Privacy
Privacy notice.
What we do with personal information, why we do it, and the rights you have over it.
Last updated 14 October 2026
Who we are.
Guidance Care Limited, registered in England and Wales under company number 11839934. Registered office: Unit 8 Sovereign Court, Wyrefields, Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire, England, FY6 8JX. We run children’s residential homes in the North West of England.
For everything described on this page, Guidance Care Limited is the data controller: we decide why and how your personal information is used, and we are accountable for it under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.
To ask anything about this notice, or to exercise any of the rights below, email info@guidancecare.co.uk or write to us at the registered office above.
We are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office under registration number ZA533039. You can check our current registration and data protection contact on the ICO register. Send data protection enquiries to the company at the registered office or to info@guidancecare.co.uk.
What this site collects.
The public website runs no analytics, carries no advertising and hosts its own fonts. Necessary login and preference cookies support staff using the editing dashboard, as described below. Your browser still sends technical requests to our web host, including your IP address and information needed to deliver and secure the pages. You can also choose to send us information through the forms below. The Google map loads only when you choose to open it.
1. The enquiry form
What we collect: your name, email address, the enquiry category you select, your subject line and message.
Why: to read and answer your enquiry, and to keep a record of what was asked and what we said.
Lawful basis: our legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f)) in responding to people who contact us. You can object at any time.
2. The document request form
What we collect: your name, work email address, the placing authority you work for, which home you are asking about, which documents you need, and any notes you add.
Why: to send you the Statement of Purpose, Children’s Guide or brochure you asked for, and to know which authority holds which version.
Lawful basis: our legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f)) in responding to professional enquiries about placements.
3. The job application form
This one collects a great deal more, because safer recruitment into a children’s home requires it.
What we collect: your name, home address, telephone number and email; your National Insurance number; your right-to-work and driving licence details; your full employment history, education and qualifications; your reasons for applying; your referees’ names and contact details; your CV; your declarations about criminal convictions and about disqualification; and your signature.
Why: to assess your suitability for the post, to meet our duties under the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015, and to carry out the pre-employment checks those regulations require - including references, right-to-work checks and a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.
Lawful basis: taking steps at your request before entering into a contract (Article 6(1)(b)), and compliance with our legal obligations (Article 6(1)(c)).
Criminal offence data. Your convictions declaration, your disqualification declaration and any DBS certificate information are criminal offence data under Article 10 of the UK GDPR. The Schedule 1 conditions described in our policy include Part 2 paragraph 18 (safeguarding of children and of individuals at risk) and Part 1 paragraph 1 (employment, social security and social protection). The declarations you enter are included in the application emailed to our recruitment team.
Health and other special category information. Health information may relate to a requested adjustment or an employment health assessment. Our application explains that you must be informed before a medical report is sought and that permission must be obtained before your doctor is contacted. The employment condition described in our policy is Article 9(2)(b).
Because we process criminal offence and special category data, Schedule 1 Part 4 of the Data Protection Act 2018 requires us to keep an Appropriate Policy Document setting out how we comply with the data protection principles and how long we keep this information. Ours is published in full: read our Appropriate Policy Document.
Young people in our care.
This website is not how we hold records about the young people who live with us. Those are kept in our care systems under the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015, and every young person is given a separate, plain-English explanation of what is written about them and who can see it.
Care records are held in our secure care records system, are governed by their own retention rules under those regulations, and are covered by a separate privacy notice - not by this one, which covers the website alone.
Young people have the same data protection rights as anyone else, whatever their age. Any young person who wants to see what we hold about them can ask their keyworker or the registered manager, and we will help them do it. They can also get free, impartial advice from the Children’s Commissioner’s Help at Hand service on 0800 528 0731.
Who we share information with.
We do not sell personal information, we do not share it for anyone else’s marketing, and we do not use it to profile you or to make automated decisions about you.
- Our email and IT suppliers, who host the mailbox your message arrives in.
- For job applications: the referees you name, the Disclosure and Barring Service, and anyone else we are required to check with under safer recruitment rules.
- Ofsted, local authorities and other agencies where we are required or permitted to share - including where there is a safeguarding concern.
- Our professional advisers, where they need it in order to advise us.
