Privacy Policy

Biblical Counselling UK values the individuals who share their details with us – for example in order to keep informed of our work, to support us financially, to attend our conferences, or apply for training courses or resources we offer. We respect your privacy and we are committed to ensuring that your personal data is kept safe and used in a way that you would reasonably expect.

This privacy policy sets out how Biblical Counselling UK processes and protects the personal information that is given to us. We aim to be clear about how we collect, store and use your data and to let you know your rights, including how to stop receiving communications from us.

If there are any significant changes to this policy we will let you know by email. This policy is next due for review by October 2022.

If you have any questions about this policy, please email the Data Controller – info@biblicalcounselling.org.uk, or write to: The Data Controller, Biblical Counselling UK, c/o Christ Church, Christchurch Street, Cambridge, CB1 1HT.

Biblical Counselling UK is Charitable Incorporated Organisation. Our Registered charity number is 1164965. Our registered address is Christ Church, Christchurch Street, Cambridge, CB1 1HT.

How we collect and use your personal data

Subscribers to our email updates
You can request to receive our regular news updates and/or financial needs via email through the Keep in touch form on our website. We use MailChimp to collect and store your name, surname and email address and to document your consent. You can update your contact details at any time, and withdraw your consent either through the “update your preferences” or “unsubscribe” links on the email, or by contacting info@biblicalcounselling.org.uk.

The legal basis under which we send our news updates is consent. Those who requested email news updates prior to 29 April 2018 were contacted to ask them to confirm that they wish to keep receiving our news updates by email. We only send fundraising information to those who have requested it.

Financial supporters / Members of our Partners Scheme
We collect personal information from you when you get in touch to make a donation or join the Partners Scheme. You may give us these details by emailing us, filling in forms or through our website.  All debit or credit card details which we receive via our website are passed securely to our payment processing partner which has been audited by a PCI-certified auditor and is certified to PCI Service Provider Level 1.

We may collect the following information volunteered by you:

  • Name
  • Contact information including email address, home address (or postal address, if different) and phone number
  • Gift Aid status
  • Previous contact with us (eg, attended a conference, Certificate Course student)

Please let us know if you move house, if your Gift Aid status changes, or if there are any other changes to this information we hold about you.

We will use this information to send you publications, e-newsletters and other communications about our work. You can contact us at any time to opt out of any communications from us.

We will also use your details to record and process your donation(s), send acknowledgement letters and claim Gift Aid, if applicable. From time to time, we will include information about upcoming events and our latest resources in our acknowledgement letters. We will also keep records of communications with us, including enquiries and complaints. If you make a significant donation to our work, we may contact you to discuss your interests and specific areas of our work.

We may also ask you to complete a supporter survey which will help us to get feedback on our communications and supporter care, enabling us to improve these in the future.

From May 2018, we only communicate with new supporters based on their consent. We will communicate with our existing supporters under legitimate interests: we will continue to send communications that people have requested in the past or are currently receiving, and communications to people who have made a gift in the previous two years. We will provide opportunities for supporters to review their preferences and make it easy for them to opt out of our communications at any time.

We will never trade or sell your personal information to third parties.

In the course of carrying out our fundraising activities we may analyse our records internally to review categories such as donation amounts and giving history. This helps us to personalise our contact with supporters and send appropriate communications to the right people, ensuring that we are stewarding our resources well.

General Enquiries
We process personal information from general enquiries (for example, emails requesting information about our courses, events and activities) under the legal basis of legitimate interests.

Certificate Course / Training
We will collect personal information from you when you apply to register for any of our training courses. This may include uploading a photograph to enable tutors to recognise students and learn their names. We collect this information using an online form on our website which is protected under SSL encryption.

We process the information you provide on the legal basis of contract.

We process Special Category (“personal data revealing religious or philosophical beliefs”) data that you provide under the Article 9 “not-for-profit-bodies” condition of the UK GDPR.

The information you provide is used to assess your suitability for the training course to which you are applying. It is shared securely with the tutors running the course you apply to and  personal information relevant to grading submitted work may also be shared with your Recitation Instructor(s). We will store the application forms of students who accept a place on the Certificate Course for five years. We will store the application forms of students who accept a place on Dynamics of Biblical Change for Leaders for five years in order to facilitate future studies, including the transfer to the Certificate Course. We will delete the application forms of students earlier than 5 years on request.

