Privacy Policy

The Women’s Counselling and Therapy Service (WCTS) hosts the Visible Project

This notice applies to all individuals whose data is processed by Women’s Counselling and Therapy Service (WCTS). If you apply to access services at WCTS we will need to process your personal data. This document summarises the key ways we do this and your rights in this. If we may collect personal data from you, we are responsible for ensuring that you have seen this notice before data is collected and processed.

All employees of WCTS are required to ensure that this notice is brought to your attention if we may be collecting your personal data, and to request your consent for the processing of personal data. We are committed to protecting your privacy, whether as a client, member of staff, stakeholder, supporter, supplier or visitor to our premises or website. This privacy notice explains what personal data we may collect, how we use it and how we ensure it is kept safe. There is additional detail in our GDPR Policy, if you would like a copy please ask at Reception.

Fair Processing

We will collect and use your personal data for the following purposes:

• In order to assess your suitability to access services at WCTS (referral form).
• In order to contact you during your engagement with WCTS.
• To help the therapist/counsellor in their work with you.
• For monitoring and evaluating our services. We use different forms to check that the work we are doing with you is useful and effective. At the beginning of therapy /counselling, during and at the end of therapy/counselling you will be asked to complete forms to allow WCTS to monitor and evaluate the work done.
• As part of reports to our funders and other stakeholders about the work we are doing. This includes general information such as details of the types of problems we are working with, and may include brief, anonymous descriptions of how our work has helped.
• As part of our ongoing evaluation of services by ex-service users.

You may withdraw your consent at any time where we are relying on consent to process your personal data. However, this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdraw your consent. If you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide certain products or services to you. We will advise you if this is the case at the time you withdraw consent. You can also request a copy of our Right to Withdraw Consent procedure at any time.

What is Personal Data?

Personal data is any information that relates to and identifies a living person. For example, a name, an identification number, location, bank details, CCTV images, IP address, email address.

Some types of personal information is called ‘sensitive personal data’ and this includes ethnicity, religious beliefs, physical/ mental health, sexuality, information about criminal offences or proceedings.

The GDPR data protection legislation requires that consent is provided for collection and processing of all types of personal data, including sensitive personal data.

When we request sensitive data, we are required to confirm why we need the information and how we will use it.

Why do we collect and store personal data?

WCTS need to collect personal data to fulfil our role to provide support, counselling and psychotherapy services to women and girls in Leeds.

We are committed to making sure that all personal information collected and processed is for the stated purpose(s) and will not be an invasion of your privacy. We may share your personal data with third party service providers who are contracted by us and we will ensure that they will hold your personal data securely and use it only in order to fulfill the service for which they are contracted. When there is no longer a service need, or the contract comes to an end, the third party will dispose of all personal data according to our procedures. We will never share your personal data with third parties until we have received your consent, unless we are required do
so by law.

How WCTS uses your information

WCTS will process your data (i.e. collect, store and use) according to the requirements of data protection legislation (GDPR) at all times and will endeavour to keep your personal data up-to date and accurate. We will not keep your personal data for longer than is needed. In some situations, there are set legal requirements for the length of time that we keep personal data but normally we will use our discretion, making sure that personal data is not kept outside of our business needs.

We will never be intrusive or invasive of your personal privacy and will not ask you to provide data that is irrelevant or unnecessary and we will have strict measures and processes in place to ensure that the risk of unauthorised access or disclosure of your personal data is minimised as much as possible.

We will only use your personal data for the purposes stated above. If it becomes necessary to use your personal data for additional purposes this will only be done with your consent, unless we are required to do so by law.

Job applicants, volunteers, current and former staff

We will only use any information you provide during the recruitment process for the purpose of progressing your application, or to fulfil legal or regulatory requirements if necessary.

We will not share any information you provide during the process with any third parties for marketing purposes or store it outside of the European Economic Area. The information you provide will be held securely by us, whether the information is in electronic or physical format.

What information will we ask you for?

• Contact details you provide to contact you to progress your application.
• Information you provide to assess your suitability for the job you have applied for.
• If we make an offer of employment we will ask for information so that we can carry out pre-employment checks. Including proof of your identify and proof of your qualifications – we will ask to see the original documents.
• We will contact your referees directly, using the details you provide on the application form.
• Following pre-employment checks we will ask for bank details in order to process salary payments.
• Emergency contact details, so we know who to contact if you have an emergency at work.

We do not collect more information than we need to fulfil our stated purposes and will not retain it for longer than is necessary.

During your employment we may need to share your information with third party processors who provide elements of our HR, employment and payroll service. This information may be:

• Employment law advice.
• Occupational health advice.
• Payroll and pensions processing.
• Employee benefits.

We have contracts in place with all third party processors. This means they will hold your information securely. They will not share your personal information with any organisation other than WCTS. They will only use your information as instructed by WCTS.

The information you provide will be retained as part of your employee file for the duration of your employment and for six years afterwards. If you’re unsuccessful the information you give us, and any information we create during the process, is retained securely for six months and then disposed of securely.

Our website

Our website may contain links to other websites which may be of use to you. This privacy notice only applies to our website. When you follow links to other websites you should ready their own privacy notices.

Further information

You have rights which you can exercise in relation to the information we hold about you under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). You can read more about this on the ICO’s website.

How to contact WCTS

If you have any questions, concerns or worries about how your personal data is being collected and processed by us, please contact us in writing, by phone or by email:

Support Services Manager (DPO)
Women’s Counselling and Therapy Service
Portland House
Portland Street
Leeds LS1 3DR

Telephone: 0113 2455725
Email: info@womenstherapyleeds.org.uk