Privacy Notice

Sarah Hocking Coaching
Last updated: November 2026

1. Who I am

I'm Sarah Hocking, and I run Sarah Hocking Coaching as a sole trader.

I'm committed to respecting your privacy and looking after your personal information carefully. This notice explains what information I collect, how I use it, how I store it and what rights you have.

I am the data controller responsible for your personal information.

If you have any questions about how your information is handled, you can contact me at:

Email: sarah@sarahhocking.co.uk

2. What information I collect

Depending on how you interact with me and the coaching services you use, I may collect:

  • Contact information: your name, email address and telephone number.

  • Coaching information: information you share about yourself, your circumstances, experiences, challenges, goals and what you'd like to explore through coaching.

  • Sensitive information: coaching conversations may sometimes involve information about your health, wellbeing or other sensitive personal circumstances.

  • Emergency contact information: the name and contact details of someone you'd like me to contact in an emergency, if you choose to provide these.

  • Coaching records: handwritten notes I make during or after sessions to support our coaching work.

  • Administrative and payment information: details needed to arrange sessions, manage bookings, process payments and maintain financial records.

  • Communication: emails and other correspondence between us.

You are always in control of what you choose to share during coaching. You don't need to disclose anything that you're uncomfortable discussing.

3. How I use your information and the legal basis for doing so

I use your personal information to:

  • Respond to enquiries and arrange initial conversations.

  • Set up and manage our coaching relationship.

  • Arrange sessions and communicate with you about bookings.

  • Support and prepare for our coaching sessions.

  • Keep appropriate coaching records.

  • Manage payments and fulfil my legal and financial obligations.

  • Respond to any concerns, complaints or requests you may have.

For most personal information, I rely on the following legal bases:

  • Contract: where processing is necessary to provide the coaching services you've agreed to.

  • Legal obligation: where I need to keep information to meet legal or financial requirements, such as tax and accounting obligations.

  • Legitimate interests: where necessary to manage and administer my business, provided these interests do not override your rights and interests.

Where you share sensitive information, such as information about your health, I will seek your explicit consent to process and retain this information where required under data protection law. You can withdraw this consent at any time.

4. Confidentiality

What you share during coaching is treated as confidential. I will not share identifiable information about you with other people without your permission, except where:

  • I am legally required to disclose information.

  • I have a genuine concern about a serious risk of harm to you or someone else.

  • Disclosure is otherwise necessary and permitted under applicable law.

I also undertake professional coaching supervision. This helps me reflect on and develop my coaching practice. Where I discuss my work with my supervisor, I anonymise client details so that you cannot be identified.

5. How I store and protect your information

I take reasonable steps to keep your information secure and prevent it from being accessed, lost or shared inappropriately.

I use the following Google services to manage my coaching practice:

  • Google Drive: for storing relevant client and business documents.

  • Google Forms: for collecting onboarding information and coaching agreements.

  • Google Calendar: for managing appointments and bookings.

  • Gmail: for communicating with clients.

  • Google Meet: for holding online coaching sessions.

These services are provided by Google and may process or store information on my behalf. Google's own privacy and security arrangements apply to its services.

I use two-step verification on my Google account as an additional security measure.

My coaching notes are handwritten and kept in a locked and secure place.

I do not routinely record coaching sessions. If I ever propose recording a session, I will explain why and obtain your express permission beforehand. You will not be recorded without your agreement.

6. How long I keep your information

I only keep personal information for as long as it is reasonably necessary.

My retention periods are:

  • Coaching notes, agreements and relevant client records: generally seven years after our coaching relationship ends. Paper notes are securely destroyed after this period.

  • Emergency contact details: deleted when our coaching relationship ends, unless there is a specific reason to retain them.

  • Enquiries that don't lead to coaching: generally deleted after 12 months without further contact.

  • Financial records: retained for the periods required by tax and accounting regulations.

  • Emails and booking information: kept for as long as reasonably necessary for the relevant administrative or coaching purpose.

I may need to retain certain information for longer where there is an ongoing complaint, legal matter or other legitimate reason.

7. Who I share your information with

I do not sell or share your personal information for marketing purposes.

I may share information with service providers who help me run my business, such as Google, where this is necessary to provide my services and manage client information.

I may also disclose information where required by law or where there is a serious safeguarding concern, as explained above.

8. Your rights

Under data protection law, you have a number of rights in relation to your personal information. These include the right to:

  • Ask for a copy of the information I hold about you.

  • Ask me to correct information that is inaccurate or incomplete.

  • Ask me to delete your information in certain circumstances.

  • Ask me to restrict how I use your information in certain circumstances.

  • Object to certain uses of your information.

  • Withdraw consent where I rely on consent to process your information.

If you'd like to exercise any of these rights, please contact me at sarah@sarahhocking.co.uk. I will respond in line with the relevant legal requirements.

9. Making a complaint

If you have a concern about how I have handled your personal information, please contact me first so I can try to resolve it.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's independent data protection regulator.

You can find out more at ico.org.uk.

10. Changes to this notice

I may update this privacy notice from time to time to reflect changes in how I work or how I handle personal information. The latest version will always be available on my website.