financial Conduct Authority;
the Financial Ombudsman Service and Financial Services Compensation Scheme;
law-enforcement agencies, courts and public authorities where legally required;
providers of insurance administration, customer relationship management, document-management and communication systems;
website, hosting, security, analytics and IT service providers;
payment processors; and
potential purchasers, investors or professional advisers in connection with a proposed sale, transfer or restructuring of our business.
Insurers and some other recipients will normally act as independent data controllers and will use information in accordance with their own privacy notices.
We do not sell personal information.
9. Fraud prevention and credit checks
Insurers and premium-finance providers may use fraud-prevention and credit-reference agencies when assessing applications, managing policies, arranging finance or investigating claims.
These checks may leave a record on your credit file. A quotation search will not necessarily affect your credit rating, but a premium-finance application may involve a credit assessment.
We will provide further information where a particular insurer or provider requires it.
10. International transfers
Some insurers, insurance markets and service providers may process personal information outside the United Kingdom.
Where information is transferred internationally, we take reasonable steps to ensure that an appropriate legal safeguard is used. This may include:
transfer to a country covered by UK adequacy regulations;
use of the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or approved contractual clauses;
legally recognised certification or binding corporate rules; or
another safeguard permitted by data-protection law.
You can contact us for further information about safeguards relevant to your information.
11. How long we retain information
We retain personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was collected and to meet our legal, regulatory, insurance and record-keeping obligations.
Our usual retention period for core customer, quotation and policy records is up to seven years after the relevant policy, claim or customer relationship ends.
We may retain information for longer where:
a claim, complaint or dispute remains open;
it may be required to establish, exercise or defend legal rights;
an insurer, regulator or law requires longer retention;
fraud or financial-crime concerns exist; or
there is another lawful and documented reason.
Some unsuccessful enquiry or quotation information may be retained for a shorter period. Information that is no longer required will be securely deleted, destroyed or anonymised.
12. Marketing
We may contact you about relevant insurance products or services where:
you have requested the information;
you have consented to receive marketing; or
we are otherwise permitted to do so under data-protection and electronic-marketing law.
You can object to marketing or withdraw consent at any time by:
using the unsubscribe option in an email;
telling the person who contacts you; or
emailing hello@wsinsurance.co.uk.
We may retain limited information on a suppression list to ensure that we respect your request not to receive further marketing.
Withdrawing from marketing will not prevent us from contacting you about an existing quotation, policy, claim, payment, complaint or other service matter.
13. Automated processing
Insurers and quotation systems may use automated processes to assess risk, calculate premiums or determine whether particular terms can be offered. These processes may consider information such as age, postcode, claims history, health, occupation, property characteristics, business activities or vehicle information.
WS Insurance Brokers does not make a decision producing legal or similarly significant effects solely through automated processing without appropriate safeguards.
Where an insurer makes such a decision, its own privacy notice will explain the processing and applicable rights. You may contact us if you require further information or wish to ask for human involvement in relation to a quotation.
14. Security
We use appropriate technical and organisational measures designed to protect personal information from unauthorised access, accidental loss, alteration, disclosure or destruction.
Access is restricted to people and service providers who require the information for legitimate business purposes and who are subject to appropriate confidentiality and security obligations.
No internet or email transmission can be guaranteed completely secure. Please avoid sending sensitive information through unsecured channels unless requested and appropriate security arrangements are in place.
15. Your data-protection rights
Depending on the circumstances, you may have the right to:
request access to your personal information;
request correction of inaccurate or incomplete information;
request deletion of information;
request restriction of processing;
object to processing based on legitimate interests;
object to direct marketing;
request transfer of information in a portable format;
withdraw consent where consent is relied upon; and
request safeguards relating to a significant decision made solely by automated means.
Some rights are subject to legal conditions and exemptions. For example, we may need to retain information to comply with regulatory obligations or to establish or defend legal claims.
We may ask for information to verify your identity before responding to a request.
To exercise a right, contact hello@wsinsurance.co.uk.
16. Complaints about personal information
Please contact us first if you have questions or concerns about how we use your information:
Email: hello@wsinsurance.co.uk
Telephone: 01392 579110
Post: WS Insurance Brokers, Francis Louis House, Belmont Road, Exeter, England, EX1 2HF
You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office:
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Telephone: 0303 123 1113
Website: ico.org.uk
17. Children
Our insurance-broking services are not intended to be purchased directly by children.
We may process information about dependent children where an adult requests family, medical, travel, life or another appropriate insurance product. In those circumstances, we will only use the child’s information where necessary for the insurance purpose and with appropriate safeguards.
18. Cookies
Our website uses necessary cookies and may, with your permission, use analytics, functional or marketing cookies.
Details of the cookies used, their purposes and how long they remain on your device are set out in our Cookie Policy.
You can change your non-essential cookie choices at any time through the Cookie Settings facility on our website.
19. Changes to this Privacy Notice
We may update this Privacy Notice to reflect changes in our services, legal obligations or use of personal information.
The current version will be published on our website with the date of the latest update.
20. Contact us
WS Brokers Limited
Trading as WS Insurance Brokers
Francis Louis House
Belmont Road
Exeter
England
EX1 2HF
Company number: 13040856
FCA Firm Reference Number: 947769
Email: hello@wsinsurance.co.uk
Telephone: 01392 579110