Privacy policy

Privacy Notice

Introduction

This notice is issued by Relate Coventry and Warwickshire to comply with UK data protection law. It explains what information we intend to use, how we use it, the legal reasons for using your information, and your rights under the law. It was last updated on [date].

When we refer to “we,” “our,” or “us” in this policy, we are referring to Relate Coventry and Warwickshire.

We are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office as a data controller within meaning of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) tailored by the Data Protection Act 2018.

We do not typically expect people under the age of 13 to use our website without guidance from an adult who has parental responsibility for them. If people under the age of 13 use our website, they should read our Privacy Notice for people under the age of 13 below.

Privacy Notice for people under the age of 13

We require and collect personal information to help us deliver appropriate support to people who require counselling support including but not limited to relationship counselling, children & young people’s services, sex therapy, family counselling, domestic abuse services, family mediation, planning together for children, relate in the workplace, support for armed forces personnel, and community-based counselling service. We provide these services solely or in partnership with other organisations and sometimes we provide specific programmes on behalf of funding organisations, such as local authority social services, the NHS, and similar organisations.

We will always protect your privacy and ensure that the personal information we hold about you is secure. This Privacy Notice explains how we collect, use, and store your personal information in compliance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018 and any other legislation that may currently be in force in the UK.

Personal information is any information that relates to a living individual who can either be identified from that data, or by combining the data with other information.

  1. Our role when we collect your personal information

Relate Coventry and Warwickshire acts as the data controller for the personal data collected during your participation in any of the counselling programmes you choose.

  1. The type of personal information we collect

Depending on your interaction with us, we may collect and store the following types of personal information:

  • Personal identification information such as your name, date of birth and contact details
  • Special category data related to health, criminal convictions, and offences
  • Relationship status
  • Financial details including credit/debit card information
  • Details about your education and career

 

  1. How we get your personal information and why we have it

Most of the personal information we process is provided to us directly by you for one of the following reasons:

  • To assess your eligibility and suitability for participation
  • To provide the relevant counselling programme and related support services
  • To ensure your safety and well-being during the programme
  • To monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the programme

We also receive personal information indirectly, from the following sources when we deliver services to you either on behalf of a funding organisation or in partnership with another service provider.

Choose-2-Change

We deliver the Choose-2-Change programme on behalf of Coventry City Council and in partnership with Coventry Haven Women’s Aid and Panahghar Safehouse. We may receive relevant information from any of these organisations which we may process to comply with legal obligations and any contractual arrangements.

Wish Project

The Wish Project is a free and confidential support service in Coventry for children and young people affected by domestic violence and abuse who have an allocated social Worker. We may receive relevant information from the allocated social worker which we may process to comply with legal obligations and any contractual arrangements.

The Rise Service

Rise is a family of NHS-led services providing emotional wellbeing and mental health services for children and young people in Coventry and Warwickshire. It is made up of a number of different services, each led by mental health specialists. We may receive relevant information from the partner organisations and professionals which we may process to comply with legal obligations and any contractual arrangements.

The other ways we collect your information will depend on your interactions with us, such as when you:

  • visit our websites. For example, we may store your location data or IP address when you use our “Find Your Nearest” search engine
  • contact us directly by completing an enquiry form
  • give other professionals or organisations permission to share with us, the personal information they hold about you
  • apply for a job or work with us
  • register as a volunteer
  • enter into a contract with us
  • are photographed or filmed (for example, at a Relate Coventry & Warwickshire event)
  • register for an event, workshop, course, or training
  • make an enquiry
  • buy products online (for example, our books or a personality profiler)
  • take a quiz or complete a survey
  • sign up to support a campaign
  • support our work through a donation
  • fundraise on our behalf
  • give us feedback or make a complaint
  • tell us your story (for example, as a media case study) or from other sources (such as through social media or information about you that is available in the public domain)
  • give permission for someone else to contact us on your behalf, such as when they make a query or a complaint on your behalf

If we ever need to collect your information in any other way than what we have told you in this Privacy Notice, we will tell you before we collect it.

