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 anyone
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.
You can check our main Citizens Advice policy for how we handle most of your personal information.
This page covers how we, as your local charity, handle your information locally in our offices.
How Citizens Advice Taunton collect your data
If you, or someone referring you, uses one of our enquiry forms on the website
If you use our online enquiry form no information is stored on our website at all.
The information on the form is sent to an advisor by email. As well as the record kept on our case management system, the email will be kept our email server for 12 months and then deleted. If you use our enquiry form you can tick a box to express your permission for you to store your data. If you are referred to us via a third party we will always discussing consent with you at our first opportunity.
If you contact us via Facebook or Twitter
We do not ask anyone to submit data via these platforms, but any information you chose to enter will be stored by them, and you should refer to their Privacy Policy (twitter.com/en/privacy | facebook.com/policy.php )
If you email us we will make every effort to ensure the security and integrity of emails on our systems. Unfortunately, no data transmission over the internet can be guaranteed to be 100 per cent secure. As a result, while we strive to protect your personal information after we’ve received it, Citizens Advice Taunton cannot ensure or guarantee the security of information when it is being transmitted.
All the other ways we collect your information are covered by our national Citizens Advice privacy policy
If you are a Pension Wise client.
Please refer to our national Citizens Advice privacy policy
What Citizens Advice Taunton ask for
To find out what information we ask for, see our national Citizens Advice privacy policy
How Citizens Advice Taunton use your information
To find out how we use your information, see our national Citizens Advice privacy policy
Working on your behalf
When you ask us to act on your behalf, for example to help you with Money & Debt advice, we’ll need to share information with that third party. Parties we often share information with are;
Department for Work & Pensions
Somerset Partnership NHS Trust
Her Majesty’s Court & Tribunal Service
Taunton Association for the Homeless
Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs
Taunton Deane Borough Council
Liverty, and other, Housing Associations
Wessex Water
How Citizens Advice Taunton store your information
The record of your case will be stored securely in an electronic case management system used jointly by all of the Citizens Advice service. We are all responsible for keeping it safe. As part of solving your problem, we might also make written notes, hold information on our secure server, download copies of your case or send emails containing your information. We also store information on Microsoft Exchange Server, Google Calendar. Everywhere we store data is either within the EEA or certified under the EU-US Privacy Shield Framework. We will make sure any information is stored securely and only accessed when there’s a good reason by staff and volunteers of the Citizens Advice service.
How Citizens Advice Taunton share your information
2BU
PayPlan
Age UK
SARI
Alletsons Solicitors (Legal Aid Providers for Housing)
SDAS
Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services
SIDAS
Compass Disability
Somerset County Council Adult Social Care
DWP Visiting Team
Somerset County Council Children’s Social Care
Mind
StepChange
National Centre for Domestic Violence
Swan Advocacy
Pathway 2 Independence
Taunton Food Bank
We always ask for your consent before making a referral, either by using our Letter of Consent or by taking your consent verbally or via email, and making a detailed note of that.
If Citizens Advice Taunton is sending an email about you that contains sensitive personal data we will only send it with your consent and will protect it by encrypting it.
If you are concerned about confidentiality please contact us as detailed below.
Contact Citizens Advice Taunton about your information
If you have any questions about how your information is collected or used, you can contact our office.
Telephone: 01823 282235 (this number is for answer machine that is checked regularly)
Or use our feedback form to contact us;
https://citizensadvicetaunton.org.uk/feedback/
You can contact us to:
- find out what personal information we hold about you
- correct your information if it’s wrong, out of date or incomplete
- request we delete your information
- ask us to limit what we do with your data – for example, ask us not to share it if you haven’t asked us already
- ask us to give you a copy of the data we hold in a format you can use to transfer it to another service
- ask us stop using your information
Who’s responsible for looking after your personal information
The national Citizens Advice charity and your local Citizens Advice operate a system called Casebook to keep your personal information safe. This means they’re a ‘joint data controller’ for your personal information that’s stored in our Casebook system.
Each local Citizens Advice is an independent charity, and a member of the national Citizens Advice charity. The Citizens Advice membership agreement also requires that the use of your information complies with data protection law.
You can find out more about your data rights on the Information Commissioner’s website.
