Privacy Policy
Last updated September 2026
At Coastal Swim Coaching, we take your privacy seriously. This Privacy Policy explains what personal information we collect, why we collect it, how we use and protect it, and your rights in relation to your information.
Who we are
Coastal Swim Coaching provides swimming coaching, open water swimming sessions, pool sessions, memberships, events, trips and related services.
For the purposes of UK data protection law, Coastal Swim Coaching is responsible for the personal information we collect and use.
Contact email: info@coastalswimcoaching.co.uk
Business/postal address: 7 Beach Road, Ilfracombe, North Devon, EX34 9QZ
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how we use your information, please contact us using the email address above.
What information we collect
Depending on how you interact with us, we may collect information including:
Your name
Email address
Telephone number
Date of birth or age where relevant
Booking and attendance information
Membership information
Swimming experience, ability and goals
Emergency contact or next-of-kin information
Relevant health, medical, accessibility or safety information
Information you provide through questionnaires, booking forms or enquiries
Payment and transaction information
Marketing preferences
Communications between you and Coastal Swim Coaching
Photographs or video where appropriate and where permission has been given
Information about how you use our website, including information collected through cookies and analytics
Where a parent or guardian makes a booking for a child, we may also collect information about both the child and the parent or guardian.
Why we collect and use your information
We may use your personal information to:
Process and manage bookings
Set up and manage memberships
Provide coaching and swimming sessions
Assess whether a particular session or activity is appropriate for you
Help us provide a safe swimming environment
Contact you about a booking, session, event, cancellation or change
Respond to enquiries
Manage payments and refunds
Keep appropriate business, financial and attendance records
Organise events, trips and swimming activities
Improve our services
Manage our relationship with members and customers
Send information about our sessions, events, memberships and services where permitted
Meet our legal, safeguarding, insurance and safety responsibilities
Manage and improve our website
Health and medical information
Because we provide swimming and open water activities, we may ask you to provide relevant health, medical or accessibility information.
Health information is considered special category personal data under UK data protection law and receives additional protection.
We only ask for information that we believe is relevant to safely providing our services.
Where required, we process this information with your explicit consent. You may withdraw your consent, although there may be circumstances where we are unable to safely provide a particular activity without information that is necessary to assess or manage your safety.
In a genuine emergency, relevant information may also be used or shared where necessary to protect someone's vital interests.
Health information will only be accessible to people who reasonably need it for coaching, safety, safeguarding, administration or emergency purposes.
Emergency contact information
We may ask you to provide the name and contact details of an emergency contact or next of kin.
We use this information only where reasonably necessary in connection with your safety, participation in our activities or an emergency.
If you provide us with another person's contact details, please ensure that they are aware that you have provided their information to Coastal Swim Coaching and, where appropriate, direct them to this Privacy Policy.
Our lawful bases for using personal information
UK data protection law requires us to have a lawful reason for using personal information.
Depending on the circumstances, we may rely on:
Contract – where using your information is necessary to provide a service you have booked or requested, manage your membership or take steps before entering into a booking or agreement with you.
Legal obligation – where we are required to keep or use information to comply with a legal requirement.
Legitimate interests – where it is reasonably necessary for operating and protecting Coastal Swim Coaching, communicating with customers, improving our services, maintaining appropriate records or managing our activities, provided those interests do not override your rights and interests.
Consent – where you have specifically agreed to a particular use of your information, such as certain marketing communications, photographs or the processing of health information where consent is the appropriate lawful basis.
Vital interests – in limited circumstances where using information is necessary to protect someone's life, for example during a serious emergency.
Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw that consent at any time.
Bookings and memberships
We currently use Bookwhen to manage bookings, attendees and memberships.
When you make a booking or manage a membership through Bookwhen, personal information may be processed through their systems on our behalf.
The information collected will depend on the booking and may include your contact details, booking information, attendee details and information requested through booking forms.
Payments
We use third-party payment providers, including Stripe, to process certain payments.
Payment providers process payment information securely on our behalf. Coastal Swim Coaching does not need to receive or store your complete debit or credit card details in order to process these payments.
Payment providers may collect and process information in accordance with their own privacy policies.
Our website
Our website is hosted using Squarespace.
