Privacy & Cookies Policy
- Introduction
1.1 We are committed to safeguarding the privacy of our website visitors and service users.
1.2 This policy applies where we are acting as a data controller with respect to the personal data of our website visitors and service users; in other words, where we determine the purposes and means of the processing of that personal data.
1.3 We use cookies on our website. Insofar as those cookies are not strictly necessary for the provision of our website and services, we will ask you to consent to our use of cookies when you first visit our website.
1.4 In this policy, “we”, “us” and “our” refer to The Liverpool Psychology Practice. For more information about us, see Section 16.
- How we use your personal data
2.1 In this Section 2 we have set out:
(a) the general categories of personal data that we may process;
(b) in the case of personal data that we did not obtain directly from you, the source and specific categories of that data;
(c) the purposes for which we may process personal data; and
(d) the legal bases of the processing.
2.2 We may process data about your use of our website and services (“usage data“). The usage data may include your IP address, geographical location, browser type and version, operating system, referral source, length of visit, page views and website navigation paths, as well as information about the timing, frequency and pattern of your service use. This usage data may be processed for the purposes of analysing the use of the website and services. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests, namely monitoring and improving our website and services.
2.3 We may process your personal data that are provided in the course of the use of our referral and therapy services (“service data“). The service data may include the personal details you provide us with such as your name, address, date of birth, as well as the information you provide regarding the nature of the difficulty for which you are seeking psychological assessment and / or therapy. The source of the service data is you. The service data may be processed for the purposes of operating our website, providing our services, ensuring the security of our website and services, maintaining back-ups of our databases and communicating with you. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests, namely the processing of psychological self-referral requests for assessment and therapy.
2.4 Some of the data we process about clients falls under ‘special category data’ as it relates to our client’s health. This data may include details about your race; ethnic origin; political opinions; religion; genetic status; health; sex life and / or sexual orientation. The collection of this special category data is necessary for the provision of our client’s requests for referral screening, assessment and therapy. The source of this data is you.
2.5 We may process information contained in any enquiry you submit to us regarding goods and/or services (“enquiry data“). The enquiry data may be processed for the purposes of offering suitable referral pathways to you and responding to queries you direct to us. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests, namely responding to your questions or queries about our business.
2.6 We may process information relating to transactions, including purchases of goods and/or services, that you enter into with us and/or through our website (“transaction data“). The transaction data may include your contact details, your card details and the transaction details. The source of the transaction data is you and/or our payment services provider. The transaction data may be processed for the purpose of supplying the purchased psychological assessment and therapy services and keeping proper records of those transactions. The legal basis for this processing is the performance of a contract between you and us and/or taking steps, at your request, to enter into such a contract; providing that, if you are not the person contracting with us, the legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests, namely the proper administration of our website and business.
2.7 We may process information contained in or relating to any communication that you send to us (“communication data“). The communication data may include the communication content and metadata associated with the communication. Our website will generate the metadata associated with communications made using the website contact forms. The communication data may be processed for the purposes of communicating with you and record-keeping. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests, namely communications with our website visitors and service users and the proper administration of our website and business.
2.8 We may process any of your personal data identified in this policy where necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims, whether in court proceedings or in an administrative or out-of-court procedure. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests, namely the protection and assertion of our legal rights, your legal rights and the legal rights of others.
2.9 We may process any of your personal data identified in this policy where necessary for the purposes of obtaining or maintaining insurance coverage, managing risks, or obtaining professional advice. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests, namely the proper protection of our business against risks.
2.10 In addition to the specific purposes for which we may process your personal data set out in this Section 2, we may also process any of your personal data where such processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject, or in order to protect your vital interests or the vital interests of another natural person.
2.11 Please do not supply any other person’s personal data to us, unless we prompt you to do so.
- Providing your personal data to others
3.1 We may disclose your personal data to our insurers and/or professional advisers insofar as reasonably necessary for the purposes of obtaining or maintaining insurance coverage, managing risks, obtaining professional advice, or the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims, whether in court proceedings or in an administrative or out-of-court procedure.
3.2 Financial transactions relating to our appointment booking system may be handled by our payment services providers, ‘Stripe’ and ‘PayPal’. We will share transaction data with our payment services providers only to the extent necessary for the purposes of processing your payments, refunding such payments and dealing with complaints and queries relating to such payments and refunds. You can find information about the payment services providers’ privacy policies and practices at their respective websites.
3.3 In addition to the specific disclosures of personal data set out in this Section 3, we may disclose your personal data where such disclosure is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject, or in order to protect your vital interests or the vital interests of another natural person. This includes risks of serious harm to our clients, vulnerable adults, children or members of the public. We may also disclose your personal data where such disclosure is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims, whether in court proceedings or in an administrative or out-of-court procedure.
- International transfers of your personal data
4.1 We will not transfer your data to countries outside the European Economic Area (EEA).
4.2 You acknowledge that personal data that you submit for publication through our website, namely comments on our articles or resources, may be available, via the internet, around the world. We cannot prevent the use (or misuse) of such personal data by others.
