Citizens Advice Central Dorset Privacy Policy
At Citizens Advice Central Dorset, 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 Central Dorset. Citizens Advice Central Dorset 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
We collect data from you by asking you to
- Complete a client details form when visiting one of our offices or
- outreaches.
- Answer questions about you when you telephone us for help
- Complete an enquiry webform when accessing advice from our website
- Communicate with us on WhatsApp for certain advice projects
What information we collect
To find out what information we ask for, please see the national Citizens Advice privacy notice.
What we use your information for
To find out how we use your information, 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
We may share your information with third parties, partner organisations and funders for the services we deliver. We will always obtain your permission before doing so.
Our lawful basis for using your information
We have legitimate interests as a basis for using your information.
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 collect data from you by asking you to
- Complete a client details form when visiting one of our offices or outreaches.
- Answer questions about you when you telephone us for help
- Complete an enquiry form when accessing advice from our website
- Communicate with us on WhatsApp where appropriate
What information we collect
We collect the following:
- Information about ethnicity
- Information about disability/health condition
What we use your information for
We use this information to plan our services to ensure that we are able to reach everyone and we support people from all backgrounds. We compare this data from our clients with community profile data to identify where we can improve our service.
Who we share your information with
We may share your information with third parties, partner organisations and funders for the services we deliver. All data is anonymised before being shared.
Our lawful basis for using your information
We have legitimate interests as a basis for using your information.
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 information via our website using the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) portal.
What information we collect
We collect your:
- Name
- Date of birth
- Address
- Email address
- Phone number
- Bank details, using a secure site
What we use your information for
We use this information to:
- Allow us to collect your donation.
- Where you give permission, to contact you about our activities and other opportunities to fundraise.
Who we share your information with
We share this information with Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) to allow them to process your donation.
Our lawful basis for using your information
We have legitimate interests as a basis for using your information.
How we use your data when applying to work or volunteer
How we collect your information
We collect information as part of the recruitment process for volunteers and paid staff. We do this through:
- Collecting initial details of an expression of interest.
- Collect data using an application form
- Taking up references
What information we collect
- Personal data such as name, address, DOB.
- Profile data such as ethnicity, disability, age, religion and sexual orientation.
- Information about criminal convictions, where appropriate.
- Information about previous employment or other background information in relation to taking up references.
What we use your information for
- As part of the recruitment process we will use your information to take up references.
- Where the role you are applying for requires you to complete a DBS check, we would use your information to carry out the relevant level of DBS check.
Who we share your information with
- Referees when seeking a reference
- DBS Agency when accessing a DBS Reference
Our lawful basis for using your information
We have legitimate interests as a basis for using your information.
How we use your data when using our website
What information we collect
- Data in relation to your advice enquiry on the website.
- Data in relation to your donation via Charities Aid Foundation function on the website
- Data in relation to cookies (see policy below)
How we collect your information
- Using an advice enquiry webform.
- Using a donation webform.
- Via cookies (see cookies policy below)
What we use your information for
- To provide advice and information for your enquiry.
- To be able to accept a donation.
Who we share your information with
- When using the donate webform, some information is securely shared with Charities Aid Foundation.
Our lawful basis for using your information
We have legitimate interests as a basis for using your information.
How we use cookies on our website
Any information that we collect through the use of cookies is completely anonymous and not personally identifiable. Our systems will not store your name, address, telephone number, or email address unless volunteered to us by you. This shall be treated as proprietary and confidential; we do not sell or share
your details with any third parties. Additionally, none of the cookies we use gather any information that can be used to advertise services or products to you from our or any other website.
The law
The EU Cookie Law (The Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2011) is a piece of privacy legislation that requires visitors to give consent before allowing a website to store or retrieve any information from any device through the use of cookies. By educating visitors on how information about them is collected through the use of cookies, and allowing them to decide for themselves if they wish to allow it to take place, the aim is to protect online privacy for everyone.
What are cookies?
Cookies are small text files, downloaded to your computer by the browser (e.g. Internet Explorer, Firefox etc.) whenever you access a website. They enable websites to store such information as user preferences and login details. They may also be used to record how long you spend browsing each page on a site or what pages you visit most. Cookies can be thought of as providing a “memory” for the website, enabling it to recognise you and respond appropriately.
Generally, cookies are most beneficial to you, the visitor, making your interaction with frequently-visited sites smoother and easier than they would be without them.
How our website uses cookies
Website statistics
We use a third party service which creates its own set of cookies for the purpose of compiling a number of statistical reports. The information gathered is completely anonymous and is used to assess a wide variety of website activities, including how our site is navigated and what pages are most popular.
Social media
We may also use a number of third party, social media plug-ins including but not limited to Google’s ‘+1′ button, Facebook’s ‘Like Box’, Twitter’s ‘Follow Button’ and LinkedIn’s ‘Share’ and ‘Follow’ buttons. We use these services for the convenience of our visitors, allowing them to access up to the minute information as well as recommend our services to others.
To learn more about each organisations’ privacy policies, please visit the links
provided below:
- Google privacy policy
- Facebook privacy policy
- X (formerly Twitter) privacy policy
- LinkedIn Privacy Policy
- Instagram data policy
- Bluesky privacy policy
How to disable cookies?
By browsing our website you are agreeing to our use of cookies as described above. However you can still disable cookies at a browser level if you wish although you may experience reduced functionality if you choose to do so.
The settings that decide how your browser handles cookies will typically be found in the ‘Options’ or ‘Preferences’ menu of your browser. In order to understand these settings, the following links may be helpful; otherwise you
should use the ‘Help’ option in your browser for more details.
- Cookie settings in Internet Explorer
- Cookie settings in Firefox
- Cookie settings in Chrome
- Cookie settings in Safari
This cookies policy only covers centraldorsetca.org.uk and its subdomains.
Any websites we link to should have their own cookies 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.
| Data | Purpose | Retention |
|---|---|---|
| Volunteer and staff | recruitment records | To effectively recruit 1 year from the date the application was received |
| To provide advice within certain advice projects | 6 years |
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 the Chief Officer; daniel.cadisch@centralca.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 daniel.cadisch@centralca.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