When you make a complaint about our service

Our privacy policy

If you make a complaint, we collect personal information from you so we can help deal with your complaint.

We have a ‘legitimate interest’ to collect your information under data protection law. This means it lets us carry out our aims and goals as an organisation. We’ll always ask your permission before using your information to deal with the complaint.

We collect your information from you via phone, email, online form or letter – depending on how you complain.

If someone contacts us on your behalf about a complaint we’ll get your permission before we log any of your information.

What information we ask for

So we can help you with your complaint, we need to know:

  • your name
  • which local Citizens Advice you’re complaining about
  • one way we can get in touch with you – email, phone or address
  • details of the complaint

You don’t have to tell us, but we’ll also ask you about your:

  • address
  • phone number
  • email
  • problem – for example, whether you wanted help with debt or housing

If you tell us you’ve a disability or support need, we’ll also make a note of that so we can help you access our services.

If your complaint is about advice you received, we might need to look at the information we’ve recorded about your problem.

How we use your information

We use the information you give us to deal with your complaint.

We’ll only access your information for other reasons if we really need to – for example:

  • for training and quality purposes
  • to include anonymised complaint statistics in internal reports

All staff accessing data have done data protection training to make sure your information is handled sensitively and securely.

When we share your data

If your complaint is about another Local Citizens Advice, we might refer your complaint to someone there who will look into it. We’ll only do this with your permission.

If you escalate your complaint to an external independent adjudicator, we’ll share your complaint information with them.

If your complaint involves an insurance claim, we might share details of your complaint with our insurer, ADS.

Storing your information

We’ll store your information securely on our internal systems – sensitive data will be password protected.

We keep your data for 6 years. If your complaint is serious or involves an insurance claim or other dispute we keep the data for 16 years.

Contact us about your data

You can contact us at any time and ask us:

  • what information we’ve stored about you
  • to change or update your details
  • to delete your details from our records

Send us a message at enquires@citizensadvicecd.org.uk

Or call us on 0300 323 1000 (press option 1), we may not be able to answer your call but you can leave a voicemail.