Privacy and Data Protection Statement

Last updated: June 2026

Chichester Counselling Services (“CCS”, “we”, “us” or “our”) is committed to protecting your privacy and handling personal information safely, lawfully and transparently.

CCS provides counselling, counselling training, supervision and related charitable services. In order to provide these services, we need to collect and use some personal information. Some of the information we hold is sensitive, particularly where it relates to health, emotional wellbeing, counselling, safeguarding, financial circumstances or personal history.

This statement explains what information we collect, why we collect it, how we use it, how long we keep it, who we may share it with, and what rights you have.

1. Who we are

Chichester Counselling Services is the data controller for the personal information we hold. This means that we are responsible for deciding how and why your personal information is used.

Contact details

Chichester Counselling Services,106-108 The Hornet, Chichester,
West Sussex, PO19 7JR
Email: Office@ccs-counselling.org.uk
Telephone: 01243 789000

ICO registration number: ZB822325

If you have any questions about this privacy statement or how we handle your personal information, please contact us using the details above.

2. Whose information we collect

We may collect and use personal information relating to:

• clients and prospective clients;
• people making enquiries about counselling;
• emergency contacts, GPs or other professionals involved in a client’s care, where relevant;
• counsellors, supervisors, trainees and placement applicants;
• students on CCS training courses;
• staff, trustees and volunteers;
• donors, funders and supporters;
• suppliers, contractors and professional advisers;
• people who contact us through our website, email, telephone or social media.

3. What information we collect

The information we collect will depend on your relationship with CCS. It may include:

• name, address, email address and telephone number;
• date of birth, age and gender;
• GP details and emergency contact information;
• information provided in counselling enquiries, assessment forms or referral forms;
• clinical assessment information, counselling notes and risk/safeguarding information;
• CORE or other clinical outcome information, where used;
• attendance records, appointment information and payment information;
• information about disability, access needs or reasonable adjustments;
• information about training applications, course participation, attendance, assessment and progress;
• information about counsellor qualifications, supervision, insurance, DBS checks and professional registration;
• employment, trustee or volunteer information;
• donation, Gift Aid or supporter information;
• correspondence with us;
• technical information from our website, such as cookies, IP address, browser type and website usage data, where applicable.

Some of this information is classed as “special category data” under UK data protection law. This includes information about health, mental health, counselling, racial or ethnic origin, religious or philosophical beliefs, sexual orientation, sex life and other sensitive personal circumstances where these are relevant to the service being provided.

4. Why we use personal information

We use personal information for the following purposes:

• to respond to enquiries;
• to assess whether CCS is able to offer an appropriate counselling service;
• to provide counselling safely and ethically;
• to allocate clients to suitable counsellors;
• to manage risk, safeguarding concerns and clinical suitability;
• to provide supervision and support to counsellors;
• to manage counselling appointments, attendance, fees and payments;
• to administer training courses and student records;
• to manage staff, trustees, volunteers, trainees and counsellors;
• to meet legal, regulatory, professional and insurance obligations;
• to manage complaints, subject access requests and data protection requests;
• to report to funders in anonymised or statistical form;
• to manage donations and fundraising activity;
• to maintain accurate organisational records;
• to improve and evaluate our services;
• to protect the safety of clients, counsellors, staff, volunteers and others.

We will only use personal information where we have a lawful basis for doing so.

5. Our lawful bases for using personal information

Depending on the purpose, we may rely on one or more of the following lawful bases under UK GDPR:

• Contract: where processing is necessary to provide counselling, training, supervision or another service you have requested.
• Legal obligation: where we need to comply with the law, for example in relation to safeguarding, financial records, employment law or charity governance.
• Legitimate interests: where processing is necessary for the effective, safe and lawful running of CCS, provided your rights and freedoms do not override those interests.
• Consent: where we specifically ask for your consent, for example for some forms of communication, publicity or optional sharing of information.
• Vital interests: where information needs to be used or shared to protect someone’s life or safety in an emergency.
• Public task or substantial public interest: where applicable, for safeguarding or other legally recognised purposes.

Where we process special category data, such as health or counselling information, we also rely on an additional condition under Article 9 of UK GDPR. This will usually be because the processing is necessary for the provision of health or social care, counselling or related support, and is carried out by people who are subject to professional or organisational duties of confidentiality. In some safeguarding or legal situations, we may rely on substantial public interest or other relevant legal conditions.

6. Counselling confidentiality

CCS treats counselling information as confidential. Counsellors, supervisors, staff, trainees and volunteers are expected to maintain appropriate confidentiality and to follow CCS policies, professional standards and ethical requirements.

However, confidentiality is not absolute. We may need to use or share information where:

• there is a serious or imminent risk of harm to you or another person;
• there is a safeguarding concern involving a child, young person or vulnerable adult;
• we are required to do so by law or court order;
• there is a serious crime or terrorism-related concern;
• information is needed for supervision, clinical governance, complaints, insurance or legal advice;
• you have given explicit consent for information to be shared with a named person or organisation.

