Respondent Privacy Notice
The Relationships in 2026 Survey
This privacy notice explains how TLC: Talk, Listen, Change (TLC) uses your personal data when you take part in The Relationships Survey in 2026.
This survey asks questions about relationships with friends, family, partners and children. You can decide whether to complete the survey and you can decide how much or how little you wish to complete. There are limited mandatory questions.
TLC is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. We are committed to being transparent about how we use personal information and ensuring it is used responsibly and kept safe.
We may update or revise this privacy notice at any time. If we make significant changes, we will take reasonable steps to bring this to your attention.
Who is the data controller?
TLC: Talk, Listen, Change (TLC) is the data controller for the personal data collected through this survey. This means TLC decides why and how your personal data is used.
For questions about this survey, you can contact: Emily Manning at [email protected]
For data protection enquiries and to exercise your rights, contact TLC’s Data Protection Officer (DPO): [email protected]
What personal data do we collect?
Depending on how you complete the survey, we may collect:
1) Survey responses
Your answers to questions about your relationships and experiences.
2) Demographic information
To help us understand how experiences vary across groups, we may ask for demographic information such as:
- your age and gender
- the region you live in
- your ethnicity
- your income level
3) Special category personal data
Some questions ask for information that is legally classed as special category personal data, including:
- sexual orientation
- disability information
- mental health information
You can choose not to answer these questions.
4) Contact details (optional)
If you choose to enter the prize draw and/or opt in to TLC updates, we may collect:
- your email address
Why do we collect this information?
We use the information you provide to:
- analyse the findings from the survey
- understand patterns and trends in relationship experiences
- publish anonymous statistics and insights to inform TLC’s work and public understanding of relationships
- improve TLC services, policy work and future research
Our lawful basis for processing your personal data
Under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), we must have a lawful basis to use your personal data.
Survey responses and demographic data
We process personal data for research and statistical purposes under:
- Article 6(1)(f) – Legitimate interests, because it is in TLC’s legitimate interests to carry out research into relationships and wellbeing and to publish anonymous findings in the public interest.
We have considered the impact on your privacy and:
- participation is voluntary
- most questions are optional
- results are published only in anonymised/aggregated form
- personal data is stored securely, and access is restricted
Special category personal data
Where we process special category personal data (e.g. sexual orientation, disability or mental health information), we rely on:
- Article 9(2)(a) – Explicit consent
This means we will only process this information if you choose to provide it by answering those questions. You can choose not to answer.
Email address (prize draw administration)
If you provide your email address to enter the prize draw, we use it under:
- Article 6(1)(f) – Legitimate interests, for administering the prize draw and contacting the winner(s)
Newsletter / TLC updates (optional)
If you choose to receive TLC newsletters and updates, we will only send these to you if you actively opt in.
We will use your email address for newsletters/updates under:
- Article 6(1)(a) – Consent
You can withdraw your consent at any time by using the unsubscribe link in our emails or contacting us.
Important: Entering the prize draw is not the same as opting in to marketing. You can enter the prize draw without signing up to TLC newsletters.
Who do we share your information with?
We may share your personal data with trusted suppliers who support the running of the survey. These organisations act as data processors and can only use your data on TLC’s instructions and must keep it secure.
The survey platform, Tally Forms, will store your data in Belgium within the EU. Form submissions are encrypted.
If we share data with any partner organisations, this will be in anonymised form and will not identify you. We do not sell your personal data.
How long will we keep your personal data?
We will keep your data only for as long as necessary for the purposes set out in this notice.
- Survey responses (personal data): kept for up to 1 year after survey closure, then anonymised or securely deleted.
- Anonymised survey dataset: may be kept for longer for research and reporting, as anonymised data is not personal data.
- Prize draw email addresses: kept until the prize draw has been completed and any prize has been issued, then deleted (within 3 months).
- Newsletter subscribers: kept until you unsubscribe or we no longer need the data.
How will we use the survey results?
Responding to this survey is entirely voluntary.
TLC will publish statistics and insights derived from The Relationships Survey 2026. The published results will not identify individuals.
We will:
- analyse responses to produce anonymous findings
- publish results in aggregated form (e.g. totals, percentages, trends)
- avoid reporting results that could identify someone, especially in small groups
How do we keep your information secure?
TLC will keep personal data and survey responses in strict confidence and take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect it, including:
- access controls (only authorised staff can access the data)
- secure storage and encryption where appropriate
- staff training and confidentiality requirements
- procedures for secure deletion and retention management
Children’s data collection
This survey is intended for people aged 18 or over.
TLC does not knowingly collect personal data from children through this survey. If we become aware that we have received personal data from someone under 18, we will delete it where possible.
Automated decision-making
We do not use your personal data for automated decision-making or profiling that produces legal or similarly significant effects.
Your rights
Under UK GDPR, you have rights over your personal data. These include:
- Right to be informed about how your data is used
- Right of access to personal data we hold about you
- Right to rectification if information is inaccurate or incomplete
- Right to erasure (in some circumstances)
- Right to restrict processing (in some circumstances)
- Right to object to processing based on legitimate interests
- Right to data portability (where processing is based on consent and carried out by automated means)
- Right to withdraw consent at any time (where we rely on consent)
Important note about anonymity and withdrawal
If you wish to withdraw from the survey after submitting responses, we will do our best to support this. However, in practice it may not always be possible to identify and remove your responses once they have been anonymised or combined into aggregated analysis.
How to exercise your rights
To exercise your rights or request access to personal data TLC holds about you, please contact our Data Protection Officer:
Email: [email protected]
Address: TLC: Talk, Listen, Change, Floor 5, Trafford House, Chester Road, Manchester, M32 0RS
Complaints
If you have concerns about how TLC uses your data, we encourage you to contact us first so we can try to resolve the issue.
You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK regulator for data protection.
Information Commissioner’s Office:
Website: https://ico.org.uk
Telephone: 0303 123 1113