  1. Our lawful bases for processing your personal information

Under the UK GDPR, we must have a lawful basis for processing your personal information. Sometimes there may be more than one lawful basis depending on the information we process. Our lawful bases for processing your information when we deliver our services to you include:

  • You have given us your consent. You can decide at any time that you no longer want to give us your consent. You can do this by contacting our Data Compliance Executive using any of the contacts below.
  • We have a contractual obligation.
  • We have a legal obligation.
  • We have a vital interest, which involves us processing your information to preserve someone’s life.
  • We need to process your information to perform a public task.

Special Category Data

Special category data is information about you that needs extra protection because it is sensitive, such as your race, your sexual preference, information about your health, and things like this.

Whenever we process special category data, we must meet additional conditions to the lawful bases mentioned above. The main condition we must meet is that we must obtain explicit consent from you before processing this sort of information. There are other conditions, which we will explain to you if we ever need to do this. We will never process sensitive personal information about you without fulfilling these conditions.

  1. Instances when we may share your personal information with others

We may share your personal data with the following parties for the purposes mentioned above:

  • Local authority social services
  • Other organisations with which we work in partnership to deliver the relevant counselling programme
  • Third-party service providers who assist in programme administration (only on a need-to-know basis).
  1. How long we hold your data for

We will retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes outlined in this privacy notice, in accordance with applicable laws and regulations.

  1. Your Rights

As a data controller we must ensure that the rights you are granted under UK data protection law are protected and we must allow you to exercise them at any time. So, we must:

  • Let you know, clearly and in a way that you understand, how we use your information and the rights you have when we do so. This is why we’re providing you with the information in this Privacy Notice. This is known as the right to be informed.
  • Allow you to access to your personal information and, when you ask for it, we must provide you with a copy. This is known as the right of access.
  • Correct any information we hold about you if you tell us that it is inaccurate or incomplete. This is known as the right to rectification.
  • Remove from our records any of your personal information whenever you ask that we do so. This is known as the right to erasure. It is also commonly called ‘the right to be forgotten’. There are exceptions to this right, such as where we are required buy another UK law to keep that information.
  • Stop processing or reduce how we process some of your personal information if you ask us to. When you exercise this right, we are required to keep sufficient information about you so that we can tell that you have asked to exercise this right. This is known as the right to restrict processing.
  • Make your personal information available to you if you ask us to and we must provide it in a format that makes it easy for you to give it to another organisation if you so wish. This is known as the right to data portability.
  • Not process your personal information at all if you ask us not to, especially when we use that information for direct marketing processing. However, in some cases, we may be able to continue processing your information if we have compelling reasons to do so. This is known as the right to object.
  • Always make sure that a human being is involved anytime we make decisions that have a legal or significant impact on you. We are also not allowed to use profiling to make such decisions, except in certain circumstances. This is known as the right not to be subject to automated decision-making including profiling.

 

WITHDRAWAL OF CONSENT

You have the right to decide at any time that you no longer give us your consent to process your personal information. If you do so, we must stop processing your information unless there is one or more compelling reasons, imposed by law or the specific circumstances, for us to continue to process your information. In such situations, we will explain what those compelling reasons are.

If you ever feel that we have not granted you any of these rights when you ask for them, or you are unhappy about how we handled your request, you are entitled to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). You can contact them by following this link.

  1. Data Security

We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure the security of your personal data and protect it against unauthorised access or disclosure.

  1. Contact Information

If you have any questions, concerns, or wish to exercise your rights related to your personal data, please contact our Data Protection Executive at info@relatecoventry.org.

We will update this Privacy Notice if any of the circumstances described above changes, and we will publish any changes on our website. We recommend reviewing this Privacy Notice regularly to stay informed about any changes.

 

Date of last update

10/10/23