Privacy Policy

Citizens Advice Hull and East Riding Privacy Policy

At Citizens Advice Hull and East Riding, 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 Hull and East Riding. Citizens Advice Hull and East Riding 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 and volunteers 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

Details of how we collect your data for our core advice services, mirrors our national Citizens Advice privacy page.

What information we collect

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

What we use your information for

Details of what we use your information for, mirrors our national Citizens Advice privacy page in addition, 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.  This might include the DWP or the Local Authority if they are your landlord.

How we store your 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.

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

With your permission, we might share your information with other organisations so we can:

help solve your problem – for example, if you ask us to contact your creditors we might need to share your name, address and financial details with them

refer you quickly to another organisation for more advice or support, if relevant

help you access certain services – for example food banks or Trading Standards

monitor the quality of our services

Organisations we share your data with must store and use your data in line with data protection law. They’ll have their own privacy policies for how they handle your information and keep it safe.

There might be specific organisations we share your information with, depending on what service you access.

For example, if we need to refer your case to a solicitor, we will ask your permission to do so. We will only send the minimum information needed and will do so by password protected email.

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

When you ask for advice, we will request your permission to gather feedback on the service you received and your preferred method of contact. If permission is given, Citizens Advice Hull and East Riding will contact you and ask you to complete our questionnaire. We use a Microsoft 365 form; Microsoft 365 is the ‘data processor’ but Citizens Advice Hull and East Riding is responsible for keeping your personal information safe and making sure we follow data protection law. This means we’re the ‘data controller’ for your personal information.

The link to the form may be sent through Microsoft 365 as an email, or via our third-party text system Firetext. Further details of these third-party processors can be found here

For details of how we use your data for research and statistics, this mirrors our national Citizens Advice policy

What information we collect

We ask for feedback form clients on the service they have received, this includes questions on

How they would rate the service

What is good about the service, or what can be improved

We complete an annual peoples survey of our staff and volunteers.

What we use your information for

We use some information to create statistics about who we’re helping and what problems are the most common. We might use the information you’ve told us and your answers to feedback. This information is always anonymised – you can’t be identified. This information helps improve our service.

Who we share your information with

We share these with funders, regulators, government departments and publicly on our blogs, reports, social media and press releases. The statistics also inform our policy research, campaigns, or media work.

Our lawful basis for using your information

At Citizens Advice Hull and East Riding 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.

How we use your data when applying to work or volunteer

How we collect your information

When you apply, we collect your personal information through your application form, interview or references so we can process your application. 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 need to use your personal information to recruit people and make sure our recruitment processes are inclusive. If you applied for a volunteer role, we collect your details through a third party online recruitment system called Better Impact. Better Impact is the ‘data processor’ but Citizens Advice Hull and East Riding is responsible for keeping your personal information safe and making sure we follow data protection law. This means we’re the ‘data controller’ for your personal information.

What information we collect

We’ll collect personal information such as name, address, telephone number and email address, previous job history and experience, qualifications, and any support needs you may have.

We’ll also ask for diversity information like your gender, ethnicity and sexual orientation. You don’t have to tell us this.

We might collect other information depending on whether you’ve applied for a staff or volunteer role.

You’ve applied for a staff role

If we offer you a position, we’ll ask for:

references for your previous and current work

proof of your right to work in the UK, like a valid UK passport or visa

your national insurance number and P45

your bank details, so we can pay you

details of your student loan if you’re paying one back

On rare occasions, where it’s needed for the role, we might contact the DBS for a criminal record check. Once the DBS check is completed and you’ve received your certificate, we’d expect you to share this information with us as part of the the background check process.

This information would include your name, date of birth, place of birth, gender, position applied for and anything else disclosed on your DBS check.

You’ve applied for a volunteer role

If we offer you a volunteering position, we’ll ask your referees about your previous and current work and experience.

What we use your information for

The main reasons we ask for your personal information are to:

check you’ve got the right skills for a role when you apply

arrange an interview

do checks when we make an offer, for example contacting your references or checking your right to work in the UK

send you an offer letter or contract

We’ll only access your information for other reasons if we need to and we have a legitimate interest to do this under data protection law, for example to:

investigate complaints

send you copies of the information we have about you if you make a ‘subject access request’ – find out more about subject access requests on the Information Commissioner’s Office website

get feedback from you about our services

help us improve our services

We’ll treat any diversity information you give us as strictly confidential. We’ll anonymise this information and only use it to look at trends. This means we won’t look at your information individually or compare it to other people and we won’t use it as part of the recruitment selection process.

Who we share your information with

If you accept an offer to work for us we’ll:

get your permission to share your information with your references

We won’t usually share your personal information with anyone else in a way that could identify you. In some rare situations we have to share your information, for example if:

we’re investigating a safeguarding issue

the police ask for the information to help them investigate a crime

a court orders us to share the information

We sometimes share anonymous statistics with organisations we trust so they can analyse the information.

Our Cookies Policy

Our cookies policy mirrors our national Citizens Advice 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.

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.

If you apply for a job or a volunteer position, we keep application forms (including unsuccessful applications) for 1 year from date received. All remaining funder, staff and volunteer information is kept as detailed in our data retention policy.

Third party processors

Third party processors are other organisations that carry out data processing on our behalf. Third party processors don’t use data for their own purposes and we have agreements in line with data protection law.

We use Microsoft Office 365 and Microsoft Teams and your data may be stored there while your case is active. Our policy is to minimize all data collected and we aim to transfer all personal information to casebook during the course of your case.

We use SMS message platform Firetext to send appointment reminders and important updates about your case. When using the Firetext our policy is to minimize all data collected and we aim to transfer all personal information to casebook during the course of your case. Firetext store your data in accordance with their Privacy Notice. We always ensure we have your consent before contacting you via Firetext. If you feel this was not the case please contact us via management@hull-eastridingcab.org.uk

When using the Request Advice Webform our policy is to minimize all data collected and we aim to transfer all personal information to casebook during the course of your case. The form uses a third-party platform WordPress Forms. Cookies are disabled on this form. We always ensure we have your consent before adding any of your personal data to WordPress Forms. If you feel this was not the case please contact us via management@hull-eastridingcab.org.uk

We use the Volunteer management system Better Impact to manage volunteer applications and Volunteer data. Better Impact store volunteer data in accordance with their Privacy Notice. Better Impact will ask for volunteer permission and acceptance of their terms and conditions to open an account and store volunteer data. Our policy is to minimise the data stored on Better Impact of our volunteers.

Where we have control over your data, such as deciding how we use the messages you send us to meet your advice needs, we will make sure that we comply with GDPR and keep your data safe. For example, making sure only the right staff and volunteers can see the messages.

Your data protection rights

Contact Citizens Advice Hull & East Riding about your information

If you have any questions about how your information is collected or used, please email: ManagementTeam@hull-eastridingcab.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

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.

Note: This privacy policy only covers this website www.hullandeastridingcab.org.uk; other websites linked from this website are not covered by this policy. Once you have accessed another website via one of our links you will be subject to the security and privacy policy of that site.

Disclaimer

Citizens Advice Hull & East Riding has tried to ensure that the information on this website is accurate. However, Citizens Advice Hull & East Riding 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 Hull & East Riding  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 Hull & East Riding 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 Hull & East Riding of the linked website or any association with its operators. Further, we have no control over the availability of the linked pages.

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 Hull & East Riding and other copyright owner(s) as specified. No part of this site may be distributed or copied for any commercial purpose.

Terms of Website Use

Terms of use on which you may make use of our website www.hullandeastriding.org.uk (site). Please read these terms of website use carefully before you start to use this site. By using this site, you indicate that you accept these terms of use and that you agree to abide by them. If you do not agree to these terms of use, please do not use this site.

ABOUT US

www.hullandeastriding.org.uk is a site operated by Hull and East Riding Citizens Advice Bureau LTD (“We”). We are a Company Limited by Guarantee Reg. No. 5141612 – Registered as a Charity No. 1106453 – registered office; The Wilson Centre, Alfred Gelder St., Hull, HU1 2AG.
ACCESSING OUR SITE

Access to this site is permitted on a temporary basis, and we reserve the right to withdraw or amend the service we provide on this site without notice (see below). We will not be liable if for any reason this site is unavailable at any time or for any period.

From time to time, we may restrict access to some parts of this site, or the entire site.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

We are the owner or the licensee of all intellectual property rights in our site, and in the material published on it. Those works are protected by copyright laws and treaties around the world. All such rights are reserved.

You may print off one copy, and may download extracts, of any page(s) from our site for your personal reference and you may draw the attention of others within your organisation to material posted on our site.

You must not modify the paper or digital copies of any materials you have printed off or downloaded in any way, and you must not use any illustrations, photographs, video or audio sequences or any graphics separately from any accompanying text.

Our status (and that of any identified contributors) as the authors of material on our site must always be acknowledged.

You must not use any part of the materials on our site for commercial purposes without obtaining a licence to do so from us or our licensors.

If you print off, copy or download any part of our site in breach of these terms of use, your right to use our site will cease immediately and you must, at our option, return or destroy any copies of the materials you have made.

RELIANCE ON INFORMATION POSTED

Commentary and other materials posted on our site are not intended to amount to advice on which reliance should be placed. We therefore disclaim all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on such materials by any visitor to our site, or by anyone who may be informed of any of its contents.

OUR SITE CHANGES REGULARLY

We aim to update our site regularly, and may change the content at any time. If the need arises, we may suspend access to our site, or close it indefinitely. Any of the material on our site may be out of date at any given time, and we are under no obligation to update such material.

OUR LIABILITY

The material displayed on our site is provided without any guarantees, conditions or warranties as to its accuracy. To the extent permitted by law, we, other members of our group of companies and third parties connected to us hereby expressly exclude:

-All conditions, warranties and other terms which might otherwise be implied by statute, common law or the law of equity.

-Any liability for any direct, indirect or consequential loss or damage incurred by any user in connection with our site or in connection with the use, inability to use, or results of the use of our site, any websites linked to it and any materials posted on it, including, without limitation any liability for:

-loss of income or revenue;

-loss of business;

-loss of profits or contracts;

-loss of anticipated savings;

-loss of data;

-loss of goodwill;

-wasted management or office time; and

for any other loss or damage of any kind, however arising and whether caused by tort (including negligence), breach of contract or otherwise, even if foreseeable.

This does not affect our liability for death or personal injury arising from our negligence, nor our liability for fraudulent misrepresentation or misrepresentation as to a fundamental matter, nor any other liability which cannot be excluded or limited under applicable law.

INFORMATION ABOUT YOU AND YOUR VISITS TO OUR SITE

We process information about you in accordance with our privacy policy. By using our site, you consent to such processing and you warrant that all data provided by you is accurate.

UPLOADING MATERIAL TO OUR SITE

Any material you upload to our site will be considered non-confidential and non-proprietary, and we have the right to use, copy, distribute and disclose to third parties any such material for any purpose. We also have the right to disclose your identity to any third party who is claiming that any material posted or uploaded by you to our site constitutes a violation of their intellectual property rights, or of their right to privacy.

We will not be responsible, or liable to any third party, for the content or accuracy of any materials posted by you or any other user of our site.

We have the right to remove any material or posting you make on our site.

VIRUSES, HACKING AND OTHER OFFENCES

You must not misuse our site by knowingly introducing viruses, trojans, worms, logic bombs or other material which is malicious or technologically harmful. You must not attempt to gain unauthorised access to our site, the server on which our site is stored or any server, computer or database connected to our site. You must not attack our site via a denial-of-service attack or a distributed denial-of service attack.

By breaching this provision, you would commit a criminal offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1990. We will report any such breach to the relevant law enforcement authorities and we will co-operate with those authorities by disclosing your identity to them. In the event of such a breach, your right to use our site will cease immediately.

We will not be liable for any loss or damage caused by a distributed denial-of-service attack, viruses or other technologically harmful material that may infect your computer equipment, computer programs, data or other proprietary material due to your use of our site or to your downloading of any material posted on it, or on any website linked to it.

LINKING TO OUR SITE

You may link to our home page, provided you do so in a way that is fair and legal and does not damage our reputation or take advantage of it, but you must not establish a link in such a way as to suggest any form of association, approval or endorsement on our part where none exists.

You must not establish a link from any website that is not owned by you.

Our site must not be framed on any other site, nor may you create a link to any part of our site other than the home page. We reserve the right to withdraw linking permission without notice.

If you wish to make any use of material on our site other than that set out above, please address your request to managementteam@hull-eastridingcab.org.uk

LINKS FROM OUR SITE

Where our site contains links to other sites and resources provided by third parties, these links are provided for your information only. We have no control over the contents of those sites or resources, and accept no responsibility for them or for any loss or damage that may arise from your use of them.

JURISDICTION AND APPLICABLE LAW

The English courts will have exclusive jurisdiction over any claim arising from, or related to, a visit to our site although we retain the right to bring proceedings against you for breach of these conditions in your country of residence or any other relevant country. These terms of use are governed by English law.

VARIATIONS

We may revise these terms of use at any time by amending this page. You are expected to check this page from time to time to take notice of any changes we made, as they are binding on you. Some of the provisions contained in these terms of use may also be superseded by provisions or notices published elsewhere on our site.