Retention balances clinical continuity, safeguarding, legal and insurance duties with the principle that information should not be kept longer than necessary. A longer period may apply where a complaint, safeguarding matter, legal claim or other duty requires it.
1. Therapy and safeguarding records
- Adult clinical records: normally eight years after the final session.
- Records for a client under 18: normally until their 25th birthday, or 26th birthday if they were 17 when therapy ended.
- Safeguarding and risk records: retained with the clinical record and longer where a specific legal or safeguarding duty requires.
- Anonymised supervision records: retained only as long as needed for professional and accreditation requirements.
2. Financial records
Invoices, receipts and relevant transaction information are normally kept for at least six years after the end of the relevant financial year to meet tax and accounting requirements.
3. Enquiries and communications
Communications connected to therapy are retained with the clinical record where relevant. Callback requests held in Netlify Forms and the practice email inbox are included in this schedule. Enquiries that do not lead to therapy are normally deleted when no longer needed, usually within 12 months unless there is a clear reason to keep them longer.
4. Website information
Cookie preferences remain valid for up to six months unless cleared or changed sooner. Google Analytics data is collected only after consent and retained according to the practice’s configured analytics settings, which are reviewed periodically.
5. Secure disposal
Electronic information is securely deleted from active systems and allowed to expire from protected backups in line with provider processes. Paper information, if used, is cross-cut shredded or disposed of through a confidential-waste service. Irreversibly anonymised information is no longer personal data.
Questions about this document?
Email calmbreathingtherapies1@gmail.com or call 07957 353 110.