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. We do not sell anything 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 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 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 Dover, Deal & District collect your data.
To find out what information we ask for, see the national Citizens Advice privacy policy.
What Citizens Advice Dover, Deal & District ask for.
To find out what information we ask for, see the national Citizens Advice privacy policy
How Citizens Advice Dover, Deal & District use your information.
To find out how we use your information, see the 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.
For example the Jobcentre, Dover District Council or the Money Advice Service.
How Citizens Advice Dover, Deal & District store your information.
In our case management system Casebook, and locked file cabinets.
How Citizens Advice Dover, Deal & District share your information.
We only share your information with another organisation with your explicit consent.
Contact Citizens Advice Dover, Deal & District about your information.
If you have any questions about how your information is collected or used, you can contact our office.
Telephone: 0800 144 8848 Monday – Thursday 9:30am – 3:00pm
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.
Complaints.
Please click below if you would like to find out how to make a complaint about the service you have received.
Do you have a complaint about Citizens Advice?
If we’ve let you down, tell us
We want everyone who uses Citizen’s Advice to be happy with the service we provide.
That’s why, if we’ve let you down, we want to hear from you – no matter how big or small the issue is.
Often, we’ll be able to put things right. And even when we can’t, knowing where we’ve gone wrong will help us do better in the future.
We promise to deal with every complaint quickly, professionally and confidentially.
Asking the local Citizens Advice to resolve the problem
It’s important to the local Citizen’s Advice to know what we’ve done wrong, so we can do our best to put it right.
Don’t be afraid to speak to the Manager or person in charge of complaints. They will often be able to solve the problem straight away.
If they can’t, or you’re still not happy, you can make a formal complaint.
Making a formal complaint
There are several ways to make a complaint. You can write a letter explaining what happened and send it to the address at the bottom of this notice, or drop it into the local Citizen’s Advice centre you are complaining about.
Alternatively, you can call or email the Citizens Advice Feedback team using the details on the back of this leaflet and they will pass your complaint to the right person.
Your complaint will be investigated by someone who isn’t directly involved. If it’s upheld, we’ll apologise fully – and, if appropriate, let you know what we’re doing to put things right.
We aim to respond to every complaint within eight weeks. If it’s going to take longer than this, we’ll explain why and keep you informed of progress.
Asking for a review
If you feel we haven’t dealt with your complaint properly, or you aren’t satisfied with the outcome, you can ask us to review the decision.
Please make sure you ask for this within four weeks of receiving the decision by contacting the Feedback team – details on the back of this leaflet. The review will be overseen by our Chief Executive.
Using an independent adjudicator
If you are still not happy with the decision, you can refer your complaint to an independent adjudicator.
An independent adjudicator is someone unconnected with Citizens Advice who will decide whether we’ve dealt with your complaint fairly.
If you want to progress to this stage, you must contact us within four weeks of receiving your review decision from Citizens Advice. Contact the Feedback team using the details on the back of this leaflet.
Contacting the Financial Ombudsman Service
The Financial Ombudsman Service provides a free, independent service for clients to solve disputes with not for profit debt advice providers.
The Financial Ombudsman Service will only step in once a local Citizens Advice has had the opportunity to investigate a complaint, so please contact the local service first.
If your complaint is about debt advice or if you were seeking advice about your credit record and you are not satisfied with the final response, or if eight weeks have passed since you first let us know about your concerns, you can ask the Financial Ombudsman to review your complaint.
Who to complain to
Local Citizens Advice
The Chief Officer of the local Citizen’s Advice centre or the Chair of the Trustee Board at the address below:
Maison Dieu Gardens
Maison Dieu Road
Dover
CT16 1TG
To contact the Citizens Advice Feedback team by phone: 03000 231 900
By email: feedback@citizensadvice.org.uk
Financial Ombudsman Service
By post:
Financial Ombudsman Service
South Quay Plaza
183 Marsh Wall
London
E14 9SR
By phone:
0800 023 4567 – free for people phoning from a ‘fixed’ line (eg a landline at home).
0300 123 9123 – free for mobile phone users who pay a monthly charge for calls to numbers starting 01 and 02.
By email:
complaint.info@financial-ombudsman.org.uk
Online:
Immigration casework complaints
How to complain about immigration advice
The Immigration Services Commissioner who looks after the standards of immigration advice will investigate complaints about immigration casework. You can make a complaint instead of approaching your local Citizens Advice or can do so at any stage during the Citizens Advice complaint procedure.
By post:
Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner
Complaints Team
5th Floor, 21 Bloomsbury Street
London
WC1B 3HF
By phone:
0207 211 1500
0345 000 0046
By email:
complaints@oisc.gov.uk
Online:
gov.uk/find-an-immigration-adviser/complain-about-an-adviser