Privacy Policy

At Citizens Advice Bury & Bolton, 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.

This page covers how we, as your local charity, handle your information locally in our offices.

 

How Citizens Advice Bury & Bolton collects your data

You can find out how we collect your data for our core advice services, see our national Citizens Advice privacy page.

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

How Citizens Advice Bury & Bolton use your information

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 some information with Bury or Bolton Council.

 

How Citizens Advice Bury & Bolton 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.

In addition, Citizens Advice Bury & Bolton use Microsoft Office packages as its productivity suite and your data may be stored there while your case is active. Our policy is to minimise all data collected and we aim to transfer all personal information to Casebook during the course of your case.  

If you contact us using the Facebook Messenger our policy is to minimise all data collected and we aim to transfer all personal information to casebook during the course of your case. Your data will not be used for advertising purposes.  Facebook will also store your data in accordance with the Terms of Service of your Facebook account. https://www.messenger.com/privacy. Facebook is a third-party service and Citizens Advice Bury & Bolton cannot accept liability for data held by Facebook or breaches of that data. Security of data cannot be guaranteed in messages you send to us through Facebook and we do not control and are not responsible for the use of your data by this third-party service

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.

We use SMS message platform TextAnywhere to send appointment reminders and important updates about your case. When using the TextAnywhere our policy is to minimize all data collected and we aim to transfer all personal information to casebook during the course of your case. TextAnywhere store your data in accordance with their Privacy Notice.  We always ensure we have your consent before contacting you via TextAnywhere. 

 

Contact Citizens Advice Bury & Bolton about your information

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

Gary Malcomson – Deputy CEO

Email: wbmateam@cabb.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

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.

Our Cookies Policy

Our cookies policy mirrors our national Citizens Advice Policy.

Please note our services will be reduced across Bury & Bolton from 1pm Monday 23rd December 2024 and will resume as normal on Thursday 2nd January 2025. See below ways we can support you during this period:

We will be actioning online referrals on 24th, 27th, 30th and 31st December

This service will be available 6pm to 9pm on: 27th, 28th, 29th and 30th December 2024

Emergency contact details for local authorities are:

Bury – https://www.bury.gov.uk/emergencies/emergency-contact-numbers

Bolton – https://www.bolton.gov.uk/council/emergency-contacts

Call our Help Through Hardship line on 0808 208 2138, this line is open 9am-5pm on 24th, 27th, 30th, 31st December

Additional resources for 24/7 self-help advice are also available on

www.citizensadvice.org.uk

The National Domestic Abuse helpline is open 24 hours a day and can be contacted on 0808 2000 247. If you’re in an emergency situation you should call 999

National Debt Line Debt helpline: 0800 240 4420

Relay UK – if you can’t hear or speak on the phone, you can type what you want to say: 18001 then 0800 240 4420

You can use Relay UK with an app or a textphone. There’s no extra charge to use it. Find out how to use Relay UK on the Relay UK website.

This time of year can be hard. But there’s support available if you need it.

The Samaritans is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and can be contacted on 116 123 or by email.

Switchboard is a helpline for LGBT+ people and is open 10am until 10pm everyday. You can call them on 0800 0119 100 or use their online chat.

Shout 85258 is a 24 hours a day text service which offers mental health support. You can contact them by texting SHOUT to 85258.

The Silver Line — a helpline for older people ran by Age UK. Call 0800 4 70 80 90 24hrs a day

NSPCC Helpline — if you’re worried about a child. Call 0808 800 5000 (Mon-Fri 10am-8pm)

Power cut 105 — if you have a power cut Call 105 24hrs a day

National Gambling Helpline Call 0808 8020 133 24 hours a day

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