Privacy Policy

We know that handing over information about your child is an act of trust, especially when it includes things you may not have shared with many people. Here's exactly what we do with it — 

What we collect, and why

When you register with us, we ask for information about your child — things like their needs, what helps them, and how to keep them safe and comfortable in our sessions. We collect this for one reason only: to provide the right care for your child, and to keep them safe while they're with us.

We keep the minimum we need. If a question on the form doesn't apply to you, you don't have to answer it.

Who can see your child's information

The practitioners who work directly with your child. They need to know what they need to know to support your child well.

Nobody else, unless you've agreed to it — or unless the law requires it (see safeguarding below).

Our practitioners are data-handling trained, and information stays within our small team. It is never sold, shared for marketing, or used for anything you haven't been told about.

Sharing information — when and who

There are a few situations where we may share information, and we want you to know them upfront rather than surprise you later:

• With other professionals supporting your child (e.g. a school, LA caseworker, or therapist) — but only if you've given us permission, and only the information that's needed.
• With funders or commissioners — only in anonymised or aggregated form (e.g. "X children attended this term"), never your child's name or personal details.
• If you're funding through an LA or EOTAS package, we may need to share basic attendance and progress information with them as part of that funding arrangement. We'll tell you exactly what, before we do.

You can withdraw consent for information sharing at any time — just tell us. The only exceptions are below.

Safeguarding — 

We will always try to talk to you first. But if we ever believe a child or young person is at risk of significant harm, we are legally required to share relevant information with safeguarding authorities (e.g. social services, the police), even without your agreement. This isn't us breaking confidence — it's us doing what every professional who works with children is legally bound to do.

We will always be honest with you about what we've shared and why, unless doing so would itself put a child at risk.

Photos and recordings

We only take photos with your explicit, separate consent (that's the photo consent box on the registration form). You can change your mind at any time — just tell us and we'll stop, and remove any images where we can. We never publish a photo that identifies a child without written permission.

How long we keep things

As allied health professionals, we're required to hold clinical records for a set period rather than deleting them as soon as a block ends:

• Children's records: kept until your child's 25th birthday (or 26th, if they were 17 when their input with us ended)
• Adult records: kept for 8 years after the last contact

This follows professional guidance for speech and language therapists and standard practice across independent health providers. When the retention period ends, records are deleted securely. During that time, access stays limited as described above.

Your rights You can ask us at any time:

• for a copy of the information we hold about your child
• to correct anything that's wrong
• to know exactly who we've shared information with

One note on deletion: because of the professional retention requirements above, we usually can't delete clinical records before the retention period ends — but we can tell you what we hold, and we'll always be straight with you about what's kept and why.

We'll always answer honestly and promptly. If you're ever unhappy with how we've handled your information, please talk to us first — we'd rather fix it than have you sit on a worry.

If you'd rather escalate: you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113.

Who we are

Talk to the Trees is the data controller for the information you give us. If you have a question, a worry, or want to exercise any of the rights above, contact us at info@talktothetrees.org 

We review this policy regularly, and we'll tell you if it changes in a way that matters.