Our IT systems and email are supported for us by Harry Solutions Ltd, a UK company based at 79 Leyland Lane, Leyland PR25 1XB, which acts as our processor and may only use the information on our written instructions. Where any supplier stores information outside the UK, we rely on UK adequacy regulations or on the International Data Transfer Agreement to protect it.
How long we keep it.
We keep personal information only as long as there is a reason to, and each period below exists for a stated reason rather than by habit. These periods cover the information this website collects - enquiries, document requests and job applications. Records about the young people we care for are held separately and are not covered here.
| What | How long | Why that long |
|---|---|---|
| Website enquiries | 12 months from our last contact with you | To follow up the enquiry and pick up a conversation again. |
| Document requests | 24 months | So we know which authority holds which version of a Statement of Purpose or Children’s Guide, and can reissue it when a document is revised. |
| Unsuccessful job applications | 6 months after the decision, then securely destroyed | A discrimination claim must normally be brought within 3 months less one day; 6 months leaves room to answer one. |
| Successful applications (personnel file) | Duration of employment, then 6 years | The Limitation Act 1980 allows 6 years to bring most contract claims. |
| DBS certificate information | Only as long as necessary for recruitment and any documented safeguarding audit or dispute | DBS guidance requires necessary retention and secure handling. The purpose and retention period must be recorded in the organisation’s policy. |
| Convictions and disqualification declarations | Duration of employment, then 6 years, held separately from the main file | Evidence that safer recruitment checks were carried out, as the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 require. |
At the end of a retention period, paper records are shredded and electronic records are deleted from live systems and from backups on the next backup cycle.
How we protect it.
This site is served over an encrypted connection (HTTPS), so what you type into a form is encrypted in transit. Form submissions are delivered to the relevant Guidance Care mailbox. This website has no database of enquiries. Uploaded CVs are handled using temporary server files during submission; they are not retained by the website after processing. Access to those mailboxes is limited to the people who need it.
Cookies, and what is stored on your device.
The public website uses no advertising or analytics cookies. Staff who sign in to the editing dashboard use necessary WordPress login, security and preference cookies. These support the authenticated editing session. Password-protected pages also use a necessary WordPress access cookie after you enter their password. There is no analytics, no advertising, no social media tracking and no tag manager - which is why you are not being asked to accept anything.
If you change a reading or display option, your browser remembers your choice on this device:
- Pause motion remembers your animation preference.
- Larger text remembers your text-size preference.
- Easier reading remembers your reading-layout preference.
These preferences stay in your browser and are not sent to us. Clearing this site’s browser data removes them.
Saved job applications. Your answers are not saved between visits unless you choose “Save and continue later”. If you choose it, a draft of the answers you have entered is kept in this browser, including any personal information and recruitment declarations you have supplied. Your CV file is not saved. The draft is updated as you continue and expires seven days after its last save; an expired draft is removed when you next open the form. Choose “Delete saved draft” to remove it sooner. It is also removed after a successful submission. Use this option only on a private device, because another person using the same browser may be able to read the saved answers. Saving a draft does not send an application to Guidance Care; pressing “Submit application” sends the completed form to our HR team.
Google Maps. The embedded office map loads when you choose “View office map”. Opening the map or a Google Maps directions link connects your browser to Google, which may set its own cookies and receive your IP address under Google’s privacy policy. The full office address is also written on the Contact page.
Your rights.
Under UK data protection law you can ask us to:
- give you a copy of the personal information we hold about you;
- correct anything that is wrong or incomplete;
- erase information where there is no longer a good reason for us to keep it;
- restrict how we use it while a question about it is resolved;
- transfer it to you or to another organisation in a portable format;
- stop using it where we rely on legitimate interests - you have the right to object.
These rights are not absolute: where the law requires us to keep a record, we must keep it. Email info@guidancecare.co.uk to make a request. It is free, and we will respond within one month.
Complaining.
If you are unhappy with how we have handled your information, please tell us first so that we can put it right. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at any time - you do not have to come to us first.
Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF - 0303 123 1113 - ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint.
A concern about the care in one of our homes is a different thing from a data protection complaint. Those go to our registered manager, or directly to Ofsted on 0300 123 1231.
Changes to this notice.
If we change how we use personal information we will update this page and change the date at the top. Material changes affecting people whose information we already hold will be notified directly.