Privacy Policy

Citizens Advice Stroud and Cotswold Districts Ltd Privacy Policy

At Citizens Advice Stroud and Cotswold Districts Ltd, 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 Stroud and Cotswold Districts Ltd. Citizens Advice Stroud and Cotswold Districts Ltd 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 attend 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 collect your personal data when you come to us for help.

When another charity or organisation asks you if they can share your personal data with us, we take only the minimum required for us to know who you are and the issue you would like us to help you with. You will be contacted by one of our advisers who can explain where you can find our privacy policy.

What information we collect

To find out what information we collect please see the national Citizens Advice privacy notice.

What we use your information for

To find out what we use your information for please see the national Citizens Advice privacy notice.

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

When you give us authority to act on your behalf, for example to help you with a Universal Credit claim, we will need to share information with that third party eg the DWP, your housing association, your council.

We will ask your permission to share your information with the Trussell Trust – they run foodbanks across the country. You can check their privacy notice on their website: https://www.trusselltrust.org/privacy.

Pseudonymised data may be shared with partners and funders.

Our lawful basis for using your information

We collect and use the details you give us so we can help you.

The legal basis under which we process your personal data (including special category data) under the UK GDPR include the following:

Article 6(1)(e) – 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’.
Article 6(1)(f) – to carry out our legitimate aims and goals as a charity. This is called ‘legitimate interests’.
Article 9(2)(f) – to defend our legal rights – for example, sharing information with our legal advisors if there was a complaint that we gave the wrong advice. This is called ‘establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims’.
Article 9(2)(g) – where our advice, information or guidance relates to a statutory function. This is called ‘substantial public interest (statutory)’.
Article 9(2)(g) – where our advice, information or guidance relates to confidential wellbeing support. This is called ‘substantial public interest (confidential counselling, advice or support)’.
Article 6(1)(d) – 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’.

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

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, in person or otherwise.

What information we collect

We collect the following information on our local feedback form: name and postcode.

What we use your information for

We want to get feedback on the advice we provided you with. We use this information to improve our service and inform our campaigns in a way that doesn’t identify you.

Who we share your information with

We share anonymised data (ie there are no identifying features) with funders and the media. We offer you a choice as to whether you can be contacted for research and feedback.

Our lawful basis for using your information

The legal basis under which we process your personal data (including special category data) under the UK GDPR is Article 6(1)(f) – Legitimate interests.

We have a legitimate interest to carry out statistical analysis and research using our client data. We may also keep pseudonymised data for archival purposes.

How we use your data for fundraising and donations

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

National Citizens Advice covers their use of data for fundraising in their privacy notice.

How we collect your information

We collect your information using our fundraising forms.

What information we collect

We collect the following personal data:

Name
Address
Email address

What we use your information for

We use your personal data for the following purposes:

To fundraise and promote the interests of the charity;
To maintain our own accounts and records (including the processing of gift aid applications);
To inform you of news, events and activities relating to Citizens Advice Stroud and Cotswold Districts Ltd

Who we share your information with

If you complete a Gift Aid declaration we will share your name, address and the value of your donations with HMRC for the purposes of reclaiming tax paid.

Our lawful basis for using your information

The lawful grounds we use to process your personal data for fundraising activities are:

legal obligations – we’ll sometimes pass on personal information to comply with our legal obligations. For example, providing tax and gift aid information to HMRC in the UK .
legitimate interest – our legitimate interests enable us to meet our charitable objectives.
consent – we rely on consent as a legal basis to process your information when we send you communications about fundraising, campaigning or events. You have the right to withdraw your consent at any time by emailing info@ca-scd.org.uk.