We request from you the contact details of a referee (usually your church pastor) in order to contact them to supply a reference. We will process their contact information and the reference they provide under the legal basis of legitimate interests.  References are retained for five years.

Biblical Counselling UK will keep a record of your name, email address, seminar attendance record and course grades for the purposes of issuing certificates of completion to students and monitoring standards. Students may request a copy of their course grades by emailing the Course Administrator at courses@biblicalcounselling.org.uk.

The following personal information is uploaded to Canvas, the online leaning management platform we use to deliver the training material you purchase when you pay the course fees:

  • Name and surname
  • Email address

Once your complete a module or course provided via the Canvas platform, your login account will remain active on Canvas on the legal basis of legitimate interests in order to facilitate continuing your studies on Biblical Counselling UK’s Certificate Course. If you wish your data to be removed, please contact the Course Administrator at courses@biblicalcounselling.org.uk.

We will contact students with an invitation to register for future modules of the Certificate Course using the “soft opt in”. We use MailChimp, and invite students who have finished studying to unsubscribe from that mailing list.

We may share the following information on the legal basis of contract with third parties who manage the venues for the courses we offer (eg so that they can supply you with an electronic access pass; and supply and invoice you for accommodation and food):

  • Name
  • Phone number, dietary and access requirements (residential courses only)
  • Email address (when needed for invoicing purposes)

If you withdraw from any of our courses and are eligible for a refund via bank transfer, we will process the banking information you provide to us under the legal basis of contract. When we process the refund via internet banking, your bank details will NOT be stored as a “saved payee”.

Students who took courses prior to September 2021
The following privacy statement applies to Students who took courses prior to September 2021.

We shared the following personal information with CCEF’s School of Biblical Counseling and the online learning management and student records system(s) whose services they use (Canvas and Genius) to provide you with the training material you purchased when you paid the course fees:

  • Name and surname
  • Email address

Your login account will remain active on Canvas on the legal basis of legitimate interests in order to facilitate continuing your studies directly with CCEF’s School of Biblical Counseling.  If you wish your data to be removed, please contact Student Services on student.services@ccef.org.

BCUK and CCEF are joint data controllers of the information held in CCEF’s Canvas and Genius BCUK sub-accounts.

Online seminars via Zoom
Online seminars are provided via Zoom. Zoom’s privacy policy is available at https://zoom.us/privacy

The purpose of seminars is live interaction. However, some information or clarification provided during a seminar may be important to distribute to students who are absent from a seminar. Recordings of seminars may also be used for training and as a resource for Biblical Counselling UK tutors.

Where seminars provided using Zoom are recorded, Biblical Counselling UK is the data controller and Zoom is the data processor. Students’ personal data is processed under the legal basis of contract.

Where a seminar is being recorded, the tutor will inform students and this is indicated in the on-screen display in Zoom. Only the main sessions can be recorded. The breakout rooms cannot be recorded. Recordings are stored in the Zoom cloud, and in Biblical Counselling UK’s file storage.

Conferences/events
We will collect personal information from you when you book for our conferences/events. We usually collect this information using an online form on our website which is protected by SSL encryption. All debit or credit card details which we receive via our website are passed securely to our payment processing partner which has been audited by a PCI-certified auditor and is certified to PCI Service Provider Level 1.

We process the personal information you provide on the legal basis of contract. The information you provide is used to administer your booking. We will share any dietary or other requirements you provide with the conference centre for the purpose of enabling them to meet your needs.

We will collect the name and email address of each delegate in order to email information about the conference.

We will obtain your consent to take photographs at the event which may be used (anonymously) in publicity and/or news to supporters.

We will contact those who book for a conference with details of future conferences/events on the basis of the “soft opt in”. This means that we will give bookers and delegates a simple way to opt out of future communications about conferences. We will do this when we collect your details and on every communication we send.

Real Change course
We collected the following personal information from customers when they emailed us to order copies of the Real Change course in order to fulfil their order: name, postal address, email address. We processed the personal information they provided on the legal basis of contract.

We may from time to time contact by email those who have ordered copies of Real Change to let them know of updates to the course or to request feedback. We will do this on the basis of legitimate interests.