Where possible and appropriate, we will discuss any proposed sharing with you first. In some circumstances, this may not be possible, particularly where there is an urgent safeguarding or legal concern.

7. Clinical notes and supervision

Counsellors may keep brief clinical notes to support safe and ethical practice. These notes are kept securely and are accessed only by those who need them for legitimate clinical, supervisory, safeguarding, complaints, insurance or legal purposes.

Counsellors discuss their work in clinical supervision. This is a professional requirement and helps ensure safe and ethical practice. Client identity is protected as far as possible during supervision.

8. Who we may share information with

We only share personal information where there is a lawful reason to do so. Depending on the circumstances, we may share information with:

• counsellors, supervisors, staff, trustees or volunteers involved in providing or managing services;
• your GP or another health professional, where this is necessary and appropriate;
• safeguarding authorities, such as local authority safeguarding teams;
• emergency services, where there is a serious and urgent risk;
• professional advisers, insurers or legal advisers;
• funders, where information is anonymised or statistical unless otherwise agreed;
• training or accreditation bodies, where relevant and lawful;
• IT, email, website, cloud storage, booking, accounting or payment providers who process data on our behalf;
• regulators or public authorities where required by law.

We do not sell personal information to third parties.

9. Website, cookies and online services

If you use our website, we may collect limited technical information such as IP address, browser type, pages visited and cookies, depending on how the website is configured.

If our website uses cookies or analytics, we will explain this through a cookie notice or cookie banner where required. You can usually control cookies through your browser settings.

If you contact us through a website form, email or online platform, your information will be used to respond to your enquiry and administer our services.

10. How we keep information secure

We take appropriate steps to protect personal information from loss, misuse, unauthorised access, disclosure or alteration. These steps may include:

• password protection and access controls;
• secure storage of paper records;
• secure email, cloud or IT systems where used;
• limiting access to those who need the information;
• confidentiality requirements for staff, counsellors, supervisors, trainees, trustees and volunteers;
• data protection training and guidance;
• secure disposal of records when no longer needed.

No system can be guaranteed to be completely secure, but we take data protection seriously and review our arrangements where necessary.

11. How long we keep information

We keep personal information only for as long as necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, and to meet legal, professional, insurance, safeguarding, accounting and governance requirements.

Different types of information are kept for different periods. For example:

• counselling records are normally kept for a defined period after counselling ends, in line with professional, insurance and legal requirements;
• financial records are normally kept for accounting and tax purposes;
• staff, trustee, volunteer, trainee and training records are kept in line with employment, education, charity and insurance requirements;
• safeguarding records may need to be kept for longer where required to protect individuals or meet legal obligations.

At the end of the relevant retention period, records will be securely deleted, destroyed or anonymised.

CCS maintains a retention schedule setting out how long different categories of records are kept.

12. Your rights

Under data protection law, you have rights in relation to your personal information. These may include the right to:

• be informed about how your data is used;
• request access to the personal information we hold about you;
• ask for inaccurate information to be corrected;
• ask for information to be erased in certain circumstances;
• ask us to restrict processing in certain circumstances;
• object to certain types of processing;
• request transfer of your data in certain circumstances;
• withdraw consent, where we are relying on consent;
• complain about how your personal information has been handled.

These rights are not absolute and may depend on the lawful basis for processing and the type of information involved. For example, CCS may need to retain some information for legal, safeguarding, insurance, professional or clinical reasons.

If you wish to exercise your rights, please contact us using the details in section 1.

We may need to confirm your identity before responding to a request.

13. Subject access requests

You have the right to ask for a copy of the personal information CCS holds about you. This is known as a subject access request.

We will respond to subject access requests within the timescale required by law, normally one month. In some cases, where a request is complex, we may be allowed to extend this period. We will tell you if this applies.

There may be circumstances where we cannot provide all information requested, for example where it includes information about another person, where an exemption applies, or where disclosure would create a serious risk of harm.

14. Data protection complaints

If you are concerned about how CCS has handled your personal information, please contact us so that we can try to resolve the issue.

You can make a data protection complaint by:

• emailing us at: office@ccs-counselling.org.uk
• writing to us at: Chichester Counselling Services,106-108 The Hornet, Chichester,
  West Sussex, PO19 7JR
• telephoning us on: 01243 789000

Please explain what has happened, what personal information is involved, and what you would like us to do.

We will acknowledge your complaint within 30 days. We will consider your complaint carefully, investigate where necessary, keep you informed where appropriate, and respond without undue delay. Our response will explain the outcome and any action we have taken or propose to take.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Information Commissioner’s Office
Website: www.ico.org.uk
Telephone: 0303 123 1113

15. Changes to this statement

We may update this privacy and data protection statement from time to time. The latest version will be published on our website.

This statement was last updated in June 2026.