Citizens Advice Bournemouth Christchurch and Poole
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 Bournemouth Christchurch and Poole collect your data
To find out how we collect your data, see our national Citizens Advice policy: https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/about-us/information/citizens-advice-privacy-policy/
If you have been referred to us from another agency (such as the Witness Support Service, another local Citizens Advice, a local authority or a Housing Association), we would only handle that referral if the referring body had obtained your permission to allow us to contact you, and to record information about you.
What Citizens Advice Bournemouth Christchurch and Poole ask for
To find out what information we ask for, see our national Citizens Advice policy: https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/about-us/information/citizens-advice-privacy-policy/
How Citizens Advice Bournemouth Christchurch and Poole use your information
To find out how we use your information, see our national Citizens Advice policy: https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/about-us/information/citizens-advice-privacy-policy/
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’ll need to share information with that third party.
We would only do this with your explicit consent and this could be with the local authority such as BCP Council, your landlord or housing association, or the Jobcentre.
How Citizens Advice Bournemouth Christchurch and Poole store your information
Whether you get advice face to face, over the phone, by email or webchat, our adviser will log all your information, correspondence, and notes about your problem into our secure case management systems.
Some of your information might also be kept within our secure email and IT systems.
We keep your information for 6 years. If your case has been subject to a serious complaint, insurance claim or other dispute we keep the data for 16 years.
How Citizens Advice Bournemouth Christchurch and Poole share your information
With your permission, we will share your information with other organisations and funders to help solve your problem or to monitor the quality of our services.
Organisations we share your data with must store and use your data in line with data protection law.
Sharing information to solve your problem
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.
Contact Citizens Advice Bournemouth Christchurch and Poole about your information
If you have any questions about how your information is collected or used, you can contact our office.
Telephone: 01202 290967, open Monday to Friday 10am-3.30pm
Email: advice@citizensadvicebcp.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.
Security
We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. In order to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure, we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online.
Cookie Policy
As of 1st July 2012, we only store a single, temporary cookie on your computer which is essential for the website and navigation to work correctly. This cookie does not hold any personal or trackable information and is deleted automatically when your browser is closed.
You can also choose to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. This may however prevent you from taking full advantage of the website.
Links to other websites
Our website may contain links to other websites of interest. However, once you have used these links to leave our site, you should note that we do not have any control over that other website. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting such sites and such sites are not governed by this privacy statement. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy statement applicable to the website in question.
Controlling your personal information
We will not sell, distribute or lease your personal information to third parties unless we have your permission or are required by law to do so.
You may request details of personal information which we hold about you under the General Data Protection Regulation Act 2018.
If you believe that any information we are holding on you is incorrect or incomplete, please contact us as soon as possible. We will promptly correct any information found to be incorrect.
Disclaimer
Citizens Advice Bournemouth Christchurch & Poole has tried to ensure that the information on this website is accurate. However, Citizens Advice Bournemouth Christchurch & Poole will not accept liability for any loss, damage or inconvenience arising as a consequence of any use of or the inability to use any information on this website. Citizens Advice Bournemouth Christchurch & Poole endeavours to provide a service of the highest quality. However, we cannot guarantee that our service will be uninterrupted or error-free. We are not responsible for claims brought by third parties arising from your use of this website.
Citizens Advice Bournemouth Christchurch & Poole assumes no responsibility for the contents of linked websites. The inclusion of any link should not be taken as endorsement of any kind by Citizens Advice Bournemouth Christchurch & Poole, of the linked website or any association with its operators. Further, we have no control over the availability of the linked pages.
Copyright
Material on this website, including text and images, is protected by copyright. It may not be copied, reproduced, republished, downloaded, posted, broadcast or transmitted in any way except for your own personal, non-commercial use. Prior written consent of the copyright holder must be obtained for any other use of material. Copyright in all materials and/or works comprising or contained within this website remains with Citizens Advice Bournemouth Christchurch & Poole and other copyright owner(s) as specified. No part of this site may be distributed or copied for any commercial purpose.