Privacy notice

Wellbeing Services may hold data relating to you from a number of sources. The majority of data we hold on students is provided by you, either before you commence your studies or during your time as a student. This may include any forms you complete for us, medical evidence/diagnosis of a disability, study needs assessment reports, appointment details, calls and emails, and information about any other service engagements. From time to time, we can also be sent medical records from GPs, Mental Health practitioners and other healthcare professionals.

Our records include:

• Personal Identifiers and Biographical Information – for example your student ID number and your date of birth
• Contact Details – for example your address, email address and telephone number
• Special Category personal data -for example, details of why you would like to seek support from Wellbeing Services, details of a disability, mental health conditions or specific learning difficulty, details of support you may have received previously, medical evidence and notes written by practitioners following sessions or other contacts with us
• Dates of meetings held with you
• Family Details – for example details of other family members with whom you have given us consent to liaise

Wellbeing Services primarily uses your data to set up relevant and timely support, enabling you to focus on your academic studies and make the most of your time at university. Examples include:

• Offering you an appointment that is suitable to your needs and requirements
• Texting you reminders before an appointment
• Sending you information on how to set up support both within the Service and externally if appropriate
• Setting up reasonable adjustments in the form of an Individual Leaning Plan (ILP) for students who have a diagnosed disability or Specific Learning Difficulty (SpLD).

These activities are essential to our service offering and all communications are intended to be respectful and sensitive to students seeking support from Wellbeing Services, or who may have been referred to our service by University staff or a health care professional.
Communications may be sent to you by telephone, text, email via SID, post or other electronic means (for example through Teams or Silvercloud).

Wellbeing Services also collect routine statistical information about each contact made which is later anonymised and analysed for audit and evaluation purposes. This information may subsequently be summarised and interpreted in a Wellbeing Services Annual Report. The utmost care is taken to ensure no individually identifiable information is disclosed.

Lastly, limited personal data may be sent to the Higher Education Statistics Agency for Statistical Analysis, Higher Education Funding Council for England. For more information on this, please refer to the Data Protection Notice for Students.

Lawful basis for processing your data

The University processes your personal data in order to provide wellbeing, disability, mental health and student support services. The lawful basis for processing your personal data is generally that processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest and in the exercise of the University's functions as a higher education provider.

As part of providing support services, we may process special category personal data, including information about your health, disability, mental health, wellbeing and specific learning difficulties. We process this information where it is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest, for the provision and management of support services, and to protect the health, safety and wellbeing of students.

Where we ask for your consent to share information with third parties, consent relates to that specific information sharing activity and is not necessarily the legal basis upon which we process your personal data.

Personal information conveyed to us will not normally be disclosed to other University staff or external organisations without your explicit and informed consent, except where disclosure is required or permitted by law or where there are exceptional circumstances.

Exceptional circumstances

In exceptional circumstances, the University may share information without your consent where:

• there is a serious concern regarding your safety or welfare;
• there is a risk of serious harm to you or another person;
• safeguarding concerns arise;
• disclosure is required by law, court order or regulatory requirement; or
• disclosure is otherwise permitted under applicable data protection legislation.

Where appropriate and safe to do so, we will seek to inform you of any such disclosure.

You will be asked to sign a ‘Consent to Liaise’ form, where you can confirm whom we may or may not contact. In other instances, you may be asked to email in the name of the person with whom you wish us to liaise.  In most instances this will be when you have requested a letter of engagement to be sent to your Faculty.

In order to help you in your studies, Wellbeing Services work closely with academic and support staff across the University. If you are being supported under the Health, Wellbeing and Support for Study process, we may ask you if we can invite academic or support staff to the meetings. We may liaise with a range of external professionals (for example a psychologist or other health practitioner) so that we can provide integrated and effective support for students. You may withhold your permission for us to share information but this may affect the level of support the University is able to offer you.

Wellbeing Services works closely with Randstad and other agencies that provide Non-Medical Helper support to students.  Should you be eligible for this type of support, a referral to Randstad (or alternative agencies) will be discussed with you fully and we will obtain consent prior to sending on your details.

Any student receiving DSA funded support provided by Wellbeing Services will be asked to complete a number of forms required by the Disabled Students’ Allowances. One of these forms is a ‘Consent for Sensitive Personal Data Processing’ request. The request for your consent specifically relates to Department for Education’s requirement for information or documentation relating to students’ Non-Medical Helper (NMH) support. The form explains what type of information is required and states how this information is vital in auditing the service when DOE request information for an audit. Please note that you have the right to refuse to give your consent for this form

International transfers

Some of the systems and service providers used by the University may process personal data outside the United Kingdom. Where this occurs, the University will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place in accordance with UK data protection legislation to protect your personal data. These may include adequacy regulations approved by the UK Government or approved contractual safeguards.

The University processes your personal data in order to provide wellbeing, disability, mental health and student support services. The lawful basis for processing your personal data is generally that processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest and in the exercise of the University's functions as a higher education provider.

As part of providing support services, we may process special category personal data, including information about your health, disability, mental health, wellbeing and specific learning difficulties. We process this information where it is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest, for the provision and management of support services, and to protect the health, safety and wellbeing of students.
Where we ask for your consent to share information with third parties, consent relates to that specific information sharing activity and is not necessarily the legal basis upon which we process your personal data.

The University may contact you prior to commencing your studies if you have declared a disability or specific learning difficulty. This will initially be via your personal email address given to the University when applying via UCAS, or from your direct application to the University. Once you have completed online registration and become a registered student at the University, communication will transfer to your Exeter email address.

All communications from then on will be via telephone, text, email via SID, post or other electronic means (for example through Teams or Silvercloud).

If you ask us to delete your data, we will consider this on a case by case basis but will be unable to remove all records of the support you have received for compliance/legal reasons.

You have the right to:

• request access to the personal data we hold about you;
• request correction of inaccurate or incomplete personal data;
• request deletion of personal data in certain circumstances;
• request restriction of processing in certain circumstances;
• object to processing in certain circumstances;
• request the transfer of your personal data to another organisation where applicable;
• withdraw consent at any time where we rely upon consent;
• raise concerns regarding the University's processing of your personal data with the Data Protection Officer; and
• lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office.

You can request these rights by contacting the University’s Data Protection Officer (DPO). The DPO is responsible for monitoring compliance with relevant legislation in relation to personal data and can be contacted at dataprotection@exeter.ac.uk. You can also contact the DPO if you have any queries or concerns about the University’s processing of your personal data. You have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office at www.ico.org.uk/concerns.

This Privacy Notice will be kept under review and will be formally reviewed on a yearly basis. Any changes will be updated on our website and communicated to you as appropriate. This Privacy Notice was last updated in October 2026.

If you have any questions regarding this privacy notice please do not hesitate to contact us on 01392 724381 (Wellbeing) or 01392 723880 (AccessAbility).