Intern Scheme
We collect personal data from you when you apply to the Intern Scheme. We process the information you provide on the legal basis of contract, and special category data you provide is processed on the legal basis of legitimate interests as described under Article 9(2)(d) of the General Data Protection Regulation. We will request and process references about you from your referees on the legal basis of consent. We will store the information of applicants who accept a place on the scheme for the full duration of the programme. We will delete the personal information of applicants who are unsuccessful when the Scheme commences (usually September) as well as the personal information of interns who withdraw from the Scheme part-way through on request. If you accept a place on the Scheme, we will collect further personal data from you as is reasonable and required – full details are available in the Intern Scheme Privacy Policy on the Intern Scheme page of this website.

Family Care Research Mailing List
We will collect your name and email address when you request to join the Family Care Research Updates mailing list. We collect this information using an online form on our website which is protected under SSL encryption, and store the information securely. We process the information you provide on the legal basis of consent. You can unsubscribe at any time by contacting familycare@biblicalcounselling.org.uk.

Consultation Groups – Participants
We will collect personal information from you when you apply to be a Participant in a biblical counselling Consultation Group. We collect this information using an online form on our website which is protected under SSL encryption. We process the information you provide on the legal basis of contract.

We will process your referee’s contact information and the reference they provide under the legal basis of legitimate interests.

We will process Special Category (“personal data revealing religious or philosophical beliefs”) data that you provide under the Article 9 “not-for-profit-bodies” condition of the UK GDPR.

The information you provide is used to assess your suitability for involvement in a Consultation Group, and to assign Participants to groups. It is shared securely with the Executive Director of Biblical Counselling UK, Administration staff and the Facilitator of the group you are assigned to. We will store the information of applicants for the full duration of their involvement as a Participator, and for a year afterwards.

We request from you the contact details of your church pastor in order to contact them to confirm their understanding that responsibility for pastoral care for any cases discussed in the Consultation Group remains the responsibility of the leadership of the Participant’s local church. We will process their contact information under the legal basis of legitimate interests.

Consultation Groups – Facilitators
We will collect personal information from you when you apply to be a Facilitator of a biblical counselling Consultation Group. We collect this information using an online form on our website which is protected under SSL encryption.

We process the information you provide on the legal basis of contract.

We will process Special Category (“personal data revealing religious or philosophical beliefs”) data that you provide under the Article 9 “not-for-profit-bodies” condition of the UK GDPR.

The information you provide is used to assess your suitability for involvement in a Consultation Group. It is shared securely with the Executive Director of Biblical Counselling UK, Administration staff and the Facilitator of the group you are assigned to. We will store the information of applicants for the full duration of their involvement as a Facilitator, and for a year afterwards.

We request from you the contact details of your church pastor in order to contact them to supply a confidential reference. We will process their contact information and the reference they provide under the legal basis of legitimate interests.

When you invoice us for your Facilitator’s fee and provide us with your bank account details, we will store your bank account details as a “saved payee” in our online bank account under the legal basis of contract.

How long will we keep your personal data?

We will only keep your data as long as is reasonable and necessary. We will use it for the designated purposes or to fulfil statutory obligations. We will hold financial data for seven years.

If you ask us not to communicate with you we will respect your wishes.

How we keep your data secure and who has access to it

We are committed to holding your information securely. In order to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure, we have put in place a number of administrative and technological safeguards. These include use of passwords, restricted access, technical and physical security. The only people who access your data are those who have been nominated and trained.

All our online forms are always transmitted over encrypted links.

Cookies

We use cookies to enable you to use our website, including applying for courses or booking for conferences. We do not use cookies for advertising.

Links from our website

From time to time, we may include links to third party webpages on our website. Please note that once you leave our website we are not responsible for any data you share on these sites. Please read each organisation’s privacy policy before submitting your personal data on its website.

Your rights

You can ask for a copy of the information we hold about you at any time. Please write to the Data Controller, Biblical Counselling UK, c/o Christ Church, Christchurch Street, Cambridge, CB1 1HT, with details of the information you would like to see and proof of your identity.

You can also ask us to stop using your data or to delete some information from our records, although we will need to keep a record of any donations you have made to us over the last seven years. We will promptly correct any information on our records.

If you have any concerns about the data we hold or how we process it, please contact us at the above address. If your issue is not resolved you can contact the Fundraising Regulator or the Information Commissioner.