Redlands Privacy Policy
Last updated 10 November, 2026
Introduction
Redlands Counselling & Training ('Redlands') is the data controller for the personal information described in this policy. We are committed to complying with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR), and to the responsible and secure use of your personal data. This policy explains what personal information we collect, why we collect it, the legal basis for using it, how long we keep it, who we share it with, and your rights over it. Redlands is registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), reference ZA145863. Our Director, Paul René, is responsible for how Redlands handles personal data.
1. What we collect and why
1.1 Counselling enquiries and clients
When you enquire about our counselling services, we collect your name, contact details, availability and anything you choose to tell us about what you would like support with, so that we can arrange an initial appointment. Information about you and your counselling may include details about your health, including your mental health, which is special category data. We use it only to arrange and provide your counselling. We do this because it is necessary to take steps at your request before entering into a counselling agreement and to provide that service, and we process any health information with your explicit consent. We never use it for marketing, and we will only share it without your permission in the circumstances set out in section 2.3. Once you finish counselling, all records relating to your counselling are stored securely for 7 years and then destroyed.
1.2 Course enquiries and marketing
When you enquire about a course, workshop or taster session, we collect your name, contact details, the course you are interested in and any message you send us. We use this to reply to your enquiry and to give you information about the course you asked about. We do this because it is necessary to take steps at your request, and because we have a legitimate interest in responding to people who contact us.
If you tick the box on our enquiry form, we will also email you information about our courses, events and services. This is optional and based on your consent, and we handle your enquiry in exactly the same way whether or not you tick it. You can withdraw your consent at any time using the unsubscribe link in any marketing email, or by contacting [email protected]. Our marketing emails let us see whether they have been opened and whether links have been clicked, so that we can tell which information is useful.
We keep enquiry details for 24 months after your last contact with us and then delete them, unless you have applied to enrol, in which case section 1.3 applies. If you have subscribed to marketing emails, we keep your details until you unsubscribe or until 24 months after you last interacted with our emails, whichever comes first.
1.3 Course applications
When you apply for one of our courses, workshops or taster sessions, we collect your name, contact details and the information you give on the application form, along with references and, for post-qualification courses, copies of your certificates to confirm you meet the entry requirements. Applications for some courses also include a personal statement about your experience and your reasons for applying. We use this information to assess your application and, if you enrol, to set up your student record. We do this because it is necessary to take steps at your request before entering into an agreement to train with us.
Your personal statement, or the support needs section of the form, may include information about your health, including your mental health. This is special category data. You only need to share what you are comfortable with. We use it only to assess your application and, where you ask us to, to arrange support for you, and we process it only with your explicit consent, which you give by ticking the consent box on the application form. We never use it for marketing. You can withdraw your consent at any time by contacting [email protected]. If you withdraw consent for support needs, we may no longer be able to make the adjustments you asked for.
Applications are received by email into a shared mailbox that only two members of our admissions team can access. If your application is unsuccessful, we delete your application, including your statement and references, within 6 months of our decision. We keep a brief record that you applied and the reason for our decision for [period], so that we can take it into account if you apply again.
If you enrol, we keep your application, statement, references and certificate copies until you complete your course and your certificate has been issued, and then we delete them. After that we keep only the minimum information needed to confirm the course you took, your outcome and your dates, which we store securely for 7 years and then destroy.
Note: Paul to set how long the reason for an unsuccessful application is kept. Record the reason factually, without health details from the statement. The mailbox sentence changes when applications move into the CRM.
1.4 Sharing with CPCAB
If you enrol on a CPCAB course with Redlands, we share some of your information with CPCAB, the awarding organisation for your course, because this is necessary to register you for your qualification. CPCAB uses it to carry out its functions, including verifying your Unique Learner Number (ULN) and uploading your achievement data, if any, to your Personal Learning Record. Your ULN and Personal Learning Record are held by the Department for Education, which may share them with other education related organisations, such as your careers service, school, college, university, government departments and public bodies responsible for funding your education. CPCAB and the Department for Education are each responsible for how they use your information, and you can read their privacy notices on their websites [add links].
2. How we use and share information
2.1 We use your personal information only for the purposes described in this policy: to respond to your enquiry, assess your application, provide our services and, where you have agreed, send you information about our courses. We do not sell your details, and we do not share them with any other person or organisation except as described below.
2.2 We use trusted providers to store and manage information on our behalf. These include Zoho, which provides the systems for our enquiry and application forms, our records of enquiries and applications, and our email marketing, Zoom, which we use to deliver our online courses, and [our email and text messaging providers]. They act only on our instructions under a written data processing agreement and may not use your information for their own purposes. Our online sessions on Zoom are never recorded or shared. Some of our providers may store or process information outside the UK, including in the European Economic Area and the United States. Where this happens, we make sure your information is protected by appropriate safeguards required under UK data protection law.
2.3 We share information with CPCAB as described in section 1.4. We will share your information without your permission only where there is a legal requirement, a child or safeguarding issue, or a perceived risk of harm to you or someone else.
2.4 A breach of confidentiality is when a person shares information with another in circumstances where it is reasonable to expect that the information will be kept confidential.
3. Security
3.1 We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your information against loss, misuse, unauthorised access or alteration. Access to enquiry and application records is limited to the staff who need it, and our systems are protected by [passwords and multi-factor authentication]. If a data breach occurs that is likely to put you at risk, we will tell you and report it to the ICO as the law requires.
3.2 We may communicate with you by email and text. Unless you ask us to use encryption and give us permission to do so, these messages are not encrypted, and email and text are not fully secure ways to communicate. This includes applications and personal statements sent to us by email. If you would rather not send sensitive information this way, contact us at [email protected] and we will arrange another way for you to share it. We take reasonable steps to keep our systems protected against viruses and other harmful effects.
4. Your rights
4.1 You have the right to ask us for a copy of the personal information we hold about you, to have it corrected if it's wrong, and in some circumstances to have it deleted, to ask us to restrict how we use it, to object to how we use it, and to receive it in a portable format. You can object to marketing at any time, and we will stop. Where we rely on your consent, including for health information in your application and for marketing emails, you can withdraw it at any time. Withdrawing consent doesn't affect anything we did before you withdrew it.
4.2 To make a request, or to raise any concern about how we use your information, please contact our Director, Paul René, at [email protected]. We will reply within one month. We may need to keep some information despite a deletion request, for example where we are legally required to keep it or where CPCAB requires it for your student record, and if so we will explain why.
4.3 We will do our utmost to resolve any concern you raise. If you are not satisfied with our response, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or on 0303 123 1113.
5. Cookies and email tracking
5.1 Our website uses cookies. Essential cookies make the site work and cannot be switched off. Other cookies, such as analytics cookies, are only set if you accept them in our cookie banner, and you can change your choice at any time. Our Cookie Policy [link] lists the cookies we use.
5.2 Our marketing emails contain a small image and tracked links, which let us see whether an email has been opened and which links have been clicked. We use this only to understand which information is useful to you. You only receive these emails if you have chosen to, and you can unsubscribe at any time.
Redlands Counselling & Training (‘Redlands’) is committed to complying with the terms of the General Data Protection Regulation made on 27 April 2016, and to the responsible and secure use of your personal data. Redlands has a legitimate interest in processing personal data to provide counselling and training services. The purpose of this statement is to let you know what personal information Redlands collects and holds, why we collect this data, how long it is kept and your rights over your personal data. Redlands is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (‘ICO’), reference ZA145863