Privacy policy
At Edenbridge & Westerham 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.
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 Edenbridge & Westerham Citizens Advice. Edenbridge & Westerham Citizens Advice 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
Personal data is collected in our office from our clients who have either given it to us directly by email, text, over the phone or face to face or from our partners (with whom we have a data sharing agreement) to whom the client has given that information knowing it will be passed on to us.
What information we collect
We collect your personal information including name, address, contact details and date of birth. We will collect data relating to your household, housing, and employment. We may also ask you for special category data such as ethnicity, health, religion, sexuality or trade union membership but only if it is relevant to your enquiry.
What we use your information for
First and foremost your information will be used to provide you with advice and, if need be, to negotiate with 3rd parties on your behalf.
We also use information to support our research and campaign work, to understand how different problems are affecting society and to take action to tackle these problems. Your data will be used anonymously unless you provide us with permission to include your story.
In addition, where you have given us your permission and contact details, we, or in some instances a trusted research partner, may contact you to ask you for feedback on the service you received and your overall experience of Citizens Advice.
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 may share your information with partner organisations such as the local authority, DWP and local housing associations. We do so only in the interest of helping you with your enquiry and we will ask you for your permission before we do this.
Our lawful basis for using your information
Legitimate interests - to provide advice information and guidance where the data processing relates to the establishment or defence of legal claims including but not limited to legal rights in relation to benefits, debt, energy and housing.
Legitimate interests - to carry out statistical analysis and research using our client data.
Legitimate interests - to provide evidence that certain quality and standards are being met and to be able to investigate complaints.
Substantial public interest (statutory) - where our advice, information or guidance relates to a statutory function such as consumer service.
Substantial public interest (confidential counselling, advice or support) - where our advice relates to confidential wellbeing support or involves special category data and criminal offence data.
Substantial public interest (public task) - this condition is met when the processing is necessary for the safeguarding of children and of individuals at risk.
Consent - where we seek to publish client stories in an identifiable format we will always obtain client consent.
Vital interests - Where a person’s life may be in danger and use of special category data is necessary.
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.
What information we collect
We may collect information in addition to the standard data set and special category data that is needed for specific local research and campaign work. This may be in the form of a survey or feedback form.
Your data will be anonymised unless you provide permission for your personal data to be used.
What we use your information for and who we share it with
We use this information to help us improve our services and to advance local campaign work which may work to change the practices and procedures of organisations such as the local authority, housing associations and private landlords, DWP and local employers and businesses.
How we use your data when you apply to work or volunteer with us
How we collect your information
We collect your data from your application form, be it for a paid or volunteer role, which is stored electronically and also in a paper based filing system.
What information we collect
We record your application form and policy agreement forms.
We record your support and supervision records including annual review forms.
We record any grievances or disciplinary matters.
We record achievements and completed training documentation.
What we use your information for and who we share it with
The information is used to assess suitability for both paid and volunteer roles.
It is used to meet statutory obligations relating to employment law.
It is used to request references.
It is used to correspond with pension providers and payroll system providers.
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 the Citizens Advice privacy notice.
Please refer to our Data Retention Policy for full details.
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 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 edenbridge@cabnet.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 edenbridge@cabnet.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.
Address: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF
Helpline number: 0303 123 1113