About this notice
Version 2026.10, last updated 3 October 2026. This notice explains what personal information Financial Expert Independent Ltd collects, why, who we share it with, how long we keep it and your rights. It covers this website (feadviser.co.uk) and the advice we give you.
The short version:
- We use your information to advise you and to arrange and look after your insurance — and to meet the law and our regulator’s rules.
- Health information is used only for insurance, only with your explicit consent, and only shared with insurers and the people they need.
- We never sell your information and never let others use it for their own marketing.
- We send you news and offers only if you ask for them, and you can stop them at any time.
- Your adviser checks everything; no decision about you is made by a computer on our side.
- Questions or requests: contact@feadviser.co.uk, 01270 747 989, or write to us at 3 Chester Bridge, Crewe, Cheshire, CW2 7EF.
Who we are
Financial Expert Independent Ltd (“FEI”, “we”, “us”), company number 07779372, registered office 3 Chester Bridge, Crewe, Cheshire, CW2 7EF, gives protection advice (life cover, income protection, critical illness and business protection) and free will writing through the Will Writing Network. We are an appointed representative of Financial Expert Partnership Ltd (FCA number 591556), which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Our FCA number is 565800; you can check both on the FCA register at register.fca.org.uk.
We decide how your information is used: we are the controller. Financial Expert Partnership Ltd, our principal firm, is a controller too when it supervises our advice, handles complaints and reports to the FCA, and it provides the client records system and client portal we use.
Our Data Protection Lead is one of the directors of Financial Expert Partnership Ltd. Contact us at contact@feadviser.co.uk, on 01270 747 989, or by post to the Data Protection Lead, Financial Expert Independent Ltd, 3 Chester Bridge, Crewe, Cheshire, CW2 7EF. We are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO); our entry is on the ICO register under our company name.
Who this notice is about
- clients and people who ask us for advice, and anyone applying with them (a partner or joint applicant)
- people named in a mortgage or a plan — for example dependants, beneficiaries, trustees or a person paying the premiums
- people who use this website or send us an enquiry (protection review, consultation, webinar and contact forms)
If you give us information about someone else — for example your partner or children — please make sure they know, and show them this notice.
What we collect
- Identity and contact: name, date of birth, addresses, phone numbers, email, nationality, marital status, dependants, National Insurance number.
- Proof of identity: details from your passport, driving licence or other documents and the results of our identity, sanctions and fraud checks.
- Money and work: income, employment, outgoings, savings, debts, credit history, bank details, payslips, tax returns and bank statements.
- Property and plans: your home and mortgage, existing insurance and pensions, wills and trusts.
- Health and lifestyle (for insurance): medical history, family history, height and weight, smoking, alcohol, occupation and hobbies. This is special category information — see the next section.
- Support needs: anything that may make things harder for you, such as a bereavement, illness or difficulty with English, so that we can adjust how we help you.
- Criminal convictions: only where an insurer or lender asks about them for your application.
- Our records of advice: fact finds, notes of meetings and calls, recommendations, suitability letters, signed documents, emails and messages. Calls with us may be recorded.
- Online: your client portal login, the documents you upload, the time and confirmation of electronic signatures, and on this website your IP address, device and the pages you visit (see “Cookies”).
- Marketing choices: whether you want news and offers, and when and how you told us.
