Privacy policy

Advice NI are committed to protecting your privacy and the personal information that we hold. The purpose of this statement is to be clear and transparent about how Advice NI uses your personal information, whether you are using our service, interested in volunteering, or just browsing our website.

Who are Advice NI

Advice NI are a registered charity which provides leadership and services to our member organisations to ensure accessible advice services across Northern Ireland. We campaign on issues raised by the independent advice network to improve the lives of people in Northern Ireland. We also deliver a range of advice services to the public in relation to Welfare Reform, Personal Debt and Money, Tax, Benefits, EU Settlement Scheme and Business Debt.

In addition, Advice NI provides award-winning accredited and non-accredited training to our members and a wider range of agencies throughout the third, private and public sectors.

Within this Privacy Statement ‘we’ and ‘us’ means Advice NI. We are registered as a charity under the charity number NIC100008, and as a company limited by guarantee in Northern Ireland under company number NI071966. In addition, we are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority under registration number FRN 618881. 

Our members are independent charities and are separate data controllers for the purposes of the data protection laws. If you are in contact with a one of our members, you should refer to their website or contact them directly for more information about their data privacy statement.

Which laws apply to us?

Your ‘personal information’ is information that can be used to identify you. This can include your name, email address, postal address, telephone number, date of birth or National Insurance Number. Details which reveal your racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, or concerns your physical or mental health, sex life or sexual orientation is still personal data, but it requires more protection due it sensitive nature; we refer to this as ‘special category data’ 

Advice NI collects, stores and handles personal information for a variety of purposes, including to recruit and manage our volunteers, to engage with our members, and to provide our services to the public. The following laws apply to Advice NI, as an organisation that collects, stores and handles such personal information:

  • The Data Protection Act 2018
  • The General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679
  • The Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003

Advice NI We will handle your information in accordance with these laws.

Changes to this privacy statement

As the services we provide changes, we may need to update this privacy statement. If you have any queries about this statement please our Data Protection Officer, Agnieszka Wlodarska at:

Advice NI
First Floor
Forestview
Purdy’s Lane
BT8 7AR

Alternatively, you can call us for more information on 028 9064 5919, or email dataofficer@adviceni.net

How we use personal information

Select one of the options below to read more about how Advice NI uses your personal information.

When you use our Welfare Changes Service

We collect and use the details you give us so we can help you; under data protection law, we rely on your consent to collect and process your personal information and your special category information. You can choose to remain anonymous if you like, and this will not prevent you from using this service. In addition, you can decide which data you wish to share, and that which you do not wish to share; again, this will not affect your ability to use this service.

We will only ask you for information which is relevant, which may relate to or reveal information about your:

  • Name and contact details (including your telephone number and full address);
  • Date of Birth;
  • Gender identity;
  • National Insurance Number
  • Marital status;
  • Physical or mental health;
  • Ethnic origin

If you have provided us with consent to collect any or all of the above information, but you later change your mind, you can contact us at any time by phone – 028 9064 5919, or by email – dataofficer@adviceni.net to withdraw your consent. Just tell us what personal information you don't want us to store and we'll delete it.

How we use your information

The information you provide to us will be used to answer your query and to provide you with the most relevant advice with regards to your current circumstances. It may also be used for the following purposes:

  • For training and quality;
  • To investigate complaints;
  • To get feedback from you about our services
  • To help us improve our services

We use some information to create statistics about who we're helping and identify what problems are the most common. This information is always anonymised - you can't be identified.

We share this information with funders, regulators, government departments and publicly on our blogs, reports, social media, press releases, and at our Annual General Meetings. 

The statistics also inform our policy research, campaigns, or media work.

If we're concerned about yours or someone else's safety

Under Article 6(1)(d) GDPR (‘Vital Interests’), if we are concerned that your life or that of someone else is in imminent danger, we will share all necessary information and personal data with the relevant emergency service(s) in order to protect your life, or that of someone else.

Storing your information

Whether you contact us by phone, in person or by email, your personal data and relevant information about your enquiry (such as copies of letters, or details about your issue and the advice you were given) will be stored in a secure case management system – AdvicePro.  We retain this information for 3 years from the date we close your case.

ACM solutions, who develop, manage and provide the helpdesk services for AdvicePro, have released the following commitments to the GDPR:

  • All of their staff and those of our hosting provider are familiar with GDPR and their personal responsibilities.
  • All members of staff are trained on Data Protection issues on commencement of employment and this is updated as and when regulations change or are updated.
  • All data is held within the UK on servers based in Dundee and Aberdeen.
  • All storage is secure and their hosting provider has GDPR procedures in place.
  • They have a notification process in place for any breach.
  • AdvicePro provides appropriate tools to allow all customers to properly enact the right to erasure process.
  • AdvicePro provides functionality to allow the details of a client to be extracted in a machine readable format (XML).
  • ACM Solutions, who develop, manage and provide the helpdesk services for AdvicePro and our current hosting partner (BrightSolid Ltd) are ISO27001 accredited.

