Uses of your data

'Retention period' refers to the number of academic years that your data will be held after your final contact with our Service.

Table 1 - uses of data
Data category Source of data Specific purpose Legal basis Retention period
Referral form information supplied by the client We collect this information in order to provide a summary record of information shared by the client. Performance of contract 5 years or 1 year if accessing the EAP instead.
Case notes Generated by Service staff This is a summary record of information shared by clients, by session, in order to provide an ethical counselling service Performance of contract 5 years
Client information Received from client/third party To record concern expressed about a client/non-client pre contract / Legitimate interest 5 years
Non-client information Received from client/third party Mainly responses to requests for counselling and queries about the Service or EAP pre contract / Legitimate interest 1 year
Counsellors' supervision Counselling sessions

In line with professional requirements counsellors may discuss counselling sessions with a supervisor external to the Service.  The identity of the client is not revealed.  The purpose of supervision is to help the counsellor reflect on their work with clients

Legitimate interest mainly discussion notes - maximum 24 hours
Evaluations Service evaluation form - voluntary processing Anonymised online  survey to monitor user feedback and inform service development.  This survey is delivered by Online Surveys for more information please visit their website Online surveys Consent 5 years
Database Referral form and case notes We record details of clients' contact with the Service e.g. date and session status.  We also use BACP (British Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists) codes to record issues and severity Legitimate interest 10 years
EAP (Employee Assistance Programme) External provider The University Staff Counselling Service is currently working in partnership with MCL Medics. You can access MCL Medic's privacy notice here. See MCL medics privacy notice See MCL medics privacy notice