Where it comes from
- from you — in meetings, on the phone, by email or message, through our forms and through the client portal
- from the person applying with you
- from insurers and other product providers about your applications and plans
- from identity and fraud prevention services and credit reference agencies (our electronic identity check leaves a mark on your credit file that only you can see; it does not affect your credit score)
- from public registers such as the electoral roll, Companies House, HM Land Registry and the FCA register
- from people you allow us to contact, such as your employer, accountant, solicitor or another adviser
- from Meta, if you send us an enquiry through a form on Facebook or Instagram — we receive what you typed into the form
- from the person or business who introduced you to us, if you agreed to the introduction
Why we use it, and our lawful basis
| What we do | Lawful basis |
|---|---|
| Answering your enquiry and arranging a meeting | Steps you ask for before a contract; or our legitimate interest in replying to people who contact us |
| Giving advice, researching the market, making applications and looking after your plans | Contract |
| Checking your identity, preventing fraud and money laundering | Legal obligation |
| Keeping records of our advice, our regulator’s checks, complaints and reports to the FCA | Legal obligation; legitimate interests |
| Health and lifestyle information for insurance | Your explicit consent, and the insurance condition in the Data Protection Act 2018 (Schedule 1, paragraph 20) |
| Recording support needs so that we treat you fairly | Legal obligation (the FCA’s Consumer Duty); your explicit consent for anything about your health |
| Reminders and reviews for existing clients — for example when your cover may need checking | Legitimate interests (you can ask us to stop) |
| News and offers by email, text or message | Your consent; for existing clients, similar services unless you say no (you can stop at any time) |
| Recording calls | Legal obligation; legitimate interests in checking the advice and training |
| If the business or its records move to another firm | Legitimate interests |
Health information: the special rules
Insurers need health and lifestyle information to decide whether to cover you and on what terms. We ask for it only when you are applying for protection, and only with your explicit consent. When you answer the health questions online, you confirm them yourself with a one-time code sent to you; nobody can sign them on your behalf.
- Your answers are seen only by your adviser, a second adviser if one helps with your case, our compliance team and our system administrator — and each time someone opens them it is recorded.
- We share them with the insurers you apply to, their underwriters and, if an insurer asks for a medical report, your doctor (the insurer asks you first).
- We never share them with lenders or use them for marketing.
- You can refuse or withdraw your consent at any time. If you do, we may not be able to arrange insurance for you, and an application already made may be affected.
Your online account and signing documents
You can have an account in our client portal to see your plans, send us documents and answer questions before or after you meet your adviser. Nothing has to be done online before a meeting — your adviser can go through everything with you.
- If you open your account through your adviser’s link, we email you a six-digit code to make sure the email address is yours. If you do not confirm it, what you entered is deleted after 7 days. If you are already a client, we do not create a second record.
- You choose your own password through a link we email you. We never know it and will never ask for it.
- When you sign a document electronically, you confirm it with a one-time code sent to you. We keep a record of when it was signed and that the code was right — never the code itself.
- For payslips, bank statements and similar documents, please upload the original PDF where you can: lenders often do not accept photos.
The technology we use, including AI
Your records are kept in our own client records system, on a dedicated server in the European Economic Area (Poland) run by our hosting provider. We also use business email and office software, a telephone system, identity checking services and the quotation and application systems of lenders and insurers. Each supplier acts only on our instructions under a contract that protects your information.
We may use secure software, including artificial intelligence (AI), to read documents such as quotes, applications and policy schedules and to fill in our records. Your adviser checks every detail before it is saved, and the AI makes no decision about you. Where we do this, the AI service is provided by Amazon Web Services, using Anthropic’s Claude model, acting only on our instructions under a data processing agreement: your information is processed in the UK, is not kept by the provider after the document has been read, and is not used to train AI models. These documents may include health information where it matters for your insurance; we use it only to advise you and to arrange and look after your cover.
Who we share it with
- insurers, underwriters and other product providers you apply to, and the platforms we use to compare and apply for products
- solicitors and estate planners — when you ask us to introduce you
- the Will Writing Network, for your free will — only if you ask for it. It is responsible for your information from then on and will give you its own privacy notice
- Financial Expert Partnership Ltd, our principal firm, which checks our advice and handles complaints
- identity and fraud prevention services and credit reference agencies
- our compliance support providers, auditors and professional indemnity insurers
- the FCA, the Financial Ombudsman Service, HMRC, the ICO, the police and courts — when the law requires it
- our IT and service providers (hosting, email, telephone, client portal), only to provide their services
- a buyer of our business or its client records, who would have to protect your information in the same way
We never sell your information and never give it to others for their own marketing.
