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 anyone
We collect and use the details you give us so we can help you. 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 will always explain how we use your information.
At times we might use or share your information without your permission. If we do, we will always make sure there is 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 are 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 are 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.
To find out how we handle most of your personal information, see our national Citizens Advice privacy policy.
The following covers how we, as a local charity, handle information locally in our offices for our clients.
How Citizens Advice Rhondda Cynon Taff collect your data
We will get your permission by asking you to either:
- Sign a paper consent form.
- Sign an electronic signing pad.
- Tick a box online.
- Give agreement over the phone.
What Citizens Advice Rhondda Cynon Taff ask for
We will only ask for information that is relevant to your problem. Depending on what you want help with, this might include:
- Your name and contact details – so we can keep in touch with you about your case.
- Personal information – for example about family, work, or financial circumstances.
- Details about services you get that are causing you problems – like energy or post.
- Details of items or services you have bought, and traders you have dealt with.
- Special Category Data like your ethnicity, health conditions, trade union membership, religion, or sexual orientation.
- If you do not want to give us certain information, you do not have to. For example, if you want to stay anonymous, we will only record information about your problem and make sure you are not identified.
How Citizens Advice Rhondda Cynon Taff use your information
To find out how we use your information, see our national Citizens Advice privacy policy.
The main reason we ask for your information is to help solve your problem.
We only access your information for other reasons if we really need to – for example:
- For training and quality purposes.
- To investigate complaints.
- To get feedback from you about our services.
- To help us improve our services.
All advisers and staff accessing data have had data protection training to make sure your information is handled sensitively and securely.
Working on your behalf
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. We will only share the minimum amount of information needed to progress your case, and only with your consent.
Examples of who we share with are the Department for Work and Pensions regarding benefit queries, creditors to negotiate debt repayments on your behalf and Rhondda Cynon Taff CBC regarding queries about council tax or Housing Benefit.
How Citizens Advice Rhondda Cynon Taff store your information
Your information is stored securely on our systems.
All our systems are hosted within the European Economic Area (EEA) and wherever possible, the UK.
We keep your information for 6 years and then anonymise it – this means you can’t be identified from it.
Your information might also be stored in other ways, depending on how we communicate with you.
If you used email
- Emails between you and our team are stored on our cloud hosted platform.
- Emails are kept for one year and then deleted.
If you contacted us by phone
- If you contact us or are contacted by phone, calls are recorded and stored securely by our trusted partner, 3CX.
- Recordings are kept for 6 months and then deleted.
3CX store their data securely within the European Economic Area (EEA) in line with data protection law.
How Citizens Advice Rhondda Cynon Taff share your information
With your permission, we might share your information with other organisations to help solve your problem or to monitor the quality of our services.
If you ask us to act on your behalf, we might need to share some of your information with other organisations – we’ll always tell you when we do this. For example, if we contact your creditors about your debts, we might need to share your name, address and financial details with them.
If we refer you to another organisation for more advice, we might share information about your problem with them so they can help you more quickly.
Organisations we share your data with must store and use your data in line with data protection law.
Contact Citizens Advice Rhondda Cynon Taff about your information
If you have any questions about how your information is collected or used, you can contact our office:
Citizens Advice Rhondda Cynon Taff
Knight Street
Mountain Ash
CF45 3EY
Admin Tel: 01443 409284
Email: enquiries@carct.org.uk
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.
How we use cookies
When you browse our website, we collect ‘cookies’ to help us understand more about how our site is used by visitors, and to develop and improve our services to you.
A ‘cookie’ is a bit of information kept on your computer. It tells us things like what device you’re using and what pages you click on.
We use cookies to:
- track aspects of your visits, including the length of your visit, your browser, geographic location and the use of the search facility on this website
- remember the contrast and/or text resizing style preferences you’ve chosen for this website – if relevant
- record your video preferences for our YouTube videos viewed on this website
How to manage or delete cookies
If you don’t want to receive cookies, you can change the settings in your web browser. You can also delete cookies that have already been set.
To find instructions on how to restrict or block cookies, click on Help in your web browser and search for ‘cookies’.
Further information about cookies
- www.ico.gov.uk – Information Commissioner’s Office
- www.aboutcookies.org – part of OUTLAW website from international law firm Pinsent Masons
- www.allaboutcookies.org – free resource to help marketers and consumers understand the issues surrounding the use of cookies