Call Monitoring

Under Article 6(1)(f) GDPR, we rely on having a ‘legitimate interest’ for carrying out limited call listening and recording of a small proportion of calls. If we didn’t monitor the Advice being given, we would not be able to ensure the Quality of our services.

We will live- listen to a proportion of inbound calls, for training and quality purposes. This aids learning and development of advisers and ensures good practice and quality of the advice given.

In certain circumstances, we may record a small proportion of inbound calls, where areas for further enhanced training and quality development have been identified. These calls will be stored on secure 3CX system servers for maximum of 30 days and then they will be automatically deleted.

You have a right to object to this type of data processing – please let your Adviser know at the first opportunity and we will consider whether your objection outweighs our legitimate interest to process this data. Advice NI follows ICO Guidance regarding the application of legitimate interest.

Contact us about your information

If you have used this service, 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;
  • To send you a copy of your personal data as well as other supplementary information. This information will be sent to you electronically unless you request otherwise. 
  • To send you any personal data you have provided to us in a structured, commonly used and machine readable format – this will be provided in XML format, which is an industry standard format which can be read be electronic systems. You may also ask us to transmit this data directly to another data controller.

Making a complaint

If you are unhappy about how we obtain or process your data, you should raise you concern with us in the first instance, either in writing:

For the attention of the Data Officer
Advice NI
First Floor
Forestview
Purdy’s Lane
BT8 7AR

 via email:

dataofficer@adviceni.net

or, via telephone:

028 9064 5919

We take all complaints seriously and we will investigate any concerns you raise thoroughly, and provide you with a timely response. Following this, if we have been unable to resolve your complaint, you can then raise it further with the Information Commissioners Office:

The Information Commissioner’s Office – Northern Ireland
3rd Floor
14 Cromac Place,
Belfast
BT7 2JB
Tel: 028 9027 8757 / 0303 123 1114
Email: ni@ico.org.uk

When you use our Debt Advice Service

When you contact our Debt Advice Service, we collect personal information about you so we can help you with your debts. In doing so, we rely on having a ‘legitimate interest’ under GDPR; in other words, we need you to provide certain information otherwise we would be unable to provide this service to you; this information may include:

  • Your name and contact details (including your telephone number and full address);
  • Your Date of Birth;
  • Your gender identity;
  • Your marital status;
  • Your housing status;
  • Details about your debts, creditors and any associated reference numbers;
  • Details about your sources of income and expenditure;
  • Details about your family circumstances which are relevant to you situation;
  • ​Proof of identity

We will however, always ask for your consent to process or store information about your: 

  • Physical or mental health conditions
  • ethnic origin
  • religion
  • trade union membership
  • ​sexual orientation

You will still be able to use the Debt Advice Service if you do not give us consent to process or store all or any of this data. Where you have provided consent, it can be withdrawn at any time by contacting us:

In writing:

Advice NI
First Floor
Forestview
Purdy’s Lane
Belfast
BT8 7AR

By telephone:

028 9064 5919

By email:

dataofficer@adviceni.net


This automatic right to withdraw your consent only applies to consent based processing. Where we rely on our legitimate interests to process your data (for example to process your name, address etc…), you can ask us to stop processing it, however we will only stop processing your data where we are satisfied that your rights override our legitimate interests. 

How we use your information

The main reason we need your information is to work out which debt solutions or plans are best for you. It may also be used for the following purposes:

  • For training and quality;
  • To investigate complaints;
  • To get feedback from you about our services
  • ​To help us improve our services 

We use some information to create statistics about who we're helping and identify what problems are the most common. This information is always anonymised - you can't be identified. 

We share this information with funders, regulators, government departments and publicly on our blogs, reports, social media, press releases, and at our Annual General Meetings. 

The statistics also inform our policy research, campaigns, or media work.

We might use your contact details to get in touch about your experience of our service or ask you to take part in surveys or research - we'll only do this if you give us permission.

After your case is concluded, your Adviser will ask you to complete a feedback survey, which they will send to you via text or email. The survey is anonymous and helps us improve our Services. You are not obliged to complete the survey.

There is an option, in the survey, to leave your contact details, if you feel your case needs a follow up. Only where you clearly indicate that you wish to be contacted again, the Adviser will attempt to reach you.

If we're concerned about yours or someone else's safety

Under Article 6(1)(d) GDPR (‘Vital Interests’), if you tell us that your life or that of someone else is in imminent danger, we will share all necessary information and personal data with the emergency services in order to protect your life, or that of someone else.

