Privacy Policy

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 commercial organisations

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.

This page covers how we, as your local charity, handle your information locally in our offices.

Citizens Advice is a membership organisation made up of the national Citizens Advice charity and many local offices across England and Wales, including CARD. CARD 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.

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 policy 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.

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 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

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 policy.

This section covers how we use your data to carry out our fundraising activities.

National Citizens Advice covers their use of data for this purpose in their privacy policy.

How we collect your information

We collect donor information via donation forms, correspondence, and our JustGiving platform for fundraising purposes. When using JustGiving, your data is processed securely through their platform, and we access donor details provided to us for thanking supporters, managing donations, and reporting to funders.

Who we share your information with

We share your data with JustGiving as our fundraising platform provider. JustGiving processes donations on our behalf and shares necessary donor information with us.

Our lawful basis for using your information

We rely on legitimate interests and consent for processing data related to fundraising and donations, including through JustGiving.

How we collect your information

When you apply, we collect your personal information through your application form, interview or references so we can process your application. We have a ‘legitimate interest’ to do this under data protection law. This means it lets us carry out our aims and goals as an organisation. We need to use your personal information to recruit people and make sure our recruitment processes are inclusive.

What information we collect

We’ll collect personal information such as name, address, telephone number and email address, previous job history and experience, qualifications, and any support needs you may have.

We’ll also ask for diversity information like your gender, ethnicity and sexual orientation. You don’t have to tell us this.

We might collect other information depending on whether you’ve applied for a staff or volunteer role.

What we use your information for

The main reasons we ask for your personal information are to:

• check you’ve got the right skills for a role when you apply
• arrange an interview
• contact you to tell you the result of your application
• do checks when we make an offer, for example contacting your references or checking your right to work in the UK
• send you an offer letter or contract

We’ll only access your information for other reasons if we need to and we have a legitimate interest to do this under data protection law, for example to:

• investigate complaints
• send you copies of the information we have about you if you make a ‘subject access request’ – find out more about subject access requests  on the Information Commissioner’s Office website
• get feedback from you about our services
• help us improve our services

We’ll treat any diversity information you give us as strictly confidential. We’ll anonymise this information and only use it to look at trends. This means we won’t look at your information individually or compare it to other people and we won’t use it as part of the recruitment selection process.

Who we share your information with

If you accept an offer to work for us we’ll:

• get your permission to share your information with your references
• add your information to our human resources and technology systems

We won’t usually share your personal information with anyone else in a way that could identify you. In some rare situations we have to share your information, for example if:

• we’re investigating a safeguarding issue
• the police ask for the information to help them investigate a crime
• a court orders us to share the information

We sometimes share anonymous statistics with organisations we trust so they can analyse the information.

Our  website uses cookies. A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers that we put on your computer. These cookies allow us to record your preferences and those of other users of this website which helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our website and also allows us to improve our site.

The cookies we use include ‘analytical’ cookies. They allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors to our website and see how those visitors move around the website. This helps us to improve the way our website works, for example by making sure users can find what they want more easily.

In your web browser, you can set your preferences to either accept all cookies, notify you when a cookie is issued, or not receive cookies at all. Note that opting not to receive cookies means you may not be able to take full advantage of all the features of a website. As each web browser works differently, you will need to look in the ‘Help’ menu of the browser you use to find out how to change your cookie preferences.

Can I refuse or opt out of cookies?

Most browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually change your browser settings to limit or prevent cookies. Unless you have adjusted your browser settings so that it will refuse cookies, our system will issue cookies as soon as you visit our website. If you set your browser to not accept cookies, it may result in certain sections of our website not working properly and certain personalised services not being provided to users of your computer.

More information about cookies generally can be found at http://www.allaboutcookies.org/.

You can find out how to opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics by visiting https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

Note: These policies only cover this website (www.citizensadvicerotherham.org.uk); other websites linked from this website are not covered by these policies. Once you have accessed another website via one of our links you will be subject to the security and privacy policy of that site.

National Citizens Advice is responsible for managing any data in joint client case records. For more information please see their privacy policy.

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 data

These 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 info@citizensadvicerotherham.org.uk.

If you are concerned about how we have handled your personal information please contact us at info@citizensadvicerotherham.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

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