- Retaining and deleting personal data
5.1 This Section 5 sets out our data retention policies and procedure, which are designed to help ensure that we comply with our legal obligations in relation to the retention and deletion of personal data.
5.2 Personal data that we process for any purpose or purposes shall not be kept for longer than is necessary for that purpose or those purposes.
5.3 We will retain your personal data as follows:
(a) Emails received from clients who book psychological assessment or therapy are kept for a minimum of 6 years, consistent with the legal recommendations of our insurer. Emails received from enquiries that do not result in booking psychological assessment or therapy will be deleted after 6 months of no further contact. We keep emails for this long because it is not uncommon for clients who have made enquiries, but who do not pursue assessment / therapy after initial contact, to re-approach us and actively engage in therapy a number of months after an initial enquiry. Keeping prospective clients’ emails allows us to check back regarding previous correspondence for a more efficient provision of services. In addition, should a complaint arise, complete records would allow us to liaise more efficiently with professional bodies.
(b) Financial data including transactions / invoices / receipts of services will be retained for 7 years consistent with HMRC obligations.
(c) Service data including email correspondence, telephone conversations, appointment notes, and any letters or reports sent or received in association, will be retained for a period of 6 years following the termination of the contract under which the service was provided (a completed episode of assessment or therapy) or the date of last contact with a client. Service data includes, but is not always comprised of, special category data.
5.4 In some cases it is not possible for us to specify in advance the periods for which your personal data will be retained. In such cases, we will determine the period of retention based on the following criteria:
(a) the period of retention of your data will be determined based on whether it is being used for a legitimate and necessary purpose.
5.5 Notwithstanding the other provisions of this Section 5, we may retain your personal data where such retention is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject, or in order to protect your vital interests or the vital interests of another natural person.
- Security of personal data
6.1 We will take appropriate technical and organisational precautions to secure your personal data and to prevent the loss, misuse or alteration of your personal data.
6.2 We will store all your personal data on secure servers, personal computers and mobile devices, and in secure manual record-keeping systems.
6.3 The following personal data will be stored by us in encrypted form: your name, contact information, and all written letters and correspondence to you.
6.4 Data relating to your enquiries and financial transaction that is sent from your web browser to our web server, or from our web server to your web browser, will be protected using encryption technology.
6.5 You acknowledge that the transmission of unencrypted (or inadequately encrypted) data over the internet is inherently insecure, and we cannot guarantee the security of data sent over the internet.
- Your rights
7.1 In this Section 7, we have summarised the rights that you have under data protection law. Some of the rights are complex, and not all of the details have been included in our summaries. Accordingly, you should read the relevant laws and guidance from the regulatory authorities for a full explanation of these rights.
7.2 Your principal rights under data protection law are:
(a) the right to access – you can ask for copies of your personal data;
(b) the right to rectification – you can ask us to rectify inaccurate personal data and to complete incomplete personal data;
(c) the right to erasure – you can ask us to erase your personal data;
(d) the right to restrict processing – you can ask us to restrict the processing of your personal data;
(e) the right to object to processing – you can object to the processing of your personal data;
(f) the right to data portability – you can ask that we transfer your personal data to another organisation or to you;
(g) the right to complain to a supervisory authority – you can complain about our processing of your personal data; and
(h) the right to withdraw consent – to the extent that the legal basis of our processing of your personal data is consent, you can withdraw that consent.
7.3 You have the right to confirmation as to whether or not we process your personal data and, where we do, access to the personal data, together with certain additional information. That additional information includes details of the purposes of the processing, the categories of personal data concerned and the recipients of the personal data. Providing the rights and freedoms of others are not affected, we will supply to you a copy of your personal data. The first copy will be provided free of charge, but additional copies may be subject to a reasonable fee.
7.4 You have the right to have any inaccurate personal data about you rectified and, taking into account the purposes of the processing, to have any incomplete personal data about you completed.
7.5 In some circumstances you have the right to the erasure of your personal data without undue delay. Those circumstances include: the personal data are no longer necessary in relation to the purposes for which they were collected or otherwise processed; you withdraw consent to consent-based processing; you object to the processing under certain rules of applicable data protection law; the processing is for direct marketing purposes; and the personal data have been unlawfully processed. However, there are exclusions of the right to erasure. The general exclusions include where processing is necessary: for exercising the right of freedom of expression and information; for compliance with a legal obligation; or for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.
7.6 In some circumstances you have the right to restrict the processing of your personal data. Those circumstances are: you contest the accuracy of the personal data; processing is unlawful but you oppose erasure; we no longer need the personal data for the purposes of our processing, but you require personal data for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims; and you have objected to processing, pending the verification of that objection. Where processing has been restricted on this basis, we may continue to store your personal data. However, we will only otherwise process it: with your consent; for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims; for the protection of the rights of another natural or legal person; or for reasons of important public interest.
