At Citizens Advice we collect and use your personal information to help solve your problems, improve our services and tackle wider issues in society that affect people’s lives.
We only ask for the information we need. We always let you decide what you’re comfortable telling us, explain why we need it and treat it as confidential.
When we record and use your personal information we:
- Only access it when we have a good reason
- Only share what is necessary and relevant
- Don’t sell it to anyone
At times we might use or share your information without your permission. If we do, we’ll always make sure there’s a legal basis for it. This could include situations where we have to use or share your information:
- To comply with the law – for example, if a court orders us to share information. This is called ‘legal obligation’
- To protect someone’s life – for example, sharing information with a paramedic if a client was unwell at our office. This is called ‘vital interests’
- To carry out our legitimate aims and goals as a charity – for example, to create statistics for our national research. This is called ‘legitimate interests’
- For us to carry out a task where we’re meeting the aims of a public body in the public interest – for example, delivering a government or local authority service. This is called ‘public task’
- To carry out a contract we have with you – for example, if you’re an employee we might need to store your bank details so we can pay you. This is called ‘contract’
- To defend our legal rights – for example, sharing information with our legal advisors if there was a complaint that we gave the wrong advice.
We handle and store your personal information in line with the law – including the General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018.
You can check our main Citizens Advice policy for how we handle most of your personal information.
How we collect your data
You give your permission for us to collect your data by:
- Completing and signing a Client Permission and Consent Form, for example when visiting one of our offices
- Sending us an email using one of the Contact Form on this website
What we ask for
To find out what information we ask for, see our national Citizens Advice privacy policy.
How we use your information
To find out how we use your information, see our national Citizens Advice privacy policy.
Working on your behalf
When you give us authority to act on your behalf, for example to help you with a Universal Credit claim, we’ll need to share information with that third party.
How we store your information
Paper records are kept in locked cupboards. We also securely store information electronically.
How we share your information
We may share your information with third parties, partner organisations and funders for the services we deliver. We will obtain your explicit written or verbal consent to do this when you consult us about your problem.
Who’s responsible for looking after your personal information?
The national Citizens Advice charity and your local Citizens Advice operate a system called Casebook to keep your personal information safe. This means they’re a ‘joint data controller’ for your personal information that’s stored in our Casebook system.
Each local Citizens Advice is an independent charity, and a member of the national Citizens Advice charity. The Citizens Advice membership agreement also requires that the use of your information complies with data protection law.
You can find out more about your data rights on the Information commissioner’s office.
Contact your local citizens advice office about your information
Please contact your local office if you would like to:
- Find out what personal information we hold about you
- Correct your information if it’s wrong, out of date or incomplete
- Request we delete your information
- Ask us to limit what we do with your data – for example, ask us not to share it if you haven’t asked us already
- Ask us to give you a copy of the data we hold in a format you can use to transfer it to another service
- Ask us stop to using your information