Where your information is held
We keep your information in the UK and the European Economic Area, which UK law treats as giving the same protection. Some suppliers — Meta and Google (advertising and analytics), and some email and office software — may process information in the United States or elsewhere. When they do, it is protected by the UK–US data bridge for certified companies, or by the International Data Transfer Agreement or Addendum approved by the ICO. Some of our staff and contractors work outside the UK: they reach your information only through our own systems, under a written agreement with the same safeguards.
How long we keep it
| Information | How long |
|---|---|
| Enquiries and website forms that do not lead to advice | 2 years from our last contact |
| Online account opened but not confirmed with the code | 7 days |
| Protection advice files, including health information | 6 years after our relationship ends — for protection, the relationship lasts as long as your policy, because claims can come many years later |
| Identity and anti-money laundering checks | 5 years after our relationship ends (Money Laundering Regulations 2017) |
| Complaints | At least 3 years after the complaint is closed, and as long as your client file |
| Marketing choices | Until you change them; if you opt out we keep a short note so that we never contact you again |
We keep information longer only when a complaint, claim or investigation is open or the law requires it. After that it is deleted or anonymised.
Automated decisions
We do not make decisions about you by computer alone. Insurers often do — for example automatic underwriting. If one of them makes a decision about you that way, you can ask them to explain it, give your view and have a person look at it again; we will help you.
Your rights
- See your information — ask for a copy (a subject access request).
- Correct it if it is wrong or incomplete.
- Delete it where we no longer need it (we must keep some records for the periods above).
- Restrict how we use it while something is checked.
- Object to what we do on the basis of legitimate interests — and to marketing at any time.
- Move it — receive information you gave us in a format another firm can use.
- Withdraw consent at any time, including for health information and marketing.
To use any of these, contact us at contact@feadviser.co.uk, on 01270 747 989 or by post. It is free. We reply within one month; if a request is complex we can take two more months and will tell you why. We may need to check your identity first.
Complaints about how we use your information
Please tell us first (contact@feadviser.co.uk): we will acknowledge your complaint within 30 days and tell you what we have done. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office: ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint, telephone 0303 123 1113, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF. Complaints about our advice follow our complaints procedure.
Keeping your information safe
Access is limited to the people who need it, staff sign in to our client records with two-step verification, information is encrypted when it travels over the internet, we keep a record of who opens health answers, and our suppliers are bound by contract. If a breach puts you at risk, we tell the ICO within 72 hours and tell you without delay.
Beware of fraud: we will never call, text or email you to ask for your password, a card PIN or a security code we have sent you. Type codes only into our own pages.
Cookies
Cookies are small files a website puts on your device. On feadviser.co.uk we use:
| Cookie | What it does |
|---|---|
| Strictly necessary (for example to log in or keep a form working) | Needed for the site to work. No consent needed. |
| Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics (_ga, _ga_*) | Counts visits and shows which pages are used. Set by Google. |
| Meta Pixel (_fbp) and PixelYourSite (pys_*, pbid) | Tells us which of our Facebook and Instagram adverts brought you to the site, and lets Meta show our adverts to people like you. Set by Meta. |
Analytics and advertising cookies are set only if you agree to them in the cookie banner when you first visit; until then they are blocked. You can change your mind at any time through the “Manage consent” tab at the bottom of each page, and our cookie policy lists each cookie. You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings, and control adverts at Google ad settings and in your Facebook or Instagram ad preferences.
Children
Our services are for adults. We hold information about children only where they are named in a plan or a trust — for example as dependants or beneficiaries — and use it only for that.
Changes to this notice
We review this notice at least once a year and whenever what we do changes. This is version 2026.10, last updated 3 October 2026. If we make an important change, we will tell our clients directly.
