Privacy Policy

Last updated: 29 July 2026

1. Who we are

George Scott & Son (Funeral Directors) Ltd, trading as George Scott Funeral Services, is the data controller responsible for the personal information described in this policy. Harry Tomes Funeral Directors is part of George Scott Funeral Services and is covered by this policy.

• Registered company number: 00624714
• Registered office: 2 Leybourne Avenue, Bournemouth, BH10 6HF
• Main funeral home: 15 Somerset Road, Boscombe, Bournemouth, Dorset, BH7 6JH
• Telephone: 01202 395827
• Email: enquiries@georgescottfunerals.co.uk

This policy explains how we handle personal information in line with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

2. What information we collect

When you contact us

If you complete the form on our contact page, or telephone, email or write to us, we collect the details you give us — typically your name, email address, telephone number and the content of your message or enquiry.

When you arrange a funeral with us

To arrange a funeral we need considerably more information. Depending on your wishes and the arrangements required, this may include:

• your name, address, telephone number, email address and your relationship to the person who has died;
• details of the person who has died, including their name, address, date and place of birth and death, occupation and marital status;
• the names and details of other family members where these are needed for the arrangements, notices or certificates;
• details of the funeral itself — the service, coffin, vehicles, flowers, music, officiant and any other choices you make;
• information needed for burial or cremation applications, medical certification and registration;
• billing details, payment records and, where relevant, details of who is responsible for the account.

When you take out a pre-paid funeral plan

Our funeral plans are provided by Golden Charter Limited. We collect the information needed to set up your plan and pass it to Golden Charter, who become responsible for it as a data controller in their own right under their own privacy policy.

When you use our website

Like most websites, our web server keeps standard technical logs — including IP address, browser type and the pages requested — which help us keep the site running securely and reliably.

3. Why we use it, and our lawful basis

We only use your personal information where the law allows us to. In most cases that will be one of the following:

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not use it for automated decision-making or profiling. We will not send you marketing you have not asked for.

4. Sensitive information and information about the deceased

Arranging a funeral sometimes means handling more sensitive information — for example details of a person's health or medical history, or their religious or philosophical beliefs where these shape the funeral you would like. Where we handle this kind of information about living people, we do so because it is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest, for the establishment or defence of legal claims, or with your explicit consent.

UK data protection law applies to living individuals, so it does not strictly cover information about the person who has died. We nevertheless treat their information with exactly the same confidentiality and respect.

5. Who we share information with

We share personal information only where it is needed to carry out your wishes, to meet a legal duty, or to run our business properly. Depending on the arrangements, that may include:

• crematoria, cemeteries, burial authorities and local councils;
• registrars, medical examiners, doctors and coroners;
• ministers of religion, celebrants and other officiants;
• florists, monumental masons, caterers, musicians and other suppliers you ask us to arrange;
• newspapers and online notice providers, where you ask us to publish a notice;
• Memory Giving, if you would like an online tribute or donation page (see section 6);
• Golden Charter Limited, in connection with pre-paid funeral plans;
• our accountants, auditors, insurers and professional advisers;
• the police, courts or other authorities, where we are required by law to do so.

We do not routinely transfer personal information outside the United Kingdom. Where any of our suppliers process information overseas, we take steps to make sure it remains protected to UK standards.

6. Our website, cookies and third-party content

Cookies

This website does not set any advertising cookies, and we do not use website analytics or tracking tools. We do not build profiles of the people who visit our site.

Third-party content on our pages

Some parts of our website rely on services provided by other organisations. When your browser loads these, it makes a request to that organisation, which will receive your IP address and may set its own cookies:

• Google Fonts — supplies the typefaces used across the site.
• Trustindex — displays our genuine customer reviews on the home page and testimonials page.
• Memory Giving — our In Memory page lists tributes and donation pages hosted by Memory Giving. If you follow a link to make a donation or leave a tribute, you are then on Memory Giving's own website and their privacy policy applies to what you do there.

Our website also links to other organisations such as Golden Charter, the NAFD and SAIF. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of any website other than our own.

Our contact form

When you submit our contact form, the details you enter are sent to us by email so that we can reply. They are not published anywhere on the website and are not passed to any third party for marketing.

7. How long we keep information

We keep personal information only for as long as we need it:

• Enquiries that do not lead to arrangements — normally kept for up to two years, then deleted.
• Funeral records — kept for at least six years after the funeral, so that we can answer later questions from families, respond to any legal claim, and meet our record-keeping duties. Because families often return to us across generations, some basic records of the funerals we have carried out are kept as part of our historical archive.
• Accounting and financial records — kept for at least six years, as required by HM Revenue & Customs.
• Pre-paid funeral plans — kept for the life of the plan and for a period afterwards, in line with the requirements that apply to funeral plan providers.

When information is no longer needed, we delete it or dispose of it securely.

8. How we keep information safe

We take appropriate measures to protect personal information against loss, misuse and unauthorised access. Paper records are held securely at our premises, and electronic records are held on password-protected systems accessible only to the members of our team who need them. Our website is served over a secure (HTTPS) connection.

Everyone who works for us understands that discretion is fundamental to what we do, and is expected to treat every family's information as confidential.

9. Your rights

Under UK data protection law you have the right to:

• ask for a copy of the personal information we hold about you;
• ask us to correct information that is wrong or incomplete;
• ask us to delete information, where there is no good reason for us to keep it;
• ask us to restrict how we use your information, or object to us using it;
• ask us to transfer your information to another organisation, in certain circumstances;
• withdraw your consent at any time, where we rely on consent.

These rights do not apply in every situation — for example, we may need to keep certain records to meet a legal obligation. If we cannot do what you have asked, we will explain why.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the details in section 12. We will respond within one month. There is normally no charge.

10. Complaints

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your personal information, please tell us first — we would always rather have the chance to put things right. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's data protection regulator:

• Website: ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint
• Helpline: 0303 123 1113
• Post: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF

11. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time, for example if the way we work changes or the law changes. The date at the top of this page shows when it was last updated. Please check back occasionally.

12. How to contact us

If you have any question about this policy, or about how we handle your personal information, please contact us: