Citizens Advice Chelmsford
Local 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 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 advisers 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 Chelmsford collect your data

We collect data with the client’s consent via email, voicemails and verbally via the telephone, face to face or through the Attend Anywhere platform.

Data is only collected in the best interests of the clients and supports the
principles of GDPR

• Lawfulness, fairness and transparency
• Purpose limitation
• Data minimisation
• Accuracy
• Storage limitation
• Integrity and confidentiality (security)
• Accountability

Your data may be stored to support Project Work including:

• Pension wise
• Warm Start
• Warm Homes
• ‘Rural’ Project
• Foodbank projects
• Other ad-hoc projects where there is a need.

Information will only be taken and retained with the express permission of the
client. This will be agreed via verbal consent, written consent or via an electronic
format such as a contact form or an email.

What Citizens Advice Chelmsford ask for

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

How Citizens Advice Chelmsford 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.

How Citizens Advice Chelmsford store your information

The information shared with us is stored on the Casebook system.

To find out how we store your information, see our national Citizens Advice
privacy policy’

How Citizens Advice Chelmsford share your information

Some examples of where we may share information include to solicitors with the
Law Clinic, the Central Law Group or to the Foodbank. Information is only shared
in the best interests of the client.

Contact Citizens Advice Chelmsford about your information

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

Telephone: 01245 205600, open Monday to Friday 9am-4.30pm
Email: enquiries@chelmsfordcab.org

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.