About Citizens Advice

What is Citizens Advice

‘We help people find a way forward’

We can all face problems that seem complicated or intimidating. At Citizens Advice we believe no one should have to face these problems without good quality, independent advice.

That’s why we are here: to give people the knowledge and the confidence they need to find their way forward, whoever they are and whatever their problem.

Citizens Advice is a national charity and also a network of independent local charities across the country that are members of the national Citizens Advice service.

History of Citizens Advice

Founded on 3^rd September 1939 – the day war against Germany was declared, as a service to meet the needs of the civilian population in war time.

By 4^th September 1939, 200 local ‘bureaux’ had opened (including Wakefield).

By the 1960’s the number of bureaux had reached 416.

In the 1970’s, consumer protection became a big area of work.

In the 80’s and 90’s two recessions and changes to the benefits system generated a large proportion of enquiries about money and benefits.

In 2003, the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux changed its name to Citizens Advice.

In 2021 there were 265 independent local Citizens Advice organisations across England and Wales.

Citizens Advice Wakefield District

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.

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.

Our network

Citizens Advice is a membership organisation made up of the National Citizens Advice charity and many local offices across England and Wales. Each local Citizens Advice is an independent charity and a member of the national Citizens Advice charity.

The national Citizens Advice charity and local Citizens Advice are both responsible for keeping your personal information safe and making sure we follow data protection law.

National and local Citizens Advice offices 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

Local and National Citizens Advice use some joint systems to carry out our activities. These include joint case management systems, telephony platforms and more.

Staff 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.

Updates to this policy

We keep our privacy policy under regular review to ensure it remains accurate and up to date.

The policy was last reviewed on 4 March 2025 to reflect changes to our lawful basis for processing data for advice purposes as well as improving the format of the policy.

How we use cookies

When you use our website, we add cookies to your device to:

• make sure the website works well for you – for example, remembering whether you want to see content for England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland
• find out how you’re using our website so we can improve it
• help us run fundraising campaigns effectively

By using our website, we assume you agree to us adding cookies to your device. If you want to disable, block or remove cookies, you can do this at any time.

When you get advice

This covers how the Citizens Advice network uses your data to provide you with advice. This covers generalist advice as well as nationally managed funded services.

How we collect your information

When we provide advice we either collect this data directly from you or receive it through a referral from a partner organisation.

We will collect this data in different ways depending on how you approach our service, including:

• face to face – for example by discussing your situation with an advisor
• completing a form – this could be a digital form or paper form
• over the phone – for example by calling Adviceline or a local office directly
• email
• webchat

We also receive information from partner organisations through referral mechanisms. Where you are referred to us, you should be advised that you are being referred as well as what information we will be provided by our referral partners.

What information we collect

To support your enquiry we collect information about you and your circumstances. You can choose which information you give us, but not providing certain information may limit the advice we can give you. This may include:

• your name – you can ask to remain unnamed but this may limit the advice we are able to provide
• contact details such as your address, phone number and email address
• profile information such as your date of birth and whether you have any accessibility requirements

We will also collect any information about your issue which could help us provide you with advice which can include:

• information about your finances – for example your income, expenditure, debts, benefits or pension
• credit reports – we may get copies of your credit history with your permission
• details of the products or services you are having issues with
• details of your housing such as your rent, mortgage and housing conditions
• information about your health or disability
• details of any discrimination you face

If you contact us by phone we will also record the phone call for training and monitoring purposes.

You may also be asked to provide demographic information at your advice session. This will not affect the advice you receive and will be used to understand more about our service.

Information about third party individuals

We may also gather information about you if you aren’t one of our clients. We will do this if it is relevant to provide a client with advice. For example, to assist a client with a debt assessment we will need relevant financial information about members of their household.

What we use your information for

We use the information you give us to:

• provide you with advice, guidance and information
• stay in touch with you about the advice we are providing
• help with applications such as a debt recovery order or benefit claim
• training our staff and volunteers
• assess the quality of our advice
• investigate complaints or claims
• get feedback from you about our services
• help us improve our services
• address the root causes of the issue you are experiencing
• share stories about your experience with Citizens Advice, with your permission

We may also record any unacceptable behaviour from clients if we deem this to cause disruption to our service or threaten the wellbeing of our staff, volunteers or any other person.

In some circumstances we may also use your information to carry out legal obligations, including for:

• safeguarding
• fraud prevention
• regulatory compliance

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 – for example 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

There are also some services which may be exempt from this policy. For example there are some services which we deliver jointly with partner organisations using joint systems. Where this is the case you will always be advised of this when you are seeking advice.

Funded services joint controllers

At national Citizens Advice we manage a number of funded services. These are advice channels where we deliver specific services with funding from our partners. In some circumstances we are jointly responsible for designing these services and are joint controllers for your information. Funders will not have direct access to your case record but the services are jointly designed with them. We also share de-identified information with them to help them understand the service.

• Money and Pensions Service (Pension Wise and Debt Advice Project)
• Trussell Trust (Help through Hardship project)

Who we share your information with

In addition to the categories of recipients below, we may also ask to refer you to another organisation who we think will be able to provide you with more support. We will ask your permission to make any such referral.

