Who we are
We are Community Counselling Service (CCS), an independent community interest company (CIC) offering counselling to all in our community. When we ask you for your personal information we act as a Data Controller and Data Processor as defined by the ICO. We abide by ICO guidelines but are not registered with ICO as CIC’s are exempt.
Our contact details
Address: 29-30 Roper Close, Canterbury CT2 7EP
Phone Number: 01227 766441
E-mail: office@communitycounsellingservice.org.uk
The type of personal information we collect
We currently collect and process the following information:
- Personal identifiers, contacts and characteristics (for example, name and contact details)
How we get the 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 book an assessment and use the counselling service
- To enquire about the service
- To signpost to other services
We use the information that you have given us to:
- Communicate with you during your time working with us
- Work with you remotely when necessary, e.g. via telephone
- Keep a record of your counselling history
We may share some or all of this information with:
- Members of CCS staff (e.g. your counsellor)
We do not share your information with any person outside CCS, or any organisation other than CCS unless:
- We are required to do so by a court subpoena
- You request that we do so; in which case we require you to make such request in writing and sign to say you agree for us to share.
GDPR
Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the lawful bases we rely on for processing this information are:
(a) Your consent. You are able to remove your consent at any time. You can do this by contacting CCS in writing.
(b) We have a contractual obligation.
(d) We have a vital interest.
(f) We have a legitimate interest in order to go about our regular business.
How we store your personal information
- Your information is securely stored at our offices. Paper records are kept in files under lock and key in lockable offices. Electronic data is kept on password protected cloud server systems and only shared with staff who have a relevant need to share in order to carry out regular business admin.
- A large part of your counselling record is anonymised by using a numeric identifier, so that no notes or attendance records contain a client name or address. This number is cross-referrable to name and address information, but to protect identity as far as possible the two records are kept separately.
- It is generally recommended within the industry that counselling client notes and data are kept for 6 years – this could be because there might be circumstances where they could be required in future, e.g. court hearings, insurance. Once counselling has ended we keep your data in secure locked buildings in a locked storage unit for this time. We will then dispose of your information by:
- Shredding paper records
- Deleting electronic data from the server and any individual computers
- Should a client die whilst attending counselling at CCS we might be required to keep notes and client data for longer, at the request of courts/coroners etc.
Your data protection rights
Under data protection law, you have rights including:
Your right of access – You have the right to ask us for copies of your personal information.
Your right to rectification – You have the right to ask us to rectify personal information you think is inaccurate. You also have the right to ask us to complete information you think is incomplete.
Your right to erasure – You have the right to ask us to erase your personal information in certain circumstances.
Your right to restriction of processing – You have the right to ask us to restrict the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.
Your right to object to processing – You have the the right to object to the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.
Your right to data portability – You have the right to ask that we transfer the personal information you gave us to another organisation, or to you, in certain circumstances.
You are not required to pay any charge for exercising your rights. If you make a request, we have one month to respond to you.
Please contact us at office@communitycounsellingservice.org.uk or 01227 766441 or in writing to 29-30 Roper Close, Canterbury CT2 7EP if you wish to make a request to access data we keep about you.
How to complain
If you have any concerns about our use of your personal information, you can make a complaint to us at office@communitycounsellingservice.org.uk
You can also complain to the ICO if you are unhappy with how we have used your data.
The ICO’s address:
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Helpline number: 0303 123 1113
ICO website: https://www.ico.org.uk