Privacy Policy

Who Is Responsible for Your Information

Lloyds Counselling Services Limited, registered in England and Wales, company number 11751767. Registered office: 7a Stratford Arcade, 75 High Street, Stony Stratford, Milton Keynes, MK11 1AY.

Sessions take place at 16 Manor Farm Ct, Old Wolverton Rd, Wolverton, Milton Keynes, MK12 5NN, or online.

For anything about your information, contact David Lloyd: davidlloydlcs@gmail.com or 07470 672802.

What I Collect, and When

If You Only Read the Website

Nothing that identifies you personally. The site records general statistics about visits, such as which pages are opened and roughly where in the world the visitor is. That is covered under Cookies and Analytics below.

If You Send Me a Message

The contact form asks for your first name, your email address and whatever you choose to write in the message box.

That last part matters more than it looks. Most people describe what is going on for them, which means the message often contains information about your health or your relationships. You do not have to put any of that in the form. "I would like to talk about something, can we arrange a call" is a perfectly good message and tells me enough to reply.

If You Become a Client

I keep a record for each person I work with. That covers your contact details, an emergency contact where you give one, your GP where it is relevant, what we agreed at the start, and brief notes of our sessions.

Session notes are short. They are there so I can do the work properly, not to build a file on you. You are entitled to see them and you can ask at any time.

Why I Am Allowed to Hold It

Data protection law requires a reason for holding anything. Mine are these.

• For enquiries: because you asked me to reply. You can withdraw that at any time and I will delete the exchange.
• For client records: because holding notes is a necessary part of providing counselling, and because my professional body and my insurer require me to keep them.
• For information about your health: the law treats this as a special category and sets a higher bar. The bar it uses here is that the information is necessary for the provision of health or social care by a professional bound by a duty of confidentiality, which is what I am.
• For website statistics: your consent, given through the cookie banner and withdrawable at any time, for anything stored on your device. One thing happens before you choose: Google is told that a page was opened, which includes your IP address. My basis for that is my legitimate interest in knowing which pages get read, and it stores nothing on your device.

How Long I Keep It

Enquiries that do not turn into work are deleted within three months.

Client records are kept for seven years after our last session, and are then destroyed securely.

Where the client was under 18, I keep the record until their twenty-fifth birthday instead. That is because the time limit for a young person to bring a claim does not start running until they turn 18, so the shorter period would not be long enough to be fair to them.

If you want your enquiry deleted sooner than that, say so and it is done the same week.

Who Else Sees It

Nobody, with four exceptions, and it is worth being exact about them.

• My supervisor. Every counsellor in the UK is required to discuss their work in supervision. It is a safeguard for you rather than a loophole. Clients are not named and identifying details are left out.
• The companies that run the website and my email. Squarespace hosts the site and processes the contact form, Google provides my email and the visit counts, and a service called Elfsight displays the Google reviews on the homepage. They hold information on my behalf under contract and none of them may use it for their own purposes.
• Where somebody is at risk of serious harm. If I believe a person, particularly a child, is at risk of serious harm, I have a duty to pass that on. Wherever it is possible and safe to do so, I would tell you I was doing it. This is standard for any counsellor and I would rather you knew it now.
• Where a court orders it. Rare, and I would tell you unless the order prevented me.

That is the whole list. No marketing, no data broking, nothing sold.

Cookies and Analytics

Nothing is stored on your device until you choose. Before you touch the banner, the only cookie the site sets is a security token Squarespace needs to make the contact form work. No analytics cookie, no advertising cookie, nothing that follows you to another website.

One thing does happen before you choose, and I would rather say it than leave it out. The site uses Google Analytics, and the moment a page loads Google is told that it was opened, along with your IP address and the browser you are using. That happens whether you accept or decline. What accepting changes is whether Google may also store a cookie on your device, which is the part that lets it tell a returning visitor from a new one.

What I get from it is counts. It tells me how many people opened the depression page last month. It does not tell me who they were, and I have no way of matching a visit to a person.

The homepage also shows Google reviews through a service called Elfsight, which loads that section from its own servers. It sets no cookies. Loading it does mean Elfsight sees your IP address, in the same way as any website you load anything from.

Squarespace also writes a short note to your browser's local storage to remember that you have been here before. It is not a cookie, it is not sent anywhere, and it clears with the rest of the site's data.

If you decline, the site works exactly the same. You can change your mind either way by clearing this site's cookies in your browser, which brings the banner back on your next visit.

Where It Is Stored

Squarespace and Google both store information on servers outside the UK, including in the United States. Where that happens, the transfer is covered by the safeguards the law provides for, which these companies put in place as a matter of course.

Anything on paper is kept locked at my practice address and is not taken anywhere else.

Your Rights

You can ask me to do any of the following, and I do not charge for it.

• Tell you what I hold about you, and give you a copy.
• Correct anything that is wrong.
• Delete it, where I am not required to keep it.
• Stop using it, or restrict what I do with it.
• Withdraw consent you have given, including for cookies.
• Object to how I am using it.

Email me and I will respond within one month, usually a good deal faster. I may ask you to confirm who you are first, which is a protection for you rather than an obstacle.

If You Are Not Happy With How I Have Handled It

Tell me first if you are willing to. Most of these turn out to be misunderstandings and I would rather fix it than have you carry it.

You also have the right to go straight to the regulator, and you do not need my agreement to do it. The Information Commissioner's Office takes complaints at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or on 0303 123 1113.

Changes to This Policy

If this changes, the date at the top changes with it. If a change actually affects existing clients, I will tell them directly rather than relying on anyone re-reading this page.