At Citizens Advice Winchester District, 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.
This privacy policy explains how we use your information and what your rights are. We handle and store your personal information in line with data protection law and our confidentiality policy. The following pages tell you more about how we use your information in more detail.
Our network
Citizens Advice is a membership organisation made up of the national Citizens Advice charity and many local offices across England and Wales, including Citizens Advice Winchester District.
Citizens Advice Winchester District is an independent charity and a member of the national Citizens Advice charity.
All members of the Citizens Advice network are responsible for keeping your personal information safe and making sure data protection law is followed.
Members of the network also run some jointly designed services and use some of the same systems to process your personal data. In these instances, we are joint data controllers for these activities.
Jointly controlled data
All offices in the Citizens Advice network use some joint systems to carry out our activities. These include joint case management systems, telephony platforms and more.
Staff from a different local Citizens Advice can only access your personal information in a joint system if they have a good reason. For example, when:
- you go to a different office to seek advice
- more than one office is working together in partnership
- they need to investigate a complaint or incident
We have rules and controls in place to stop people accessing or using your information when they shouldn’t.
Tell an adviser if you’re worried about your details being on a national system. We’ll work with you to take extra steps to protect your information – for example, by recording your problem without using your name.
National Citizens Advice has a privacy notice available on their website that covers general advice and nationally managed systems, including our case management systems. This policy covers the processing we carry out in our office.
How we use your data for advice
This section covers how we use your data to provide you with advice.
For general advice and nationally funded advice programmes please see the national Citizens Advice privacy notice.
How we collect your information
We use different methods to collect data from and about you, usually through direct interactions. You may give us your data by filling in forms or by corresponding with us by post, phone, email, webchat, in person or otherwise. This includes personal data you give us when you request advice, when you provide information and evidence for your case, or when you give us feedback or make a complaint.
What information we collect
We may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal data such as:
- Identity data – including first name, birth name, last name, username or similar identifier, marital status, title, date of birth, nationality and gender.
- Contact data – including residential address, email address and telephone numbers.
- Financial data – including information you have provided about your financial circumstances.
What we use your information for
The main reason we ask for your information is to help solve your problem. To find out what we use your information for, see our national Citizens Advice Privacy Policy.
Our confidentiality policy
At Citizens Advice we have a confidentiality policy which states that anything you tell us as part of advice will not be shared outside of the Citizens Advice network unless you provide your permission for us to do so.
There are some exceptions to this such as needing to share:
- to prevent an immediate risk of harm to an individual
- In select circumstances if it is in the best interests of the client
- where we are compelled to do so by law (e.g. a court order or meeting statutory disclosures)
- where there is an overriding public interest such as to prevent harm against someone or to investigate a crime
- to defend against a complaint or legal claim
- to protect our name and reputation for example to provide our side of a story reported in the press
Who we share your information with
We will generally not share information without your permission, unless required to do so by law or in some very limited situations, like to protect you or someone else from serious harm. If a particular service involves sharing your information without permission, we will always let you know upfront that it isn’t confidential.
When you give us authority to act on your behalf, for example to help you with a benefit claim, we’ll need to share information with that third party.
If, with your agreement, we conclude that your case can be best handled by another agency, we will only share your information with that agency with your signed permission.
Any information shared with our funders, partner organisations, etc., is anonymised and is for statistical purposes only.
Our lawful basis for using your information
The lawful basis for processing personal data for the purpose of delivering advice to our clients is legitimate interests.
The lawful conditions for processing special category data are:
- establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims
This includes establishing legal rights such as housing, benefits, debt solutions.
- Substantial public interest – statutory basis
When delivering advice laid down in law (e.g. consumer service) .
- Substantial public interest – provision of confidential counselling, advice or support
When delivering more welfare focused advice that doesn’t relate to legal rights and isn’t laid down in law.
How we use your data for research, feedback and statistics
This section covers how we use your data to carry out our research, feedback and statistical work.
National Citizens Advice covers their use of data for this purpose in their privacy notice.
How we collect your information
Personal data is collected when you request advice, give us feedback or make a complaint.
What information we collect
In addition to the personal data collected for the purposes of giving advice, we also ask you if you are happy to share some information about your background with us, such as ethnic origin, health conditions, religion, sexual orientation and trade union membership. You don’t have to provide us with this information, and it does not affect the advice you receive.
What we use your information for
This information is used for reporting and research purposes and helps us to ensure we are delivering our service in a way that supports everyone, and that we are reaching people from all backgrounds.
Who we share your information with
Any information shared with our funders, partners, etc., is anonymised and is for statistical purposes only.
Our lawful basis for using your information
The lawful basis for processing personal data for statistical purposes and research is legitimate interests.
The lawful condition for processing special category data for statistical purposes and research is archiving, research and statistics.
How long we keep your data for
National Citizens Advice is responsible for managing any data in joint client case records. For more information, please see their privacy notice.
Third party processors
Third party processors (such as our IT Support provider) are other organisations that carry out data processing on our behalf. Third party processors don’t use data for their own purposes, and we have agreements in line with data protection law.
Your data protection rights
You have rights in relation to your personal data that we hold. Your rights include being able to request:
- Access to copies of your data
- Corrections are made to inaccurate data
- Deletion of your personal data
- Object to how we use your personal dataThese rights are not absolute and may not apply in every circumstance. For more information about your rights, you can visit the ICO website.To make a data protection rights request you can do so by emailing [admin@cawinchesterdistrict.org.uk]
Raising a concern about how we use your information
If you are concerned about how we have handled your personal information, please contact us at admin@cawinchesterdistrict.org.uk.
You can also contact the national charity if you are unhappy with how we have used your personal data or wish to raise a concern about how a local office has handled your personal data. To do so you can email us at DPO@citizensadvice.org.uk
Contacting the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)
You can also raise your concern with the Information Commissioner’s Office which regulates data protection law in the UK. if you are unhappy with how we have used your personal information. They will normally expect you to have made a complaint to us directly in the first instance.
- Visit the ICO website.
- Address: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF
- Helpline number: 0303 123 1113