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 commercial organisations

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.

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 Dunstable and District collect your data

We may collect your personal data:

in person on a registration form, we will ask you to provide written consent at your initial visit and then at intervals thereafter.
in a web-form on our website when you request email advice, in which case we will ask for your permission before the form is submitted.
over the telephone if you call us for advice, we will request your permission verbally to record your information on our case management system, Casebook.

We may also collect data relating to your personal experience here at Dunstable Citizens Advice in the form of a survey, if you are happy to participate. We will request your written consent before the survey is processed.

What Citizens Advice Dunstable and District ask for

To find out what information we ask for, see our National Citizens Advice Privacy Policy.

How Citizens Advice Dunstable and District use your information

To find out how we use your information, see our National 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 will only share your information with third parties with your consent.

How Citizens Advice Dunstable and District store your information

We may store your information on our 1 and 1 email system, or on our internal network hosted on our server.

Paper files of client paperwork are kept within the office in a secure cabinet locked with a key. This cabinet is only accessible to volunteers and staff within Dunstable Citizens Advice. We will always request your consent before taking copies of your presenting paperwork.

How Citizens Advice Dunstable and District share your information

When you give us authority to do so, we may share your personal information with our partner organisations. Our partner organisations include but are not limited to:

Central Bedfordshire Council
Dunstable Foodbank / Trussell Trust
Owens Solicitors
Chiltern Hills Primary Care Network
DWP
HMRC

We may occasionally share client information with funders for reporting purposes although this will either be with your specific consent or the data will be anonymised.

Contact Citizens Advice Dunstable and District about your information

If you have any questions about how your information is collected or used, you can contact our office.

Telephone: 01582 670003, open Monday to Friday 9am-5pm

Email: admin@dunstable.cabnet.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.

We are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office under, (ICO Z6855180) and will process your personal data in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation and Data Protection Act 2018.