Privacy notice - Coventry Independent Advice Service

Who we are

Coventry Independent Advice Service (CIAS) is a charity providing free, confidential advice on benefits and debt.

What information we collect

To help with your enquiry, we collect personal information such as:

Name, address, contact details
Date of birth
Financial and housing information

We may also collect sensitive (special category) information, such as:

Health information
Ethnicity
Other personal circumstances

How we use your information

We use your information to:

Provide advice and support
Manage your case and keep records
Contact third parties on your behalf
Refer you to other organisations
Monitor and improve our service
Meet legal and safeguarding obligations

Our legal basis

We process your information because:

It is necessary to provide advice and support
It is in our legitimate interests as a charity
We meet legal conditions for using sensitive data

We do not rely on your consent to hold your case information.

When we use consent

We will only ask for your consent where you have a genuine choice, such as:

Contacting you for feedback
Sending you information about other services

You can withdraw consent at any time.

How we store your information

Your case is stored securely in our case management system (AdvicePro), hosted in the UK and compliant with recognised security standards. We limit access to staff and volunteers who need it.

How long we keep your data

Case records: 6 years
Serious complaints/claims: up to 16 years
Website chat/WhatsApp enquiries: up to 90 days

Sharing your information

We may share your information:

With organisations involved in your case
With quality assessors (e.g. AQS)
With funders (usually anonymised)

We only share what is necessary and never sell your data.

Referrals

If we refer you to another organisation, we will share relevant information to avoid you repeating your story.

WhatsApp and online contact

If you contact us via WhatsApp or online chat:

These are third-party platforms
Information may be temporarily stored there
We transfer relevant data securely to our systems

Your rights

You have the right to:

Access your data
Ask us to correct or delete it
Object to how we use it

To make a request, contact: info@covadvice.org.uk

Complaints

If you are concerned about how we use your data, please contact us first:
📧 info@covadvice.org.uk
We will investigate and respond as soon as possible.

You can also complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO): https://www.ico.org.uk

Anonymous enquiries

You can contact us anonymously. However, we will still create a basic record of your enquiry for quality and reporting purposes.

More information

If you would like a full version of our data protection policy, please contact us.

For more information about data protection and your rights, please visit the Information Commissioners Office website.