Privacy Policy

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'll always explain how we use your information.

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 UK 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 Peterborough collect your data

We collect data in a wide variety of ways dependent on how you access our services. Each method of contact has its own way of collecting consent. These are as follows:

Face to Face‍
We will ask you to fill out a consent form and ask if you wish to allow us to store your personal information on our system or if you wish to be anonymous. Please note if you wish to be anonymous this may limit the advice we can give.

Advice line/Telephone‍
You will be notified when calling that all calls will be recorded for training purposes. You will be asked by our adviser if you consent to your data being taken and stored on our system or if you wish to be anonymous. Please note if you wish to be anonymous this may limit the advice we can give.

Email
We will only send you emails where you have consented for us to do so. We may ask for copies of personal information to be emailed - this will be deleted when stored on our secure online database.

Webchat
Webchats are anonymised. We will only store your personal information where you give us consent to do so.

Volunteering
We may also ask for some of your data if you apply for a job or apply to be a

volunteer so that we can effectively make contact with you. We will ask for your consent to store data in the application document and outline the reasons we need to keep the data.

What Citizens Advice Peterborough ask for

To find out what information we ask for, see our national Citizens Advice privacy policy

How Citizens Advice Peterborough 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, we will only do so when you have completed our authority form or given explicit consent - we will only act on your behalf for organisations you are happy for us to share information with, for example, the DWP, Peterborough City Council, or creditors.

How Citizens Advice Peterborough store your information

If you get advice from us, most of your information will be stored in our secure case management system. We may store some data on our secure Microsoft 365 system if you send us emails or apply to be a volunteer.

How Citizens Advice Peterborough share your information

We will only share your information where you have given us consent to do so.

We may share anonymised data or stories with our funders to show how we have used the funding, or ask for further funding to help us to keep delivering our services.

Contact Citizens Advice Peterborough about your information

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

Call our adviceline: 0808 278 7850 open Monday to Friday 9am-4pm

Email: no_reply@peterboroughcab.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.