Privacy & Cookie Policy

At Citizens Advice, we use your personal information to help with your problems, make our services better, and work on big issues that affect people. We only ask for the information we really need. We’ll always explain why we need it and keep it private. When we handle your personal information:

• We only look at it when we really need to.
• We only share what’s necessary and important.
• We don’t sell it to anyone.

We collect and use the information you give us to help you. We do this because it's allowed under data protection laws, which lets us achieve our goals as an organization. We’ll always tell you how we use your information. Sometimes, we might need to use or share your information without asking for your permission. Here’s when that might happen:

• To follow the law: For example, if a court tells us we have to share information. This is called ‘legal obligation.’
• To protect someone’s life: For example, sharing info with a paramedic if someone is unwell at our office. This is called ‘vital interests.’
• To achieve our goals as a charity: For example, making statistics for national research. This is called ‘legitimate interests.’
• To complete a public task: For example, delivering a government or local authority service. This is called ‘public task.’
• To fulfill a contract: For example, if you’re an employee, we need to keep your bank details to pay you. This is called ‘contract.’
• To defend our legal rights: For example, sharing info with legal advisors if there’s a complaint about us giving wrong advice.

We handle and store your personal information according to the law, including the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018. You can find out more about how we manage your information in our main Citizens Advice policy. This page explains how we handle your information specifically in our local offices.

When you visit our website, www.citizensadviceoxford.org.uk, we ask if it’s okay to use cookies. Cookies are tiny bits of information that our website saves on your computer. We try to use as few cookies as possible. On any page of our website, you can click the cookie picture in the bottom left corner to pick which cookies you want to use.

When you use any forms on our website, like the “Request Email Advice Callback” form or the “Apply for a Job” form, we ask if it’s okay to collect your information. We store the data from these forms safely in our secure cloud storage provided by Google Workspace. You can find more details below under “How We Store Your Information.”

When you email us, your emails are kept safely in our secure cloud storage provided by Google Workspace. If we haven’t talked to you recently about a specific issue, we’ll ask for your permission to store any special types of data. When you discuss your case with an adviser, either in person or on the phone, they will write notes that are stored in a notebook or securely on a computer temporarily. These notes are then uploaded to our national system called Casebook.

Once the information is uploaded to Casebook, any temporary electronic copies are deleted, and any paper copies are safely destroyed by shredding. We make sure to get your permission for sharing information by asking you to fill out our “Client Permission and Consent Form.”

For any other ways we collect your data, we use the national Citizens Advice privacy policy.

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

To find out how we use your information, see the national Citizens Advice privacy policy.

When you let us handle something for you, we might need to share your information with other people or organizations. For example, if you give us permission to help with your council tax bill, we will share the necessary details with Oxford City Council so we can work on your case.

We use a secure cloud storage system from Google Workspace to keep emails you send us and any written documents about your case before we move them to our national case management system, Casebook. You can read more about how we handle your information in our national Citizens Advice privacy policy.

• For emails related to advice, we keep the information in Casebook as long as we need to work on your case. The original email is automatically deleted after 90 days, unless we have a good reason to keep it longer.
• For emails about non-advice matters, like job applications, we store the data in Google Workspace only for as long as required by law.

We share your information when we refer you to partner organisations, but we only ever do this with your explicit consent. For example, if we think a partner organisation such as Crisis would be a better fit to handle your issue, we will ask you if you are happy for us to pass on your details to them. For all referrals to participating organisations we use a system called Refernet to do this, and you can read more about Refernet in the national Citizens Advice privacy policy.

We share data and case studies with our funders, so that they can see we are using the money that they have given us to help the people we have agreed to help. All statistical data shared with funders is anonymous, and all case studies are pseudonymised.

If you have any questions about how your information is collected or used, you can contact our office. You can do this by:

Post: Citizens Advice Oxford, Wesley Memorial Hall, New Inn Hall Street, Oxford OX1 2DH

Email: data@citizensadviceoxford.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

The national Citizens Advice charity and your local Citizens Advice use a system called Casebook to keep your personal information safe. This means both are responsible for how your information is used and stored in Casebook. Each local Citizens Advice office is its own charity but is part of the national Citizens Advice network. The membership agreement makes sure that your information is handled according to data protection laws.

You can learn more about your data rights on the Information Commissioner’s website.