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Privacy Policy

Investing In You Counselling

Last updated: 2nd November 2026

ICO Registration Number: ZC265683

Investing In You Counselling is committed to protecting your privacy and handling your personal information with care and confidentiality.

1. Who we are

Investing In You Counselling ('we', 'us', 'our') is the data controller responsible for your personal data.

We are registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).

You can contact us about data protection matters in any of the following ways:
 

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2. What personal data we collect

We may collect and process the following types of personal data about you, depending on how you interact with us:

Information you give us directly:
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  • Identity data: your name, job title, and company name

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  • Contact data: your email address, phone number, and postal address

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  • Transaction data: details of bookings you make with us

 

  • Communications data: the content of messages, enquiries, or feedback you send us

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  • Any information you choose to share when contacting us, booking or attending counselling sessions

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Information collected automatically:

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  • Technical data: your IP address, browser type, device type, and operating system when you visit our website

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  • Usage data: information about how you navigate and use our website, including pages visited and time spent

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  • ​Cookie data: information stored on your device by cookies and similar technologies — see Section 9 for details

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  • ​We do not use any AI tools or note-takers

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3. How we collect your personal data

We collect personal data in the following ways:
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  • When you contact us by email, phone, or via our website contact form​

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  • When you make a booking

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  • When you interact with our website — through cookies and analytics tools

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  • When providing you with a counselling service

4. Why we use your personal data

We use your personal data for the following purposes:
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  • Purpose - To respond to your enquiries and provide customer support​

  • Types of Date Used - Identity, contact, communications data

  • ​​Lawful Basis - Contract / Legitimate interests
     

  • Purpose - To fulfil your bookings, or service requests​

  • Types of Date Used - Identity, contact, transaction data

  • ​​Lawful Basis - Contract
     

  • Purpose - To process payments​

  • Types of Date Used - Transaction, financial data

  • ​​Lawful Basis - Contract
     

  • Purpose - To manage our relationship with you, including notifying you of changes​

  • Types of Date Used - Identity, contact data

  • ​​Lawful Basis - Contract / Legal obligation
     

  • Purpose - To improve our website and understand how it is used​

  • Types of Date Used - Technical, usage, cookie data

  • ​​Lawful Basis - Legitimate interests
     

  • Purpose - To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations​

  • Types of Date Used - Any relevant data

  • ​​Lawful Basis - Legal obligation

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  • Purpose - To send you service communications about your bookings, or service requests​

  • Types of Date Used - Identity, contact data

  • ​​Lawful Basis - Contract

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  • Purpose - To provide you with counselling services

  • Types of Date Used - Any relevant data

  • ​​Lawful Basis - Contract / Legal obligation

5. How we collect your personal data

We share your personal data only where necessary and with appropriate safeguards in place.​
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We may share it with:
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  • IT and software providers: including our website hosting provider, email platform, CRM system, and cloud storage services, who process data on our behalf under written data processing agreements
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  • Payment services: for financial record-keeping and payment processing
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  • The ICO or other regulators: where required by law or in response to a lawful request
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We do not share your information with third parties unless required by law or where there is a safeguarding concern.
 
All counselling sessions are confidential and handled in line with professional and ethical guidelines. Any limits to confidentiality will be clearly explained.
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We do not sell your personal data to third parties. We do not share it for purposes beyond those described in this notice without your consent.
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6. International data transfers

Some of our third-party service providers are based outside the United Kingdom or process data on servers located outside the UK. Where this is the case, we ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect your data — for example, through standard contractual clauses approved for use under UK data protection law.
7. How long we keep your personal data

We only keep your personal data for as long as we need it for the purposes described in this notice, or as required by law.
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Accounting and financial records are kept for 6 years (HMRC requirement).
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All counselling related information including contact details and session notes are kept for a minimum of 7 years.
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When data reaches the end of its retention period, we delete it securely or anonymise it so it can no longer be linked to you.
8. Your rights

Under UK GDPR, you have the following rights in relation to your personal data. You can exercise any of these rights at any time by contacting us using the details in Section 1.
 

  • Right to be informed

  • You have the right to know how we use your personal data — which is what this privacy notice is for.

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  • Right of access

  • You can ask us for a copy of the personal data we hold about you at any time. We will respond within one month.
     

  • Right to rectification

  • If the data we hold about you is inaccurate or incomplete, you can ask us to correct it.
     

  • Right to erasure

  • In certain circumstances, you can ask us to delete your personal data. We will comply unless we have a legal obligation to keep it.
     

  • Right to restrict processing

  • You can ask us to pause how we use your data in certain circumstances — for example, while we verify its accuracy.

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  • Right to data portability

  • In some cases, you can ask us to provide your personal data in a structured, commonly used format so you can transfer it elsewhere.

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  • Right to object

  • You have the right to object to us processing your personal data, particularly for direct marketing purposes. If you object to marketing, we will stop immediately.

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  • Rights related to automated decision-making

  • You have the right not to be subject to decisions made solely by automated processes that produce significant legal or similar effects on you, without human review.

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We will respond to rights requests within one month of receiving them. There is no charge for making a request, unless it is clearly unfounded or excessive — in which case we may charge a reasonable fee or decline the request.

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If you are not satisfied with our response, or believe we are processing your data unlawfully, you have the right to complain to the ICO:

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Website: ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint

Phone: 0303 123 1113

Post: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF

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FROM JUNE 2026 — RAISE CONCERNS WITH US FIRST

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From 19 June 2026, individuals are asked to raise data protection complaints with the organisation directly before going to the ICO. We will acknowledge your complaint and aim to respond within one month. This does not affect your right to complain to the ICO at any time.

9. Cookies

Our website uses cookies and similar technologies to improve your experience and to understand how the site is used.
 
  • Strictly necessary cookies: These are essential for the website to work correctly. They do not require your consent.
10. How we protect your personal data

We take the security of your personal data seriously. We have put in place appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect it from unauthorised access, loss, alteration, or disclosure.
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  • Access to personal data is restricted to those who need it for their job
  • We use passwords and/or two-factor authentication on systems containing personal data 
  • Data held digitally is stored on encrypted or access-controlled systems
  • We require our third-party suppliers to maintain appropriate security standards
  • We are trained on data protection responsibilities and the importance of keeping data secure
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No method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is 100% secure. While we take all reasonable steps to protect your data, we cannot guarantee absolute security. If a security breach occurs that is likely to risk your rights and freedoms, we will notify you and the ICO as required by law.
11. Automated decision-making
 
We do not use automated decision-making or profiling that produces legal or similarly significant effects on individuals.
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12. Changes to this privacy notice
 
We may update this privacy notice from time to time to reflect changes in our data practices or in the law. We will always display the date it was last updated at the top of this notice. Where changes are significant, we will take reasonable steps to draw them to your attention — for example, by email or by displaying a notice on our website.

We recommend checking this notice periodically to stay informed about how we protect your information.

Privacy notice produced by Investing In You Counselling. 

Investing In You Counselling, 2nd Floor College House, 17 King Edwards Road, Ruislip, London, HA4 7AE, UK

ian@investinginyoucounselling.co.uk

ICO Registration Number: ZC265683

Version dated: 2nd November 2026​
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