Privacy Policy
- Last updated: February 2025
Introduction
Edward’s Trust (“we”, “us”, “our”) is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, and protect your personal data when you engage with our services, including counselling support for adults and children.
We are a registered charity in the UK (Charity Number: 1105370), and our registered office is located at 37 Calthorpe Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 1TS.
1. Information We Collect
We collect and process personal data that you provide directly to us, as well as information we gather automatically when you use our website. The data we collect includes:
- Personal Information: Name, contact details (e.g., phone number, email address, postal address).
- Demographic Information: e.g., Date of birth, gender, and ethnicity.
- Counselling Information: Information shared during the counselling process, such as health information or details about bereavement, which may be considered special category data.
- Children’s Data: When working with children, we may collect similar information with the consent of a parent or legal guardian.
- Website Usage Data: IP address, browser type, and other data collected via cookies (see Section 8).
- Fundraising and Supporter Data: If you choose to support us through donations, fundraising activities, or events, we may collect financial details (processed securely via third-party payment providers) and communication preferences.
- Grant and Funding Data: We may collect anonymised data or seek your explicit consent to use case studies, impact data, or service usage statistics to support funding applications.
2. How We Use Your Information
We process your data to:
- Provide and manage our counselling services.
- Respond to enquiries or requests.
- Assess your needs and provide tailored support.
- Ensure the safety and well-being of service users.
- Comply with legal obligations, such as safeguarding and charity regulations.
- Improve our services and website functionality.
- Fundraise and Communicate with You:
- Send you updates about our work, fundraising campaigns, and events (where you have provided consent or we have a legitimate interest).
- Process donations and manage Gift Aid claims.
- Analyse supporter engagement to improve our fundraising efforts.
- Send you updates about our work, fundraising campaigns, and events (where you have provided consent or we have a legitimate interest).
- Support Grant and Charitable Trust Applications:
- We use anonymised data (eg., service usage statistics) to demonstrate the impact of our work.
- In some cases, we may request your explicit consent to use case studies or testimonials.
- We use anonymised data (eg., service usage statistics) to demonstrate the impact of our work.
3. Legal Basis for Processing
We process your personal data on the following lawful bases:
- Consent: For sensitive data, such as health information, with your explicit consent.
- Contract: To provide counselling services.
- Legal Obligation: For safeguarding, Gift Aid claims, and compliance with charity regulations.
- Legitimate Interests: For operational, purposes, service improvement, fundraising and grant applications (only using anonymised data unless consent is given).
You can opt out of fundraising or impact-related communications at any time by contacting us at fundraising@edwardstrust.org.uk or clicking “unsubscribe” in our e-newsletters.
4. Sharing Your Information
We will never sell your personal data. However, we may share it:
- With service providers who help deliver our services (e.g., IT or counselling platforms).
- When required by law or safeguarding obligations (e.g., to social services or law enforcement).
- With your explicit consent, such as referrals to other organisations.
- For Grant and Charitable Trust Funding:
- Only anonymised data or aggregated statistics will be shared with funders.
- If a specific case study or story is requested, we will obtain explicit consent before sharing identifiable information.
- Only anonymised data or aggregated statistics will be shared with funders.
For fundraising, we may securely share data with third-party platforms that help us process donations, manage events, or send communications. These organisations are bound by strict data protection agreements.
5. Children’s Privacy
6. Data Retention
We keep your personal data only as long as necessary:
- Counselling records are retained for 7 years for adults over the age of 18 or for 7 years after a child’s 18th birthday following the end of the service, as per legal and professional guidelines.
- Supporter and donation records are retained for at least 7 years for Gift Aid and financial compliance.
- Anonymised data for grant applications is retained indefinitely unless otherwise specified.
- Other records are retained in accordance with our Data Retention Policy.
7. Your Rights
Under the UK GDPR, you have the following rights:
- Access: Request a copy of your personal data.
- Correction: Rectify inaccuracies in your data.
- Erasure: Request deletion of your data, subject to legal obligations.
- Restriction: Limit how we process your data.
- Objection: Object to data processing in certain circumstances.
- Data Portability: Request transfer of your data to another organisation.
To exercise your rights, contact us at admin@edwardstrust.org.uk
8. Fundraising and Marketing Preferences
If you choose to support us, we may contact you with updates about our work and fundraising opportunities.
We will only send direct marketing (e.g., emails or SMS) if you have opted in. However, we may rely on legitimate interest for postal communications. You can opt out of all communications at any time.
To update your preferences, email us at fundraising@edwardstrust.org.uk or call the Fundraising Team on 0121 454 1705.
9. Cookies and Website Data
Our website uses cookies to improve user experience. For more details, see our Cookie Policy.
10. Data Security
We implement robust measures to protect your data, including:
- Encryption and secure storage of data.
- Restricted access to personal data.
- Regular security assessments of our systems.
If you suspect a data breach, please contact us immediately at admin@edwardstrust.org.uk.
11. Contact Us
If you have questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy, or if you wish to make a complaint, please contact:
Data Protection Officer
Clare Martin, CEO
Email: clare.martin@edwardstrust.org.uk
Phone: 0121 454 1705
Address: 37 Calthorpe Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 1TS
You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at www.ico.org.uk.
12. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy periodically. Please review it regularly to stay informed.
