Citizens Advice Mid Lincolnshire: Privacy Policy

At Citizens Advice Mid Lincolnshire, 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 Mid Lincolnshire.  Citizens Advice Mid Lincolnshire 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

To find out how we collect your data, see our national Citizens Advice Privacy Policy.  

What information we collect

To find out what information we collect, see our national Citizens Advice Privacy Policy. 

What we use your information for

To find out how we use your information, see our national Citizens Advice privacy policy.  

Our confidentiality policy

CAML 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

The Money Advice Service – with your permission, information is shared with the funder of this service, the Money Advice Service, via the Project Managers, Community Action, Leicester.  

We may refer you to other organisations to assist with your case.  However we will always gain your written consent prior to sharing your information.   

Our lawful basis for using your information

Generally our lawful basis for using client data to provide them with advice is ‘legitimate interests’. There is a clear legitimate interest in helping clients with an issue they are seeking advice on so this is our default lawful basis and applies to our generalist advice.

However there are circumstances where another lawful basis may be applicable. In particular there are some services which we have a statutory basis to deliver advice for example, our Consumer Service. Where this is the case the most appropriate lawful basis is ‘public task’.

How we use your data for research, feedback and statistics

To find out what information we collect, see our national Citizens Advice Privacy Policy. 

How we collect your information

To find out how we collect your data, see our national Citizens Advice privacy policy.

What information we collect

To find out what information we ask for, see our national Citizens Advice privacy policy.  

What we use your information for

To find out how we use your information, see our national Citizens Advice privacy policy.

Who we share your information with

For Money Advice Service – with your permission, information is shared with the funder of this service, the Money Advice Service, via the Project Managers, Community Action, Leicester.

We may refer your information to other organisations, however we gain your consent prior to sharing any information.  Our lawful basis for using your information

Our lawful basis for using your information

Generally our lawful basis for using client data to provide them with advice is ‘legitimate interests’. There is a clear legitimate interest in helping clients with an issue they are seeking advice on so this is our default lawful basis and applies to our generalist advice.

However there are circumstances where another lawful basis may be applicable. In particular there are some services which we have a statutory basis to deliver advice for example, our Consumer Service. Where this is the case the most appropriate lawful basis is ‘public task’.

How we use your data for fundraising and donations                               

To find out how we use your information, see our national Citizens Advice privacy policy.  If making a donation via our card scanner machine, your name will appear on our sum up account statement. 

How we collect your information

Information will only be collected if a donation is made via a card scanner machine.  The information will be stored securely on our sum up account statements.

What information we collect

Name and donation amount

What we use your information for

This is used for collection of donation purposes only.

Who we share your information with

Your information will not be shared.  

Our lawful basis for using your information

Generally our lawful basis for using client data to provide them with advice is ‘legitimate interests’. There is a clear legitimate interest in helping clients with an issue they are seeking advice on so this is our default lawful basis and applies to our generalist advice.

How we use your data when applying to work or volunteer

How we collect your information

To find out what information we collect, see our national Citizens Advice Privacy Policy. 

What information we collect

To find out what information we collect, see our national Citizens Advice Privacy Policy. 

What we use your information for

To find out what information we collect, see our national Citizens Advice Privacy Policy. 

Who we share your information with

We may share your information if a DBS check is required for your volunteer/staff role.  This will be discussed with you prior to submitting the application.

To carry out a contract we have with you, for example, if you are an employee, we might need to store your bank details so that we can pay you.  This is called ‘contract’.

Volunteer bank details may also be stored for the purpose of repaying expenses.

We may share your information for the purpose of providing you with a reference.  Your consent to respond to reference requests will be gained prior to submitting the reference.

Our lawful basis for using your information

Paid staff:

• Legitimate interests – for assessing suitability of candidates
• Contract – for entering an employment contract
• Legal obligation – for carrying out legal checks as part of employment screening
• For special category data: Employment, social security, and social protection – for complying with legal requirements as an employer including DBS checks

Volunteers:

• Legitimate interests – for assessing suitability of candidates
• Legal obligation – for carrying out legal checks as part of employment screening
• For special category data:  Employment, social security, and social protection – carrying out DBS checks

How we use your data when using our website

What information we collect

To find out what information we collect, see our national Citizens Advice Privacy Policy. 

How we collect your information

To find out what information we collect, see our national Citizens Advice Privacy Policy. 

What we use your information for

To find out what information we collect, see our national Citizens Advice Privacy Policy. 

Who we share your information with

To find out what information we collect, see our national Citizens Advice Privacy Policy. 

Our lawful basis for using your information

• Website use monitoring:  Legitimate interests
• Template creation: Legitimate interests – we have a legitimate interest to provide advice to our clients
• Sending newsletters and press releases: Legitimate interests
• Preventing malicious users of webchat: Legitimate interests

How we use cookies on our website

When entering our website, viewers are  informed that we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. The viewer has the option to accept or decline cookies.  A copy of the privacy policy is viewable on the website:  CAML Cookie Policy

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

We do not use third party processors.

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 outreach@citizensadvicemidlincs.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 outreach@citizensadvicemidlincs.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