7.7 You have the right to object to our processing of your personal data on grounds relating to your particular situation, but only to the extent that the legal basis for the processing is that the processing is necessary for: the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of any official authority vested in us; or the purposes of the legitimate interests pursued by us or by a third party. If you make such an objection, we will cease to process the personal data unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds for the processing which override your interests, rights and freedoms, or the processing is for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.
7.8 You have the right to object to our processing of your personal data for direct marketing purposes (including profiling for direct marketing purposes). We do not use your personal data for marketing purposes or for any purpose than those described in section 2.
7.9 You have the right to object to our processing of your personal data for scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes on grounds relating to your particular situation, unless the processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out for reasons of public interest.
7.10 To the extent that the legal basis for our processing of your personal data is:
(a) consent; or
(b) that the processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are party or in order to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract,
and such processing is carried out by automated means, you have the right to receive your personal data from us in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format. However, this right does not apply where it would adversely affect the rights and freedoms of others.
7.11 If you consider that our processing of your personal data infringes data protection laws, you have a legal right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority responsible for data protection. You may do so in the EU member state of your habitual residence, your place of work or the place of the alleged infringement.
7.12 To the extent that the legal basis for our processing of your personal data is consent, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. Withdrawal will not affect the lawfulness of processing before the withdrawal.
7.13 You may exercise any of your rights in relation to your personal data by written notice to us at 88 Rodney St, Liverpool, Merseyside, L1 9AR, in addition to the other methods specified in this Section 7.
- Third party websites
8.1 Our website includes hyperlinks to, and details of, third party websites.
8.2 We have no control over, and are not responsible for, the privacy policies and practices of third parties.
- Personal data of children
9.1 Our website and services are targeted at persons over the age of 18.
9.2 If we have reason to believe that we hold personal data of a person under that age, we will delete that personal data.
9.3 If we receive information that a child may be at risk of significant harm, we have a legal responsibility to share that information with the relevant authorities, including police, emergency services, and children’s services.
- Updating information
10.1 Please let us know if the personal information that we hold about you needs to be corrected or updated.
- About cookies
11.1 A cookie is a file containing an identifier (a string of letters and numbers) that is sent by a web server to a web browser and is stored by the browser. The identifier is then sent back to the server each time the browser requests a page from the server.
11.2 Cookies may be either “persistent” cookies or “session” cookies: a persistent cookie will be stored by a web browser and will remain valid until its set expiry date, unless deleted by the user before the expiry date; a session cookie, on the other hand, will expire at the end of the user session, when the web browser is closed.
11.3 Cookies do not typically contain any information that personally identifies a user, but personal data that we store about you may be linked to the information stored in and obtained from cookies.
- Cookies that we use
12.1 We use cookies for the following purposes:
(a) Strictly necessary cookies: These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms.
You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information.
(b) Performance cookies: These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site.
All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and will not be able to monitor its performance.
(c) Functional cookies: These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages.
If you do not allow these cookies then some or all of these services may not function properly.
- Cookies used by our service providers
13.1 Our service providers use cookies and those cookies may be stored on your computer when you visit our website.
13.2 We use Google Analytics. Google Analytics gathers information about the use of our website by means of cookies. The information gathered is used to create reports about the use of our website. You can find out more about Google’s use of information by visiting https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/ and you can review Google’s privacy policy at https://policies.google.com/privacy.
- Managing cookies
14.1 Most browsers allow you to refuse to accept cookies and to delete cookies. The methods for doing so vary from browser to browser, and from version to version. You can however obtain up-to-date information about blocking and deleting cookies via these links:
(a) https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95647 (Chrome);
(b) https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/enable-and-disable-cookies-website-preferences (Firefox);
(c) https://help.opera.com/en/latest/security-and-privacy/ (Opera);
(d) https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/17442/windows-internet-explorer-delete-manage-cookies (Internet Explorer);
(e) https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/safari/manage-cookies-and-website-data-sfri11471/mac (Safari); and
(f) https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-10-microsoft-edge-and-privacy (Edge).
14.2 Blocking all cookies will have a negative impact upon the usability of many websites.
14.3 If you block cookies, you will not be able to use all the features on our website.
- Amendments
15.1 We may update this policy from time to time by publishing a new version on our website.
15.2 You should check this page occasionally to ensure you are happy with any changes to this policy.
- Our details
16.1 This website is owned and operated by Peter Dargan.
16.2 The Liverpool Psychology Practice is the trading name, run by Sole Trader Peter Dargan. Additional partners will be added to this policy if/when this occurs.
16.3 Our principal place of business is at 88 Rodney St, Liverpool, Merseyside, L1 9AR.
16.4 You can contact us:
(a) by post, to the postal address given above;
(b) using our website contact form;
(c) by email, using the email address published on our website.
- Data protection registration
17.1 We are registered as a data controller with the UK Information Commissioner’s Office.
17.2 Our data protection registration number is A8495347.
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