Referral partners

We will share your information with partners when we want to refer you to another service. This may be as part of a jointly run service or where we believe another organisation may be better placed to provide you with the advice you need. We will only make a referral when you have given us your permission to do so.

Some established referral partners include:

• The Extra Help Unit – run by Citizens Advice Scotland who manage complaints with energy suppliers on behalf of people who may be considered vulnerable or at risk of disconnection
• Trussell Trust – to issue you with a food bank voucher
• Fuel bank foundation – to issue you with a fuel voucher

Funders

We share information with our funders in order to demonstrate that we are meeting the funding requirements. Information will normally only be shared in a de-identified manner unless you give us your permission to do so or we need to in order to investigate a quality issue, complaint or claim.

Regulators

We are legally required to provide information to regulatory bodies in some circumstances. These include but are not limited to:

• Ofgem – the regulator for gas and electricity
• Ofcom – the regulator for the broadcasting, telecoms and postal industry
• the Financial Conduct Authority – the regulator for financial and banking services
• the Competition and Markets Authority
• the Food Standards Agency
• the Legal Services Board
• Trading Standards

Auditors

We share information with our internal and external auditors to allow them to carry out audits to ensure that we are complying with our legal obligations and standards of best practice in how we run the organisation.

Banks, credit reference agencies and creditors

We may also share your information with banks or creditors to help get information to assist in our advice. We will only do this with your permission or where we are legally required to do so. Information we share will be used for purposes including:

• getting a credit report to assist with financial enquiries
• understanding more about your income and expenditure
• understanding more about the debts you owe

Employers or benefit providers

We may also contact your employer or benefit provider to understand more about your income, we will only do this with your permission.

Translation and interpretation services

We may share your information with a translation or interpretation service to enable us to communicate with clients who prefer communication in different languages.

When you participate in research and give feedback

How we collect your information

We carry out research and statistics using data from a number of sources including:

• Client case data – we use client case information to carry out research and produce statistical information
• Surveys and questionnaires – we carry out specific questionnaires and surveys to get data on specific topics
• Focus groups and studies – we invite key stakeholders to take part in studies and discussions

We will only contact you directly about research and feedback if you have given your permission for us to do so.

What information we collect

We use a wide range of information which can include:

• Information about the issues you sought advice or guidance about
• Your demographic information such as what area of the country you live in, your age or any minoritised groups you identify with
• Your opinions about our service or themes relevant to them such as benefits or housing

What we use your information for

We use our research and statistics to inform our campaigns and to improve our service. This includes work to promote equity, diversity and inclusion within our service and society as a whole.  We will not use any of this data in a way that identifies you or to make a decision about you as part of our research unless you give us your permission to do so.

Sometimes we like to include real client stories in our campaigns, if we want to use your story in a way that you can be identified we will only do so with your permission.

Who we share your information with

We will not share directly identifiable information about you outside of Citizens Advice unless:

• we employ a third party to carry out research on our behalf; or
• you give your permission for us to do so

We may from time to time share data sets with de-identified data with trusted partners to allow them to do their own research. For example we may share data sets with identifiers such as names, addresses, contact details removed with a trusted third party such as a university to help them do research which is in the public interest.

How long we keep your data for

*Case information will be de-identified at the end of its retention period. We will retain summary level data for statistical and research purposes after this period has passed.

Your data protection rights

You have rights in relation to your personal data that we hold. Your rights include being able to:

• access copies of your data
• request corrections are made to inaccurate data
• request deletion of your personal data
• object to how we use your personal data

These rights are not absolute and may not apply in every circumstance. For more information about your rights you can visit the ICO website.

To make a data protection rights request you can do so by emailing individualrights@citizensadvice.org.uk. Please only send enquiries about your personal data – we can’t reply if you ask for general advice.

If you contact the national organisation about data collected or managed by a local office we will share your request with them to handle.

Raising a concern about how we use your information

If you are concerned about how a local office has used your personal data you can contact your local Citizens Advice directly.

You can also contact us at the national organisation if you are unhappy with how we have used your personal data or wish to raise a concern about how a local office has handled your personal data. To do so you can email us at DPO@citizensadvice.org.uk

Please note that we don’t respond to general enquiries such as requests for advice from this inbox. To get advice please contact your local Citizens Advice.

There is more information about how we handle complaints at Citizens Advice on our website.

Contacting the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)

You can also raise your concern with the Information Commissioner’s Office which regulates data protection law in the UK. If you are unhappy with how we have used your personal information. They will normally expect you to have made a complaint to us directly in the first instance.

• Visit the ICO website
• Address: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF
• Helpline number: 0303 123 1113

Signing up to our newsletter

When you sign up to our newsletter, we collect information from you so we can:

• Send you the information you have asked for
• Let you know when/how we will be contacting you in the future

When you subscribe you are giving us permission to process your information and contact you. You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the ‘unsubscribe’ link in your newsletter or email.

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