When you visit our website, Squarespace and other services used by the website may collect certain technical information, such as:
IP address
Browser information
Device information
Pages visited
Website activity
Cookie information
Some of this information is necessary for the website to function. Other information, such as analytics or marketing cookies, will only be used where permitted.
Please see our cookie information and cookie settings for further details.
Marketing communications
We may contact you with information about Coastal Swim Coaching sessions, memberships, events, trips or other services where you have agreed to receive these communications or where we are otherwise permitted to do so.
You can opt out of marketing communications at any time by using the unsubscribe option provided or by contacting us.
Opting out of marketing will not stop us from sending important service messages relating to something you have booked, such as session information, safety information, cancellations or changes.
Photographs and video
We sometimes take photographs or video during Coastal Swim Coaching activities for purposes such as our website, social media and promotional material.
Where appropriate, we will ask for permission before using identifiable photographs or video for promotional purposes.
You can tell us if you do not wish to be photographed or filmed.
Where we are relying on your consent, you can withdraw that consent for future use by contacting us. This may not always allow us to remove material that has already been printed, published or shared by others.
Who we share information with
We do not sell your personal information.
We may share relevant information with trusted third parties where this is necessary to operate our business or provide our services.
These may include:
Bookwhen for bookings and memberships
Stripe and other payment providers
Squarespace for our website
Email and communication providers
Website analytics providers
Coaches, guides or staff involved in delivering an activity
Venues or activity providers where information is genuinely required
Professional advisers such as accountants, insurers or legal advisers
Emergency services or healthcare professionals where necessary
Government, regulatory or law-enforcement bodies where required by law
We only share information that is reasonably necessary for the relevant purpose.
Where we use third-party services, those providers may process information in accordance with their own privacy policies and data protection obligations.
International data transfers
Some of the technology and service providers we use may store or process information outside the United Kingdom.
Where personal information is transferred internationally, we take reasonable steps to ensure appropriate data protection safeguards are in place, such as transfers to countries covered by UK adequacy regulations or the use of appropriate contractual protections.
How long we keep your information
We do not keep personal information for longer than we reasonably need it.
The length of time information is retained depends on why it was collected and any legal, accounting, insurance, safeguarding or safety requirements that apply.
For example:
Booking and membership information may be retained for business administration and record-keeping purposes.
Financial and transaction records are retained for the period required by applicable accounting and tax requirements.
Health and emergency contact information is retained only for as long as reasonably necessary for safe participation and any related safeguarding, insurance, incident or legal requirements.
Enquiry information is kept for as long as necessary to deal with the enquiry and any resulting customer relationship.
Marketing information is retained until you unsubscribe, withdraw your consent or we no longer have a lawful reason to retain it.
We periodically review the information we hold and delete or securely dispose of information when it is no longer required.
Keeping your information secure
We take reasonable steps to protect the personal information we hold against loss, misuse, unauthorised access, alteration or disclosure.
We also aim to limit access to personal information to those who reasonably need it to perform their role.
No online system can be guaranteed to be completely secure, but we take appropriate steps to reduce the risks associated with handling personal information.
Your data protection rights
Depending on the circumstances and the lawful basis we rely upon, you may have rights including:
The right to ask what personal information we hold about you
The right to receive a copy of your personal information
The right to ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information
The right to ask us to delete your information in certain circumstances
The right to ask us to restrict how your information is used in certain circumstances
The right to object to certain uses of your information
The right to data portability in certain circumstances
The right to withdraw consent where we are relying on consent
You will not normally have to pay to exercise your data protection rights.
To make a request, please contact us at:
info@coastalswimcoaching.co.uk
We may need to verify your identity before providing personal information or acting upon certain requests.
Automated decision-making
We do not currently use personal information to make solely automated decisions about individuals that have legal or similarly significant effects.
Complaints
If you have any concerns about how we have handled your personal information, please contact us first so that we can investigate and respond.
You also have the right to raise a complaint with the UK's data protection regulator, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).
Information about making a complaint is available at ico.org.uk.
Changes to this Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time, particularly if our services, booking systems or the way we use personal information change.
The latest version will always be available on our website and the date at the top of this page will show when it was last updated.