Privacy & Cookie Policy

Last Updated: 12 July 2025

1. Our Commitment to Your Privacy

Survivors in Transition (SiT) is deeply committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. This policy explains what personal data we collect from you, why we collect it, how we use it, the conditions under which we may disclose it to others, and how we keep it secure.

This policy covers your use of our website (survivorsintransition.co.uk) and our referrals subdomain (referral.survivorsintransition.co.uk).

For the purpose of data protection law, the data controller is Survivors in Transition, a registered Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) in the UK (Charity Commission No. 1159782). We are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) under registration number ZA529178.

2. Your Data Protection Rights

Under UK data protection law, you have specific rights over your personal data. These include:

  • Right of Access: You have the right to request a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
  • Right of Rectification: You have the right to have any inaccurate or incomplete personal data we hold about you corrected.
  • Right to Erasure (The "Right to be Forgotten"): You can ask us to delete your personal data from our records in certain circumstances.
  • Right to Restrict Processing: You have the right to request that we restrict the processing of your personal data under certain conditions.
  • Right to Data Portability: You have the right to have the data we hold about you transferred to another organisation.
  • Right to Object: You have the right to object to certain types of processing, such as direct marketing.
  • Rights related to automated decision-making and profiling: You have the right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the details in Section 10 of this policy.

3. What Information We Collect and Why

We collect information to provide and improve the vital services we offer. The type of information we collect depends on how you interact with us.

3.1. Personal Information You Provide to Us

When you engage with our services (e.g., making a referral, contacting us for support), we may collect personal information necessary to deliver those services. This can include:

  • Identifying Information: Full name, date of birth, gender, and age.
  • Contact Details: Correspondence address, email address, and telephone number.
  • Next of Kin: Emergency contact information.
  • Diversity Information: Nationality, sexual orientation, first language, ethnic origin, and religion/beliefs.

3.2. Special Category (Sensitive) Information

Due to the nature of our work, we may process sensitive information related to your physical or mental health and sexual life. We only process this data when it is necessary to provide you with support and with your explicit consent, or where we are legally required to do so (for example, in a safeguarding situation).

3.3. Information Collected Automatically (Cookies & Analytics)

When you visit our website, we automatically collect technical information to improve your experience and for security purposes. This is done through the use of cookies and similar technologies. This data may include:

  • Your IP address
  • Web browser type and version
  • Operating system
  • Your journey through our site (the pages you visit)

4. Our Use of Cookies and Tracking Technologies

Our website uses cookies to enhance your experience, ensure the site functions correctly, and help us understand how it is being used. A cookie is a small text file placed on your computer or device.

We use a Consent Management Platform (CMP) provided by CookieYes to give you clear choice and control over the cookies that are stored on your device. When you first visit our site, you will be asked for your consent for non-essential cookies.

The cookies we use fall into the following categories:

  • Strictly Necessary Cookies: These are essential for the website to function and cannot be switched off. They are typically set in response to actions made by you, such as filling in forms. Our website is built on Webflow, which may use cookies essential for its operation.
  • Analytics Cookies: These cookies help us understand how visitors interact with our website by collecting and reporting information anonymously. This allows us to improve our services. We use the following analytics tools:
    • Google Analytics: We use this service via Google Tag Manager (GTM) to collect statistical data about website traffic and usage patterns.
    • PostHog: We use this service for product and user analytics to better understand how you use our services, helping us to improve them.
  • Security Cookies: To protect our site and users, we use services like Cloudflare, which may place cookies to identify trusted web traffic and enhance site security and performance.

You can manage your cookie preferences at any time through the CookieYes consent banner or by adjusting your browser settings.

5. How We Use Your Data (Our Lawful Basis)

We must have a lawful basis to process your personal data. We rely on the following:

  • Contract: When you enter into a service with us, we process your personal information to fulfil our contractual obligation to provide you with support, therapy, or group activities.
  • Legitimate Interest: We process data for our legitimate interests in a way that you would reasonably expect and which has a minimal privacy impact. This includes:
    • Responding to your enquiries by phone, post, or email.
    • Improving our services through research and by analysing feedback.
    • Ensuring the security of our website, systems, and network.
  • Legal Obligation: We may be required to process your data to comply with the law. This most commonly applies to:
    • Safeguarding duties, which may require us to share information with the police or social services to protect a child or vulnerable adult.
    • Verifying identity to prevent fraud.
  • Consent: Where required, we will ask for your explicit consent to process your data, for example, before sending you promotional communications about our services. You can withdraw your consent at any time.

6. Data Security and Retention

SiT takes data security extremely seriously. We have implemented robust technical and organisational measures to protect your information from accidental loss, unauthorised access, or misuse. These measures include:

  • Operating a paperless office to keep personal data in a secure digital environment.
  • Placing strict restrictions on who can access personal information.
  • Providing regular data protection training for all staff and volunteers.
  • Ensuring third-party contractors who process data on our behalf are compliant with UK GDPR.

We will hold your personal information only for as long as is necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, or as required by law. Our retention schedules are regularly reviewed.

7. Sharing Your Personal Data

We will not sell or rent your information to third parties. We will not share your information with third parties for marketing purposes.

We may pass your information to our third-party service providers, agents, and other associated organisations for the purposes of completing tasks and providing services to you on our behalf. We disclose only the personal information that is necessary to deliver the service.

We may also be legally required to share information with bodies such as the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) or the police for safeguarding or legal proceedings.

8. Links to Other Websites

Our website may contain links to other websites run by other organisations. This policy applies only to our website. We encourage you to read the privacy statements on the other websites you visit. We cannot be responsible for the privacy policies and practices of other sites, even if you access them using links from our website. This includes forms managed by third parties such as Cognito Forms.

9. Complaints

If you are not satisfied with our response to any query you raise with us or believe we are processing your personal data not in accordance with the law, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Website: ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint

10. How to Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy & Cookie Policy or wish to exercise your rights, please contact us:

11. Changes to This Policy

We keep this policy under regular review. Any changes we make will be posted on this page. We recommend that you check this page periodically to ensure you are happy with any changes.