Storing your information

Whether you contact us by phone, in person or by email, your personal data and relevant information about your enquiry (such as copies of letters, or details about your issue and the advice you were given) will be stored in a secure case management system – AdvicePro.  We retain this information for 6 years from the date we close your case.

ACM solutions, who develop, manage and provide the helpdesk services for AdvicePro, have released the following commitments to the GDPR:

  • All of their staff and those of our hosting provider are familiar with GDPR and their personal responsibilities.
  • All members of staff are trained on Data Protection issues on commencement of employment and this is updated as and when regulations change or are updated.
  • All data is held within the UK on servers based in Dundee and Aberdeen.
  • All storage is secure and their hosting provider has GDPR procedures in place.
  • They have a notification process in place for any breach.
  • AdvicePro provides appropriate tools to allow all customers to properly enact the right to erasure process.
  • ​AdvicePro provides functionality to allow the details of a client to be extracted in a machine readable format (XML).

ACM Solutions, who develop, manage and provide the helpdesk services for AdvicePro and our current hosting partner (BrightSolid Ltd) are ISO27001 accredited.

Call Monitoring

Under Article 6(1)(f) GDPR, we rely on having a ‘legitimate interest’ for carrying out call listening and recording of a small proportion of calls. If we didn’t monitor the Advice being given, we would not be able to ensure the Quality of our services.

We will live- listen to a proportion of inbound calls, for training and quality purposes. This aids learning and development of advisers and ensures good practice and quality of the advice given.

In certain circumstances, we may record a small proportion of inbound calls, where areas for further enhanced training and quality development have been identified. These calls will be stored on secure 3CX system servers for maximum of 30 days and then they will be automatically deleted.

You have a right to object to this type of data processing – please let your Adviser know at the first opportunity and we will consider whether your objection outweighs our legitimate interest to process this data. Advice NI follows ICO Guidance regarding the application of legitimate interest.


​When we share your information

Sometimes we share your personal information with other organisations, for example where you require assistance in relation to something that is outside the scope of the Debt Advice Service. We will always get your permission before doing this, and we will never pass on your details to another agency without your permission, save for when it is necessary for the protection of life. (See “If we're concerned about yours or someone else's safety” above)

Where necessary to progress your case, we will share your information with your creditors so but only where you have agreed to this in advance. It is necessary for us to share your information with your creditors where, for example, you have instructed us make offers of repayments on your behalf, or to request that any interest and charges on your accounts be suspended pending an offer of repayment. 

Contact us about your information 

If you have used this service, 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;
  • To send you a copy of your personal data as well as other supplementary information. This information will be sent to you electronically unless you request otherwise. 
  • ​To send you any personal data you have provided to us in a structured, commonly used and machine readable format – this will be provided in XML format, which is an industry standard format which can be read be electronic systems. You may also ask us to transmit this data directly to another data controller.

Making a complaint

If you are unhappy about how we obtain or process your data, you should raise you concern with us in the first instance, either in writing:

For the attention of the Data Officer
Advice NI
First Floor
Forestview
Purdy’s Lane
BT8 7AR

via email:

dataofficer@adviceni.net

or, via telephone:

028 9064 5919


We take all complaints seriously and we will investigate any concerns you raise thoroughly, and provide you with a timely response. Following this, if we have been unable to resolve your complaint, you can then raise it further with the Information Commissioners Office:

The Information Commissioner’s Office – Northern Ireland
3rd Floor
14 Cromac Place,
Belfast
BT7 2JB
Tel: 028 9027 8757 / 0303 123 1114
Email: ni@ico.org.uk

When you use our Business Debt Service

When you contact our Business Debt Advice Service, we collect personal information about you so we can help you with your debts. In doing so, we rely on having a ‘legitimate interest’ under GDPR; in other words, we need you to provide certain information otherwise we would be unable to provide this service to you; this information may include:

  • Your name and contact details (including your telephone number and full address);
  • Your Date of Birth;
  • Your gender identity;
  • Your marital status;
  • Your housing status;
  • Details about your debts, creditors and any associated reference numbers;
  • Details about your sources of income and expenditure;
  • Details about your family circumstances which are relevant to you situation;
  • ​Proof of identity

We will however, always ask for your consent to process or store information about your: 

  • Physical or mental health conditions
  • ethnic origin
  • religion
  • trade union membership
  • ​sexual orientation

You will still be able to use the Business Debt Advice Service if you do not give us consent to process or store all or any of this data. Where you have provided consent, it can be withdrawn at any time by contacting us:

In writing:

Advice NI
First Floor
Forestview
Purdy’s Lane
Belfast
BT8 7AR

By telephone:

028 9064 5919

By email:

dataofficer@adviceni.net


This automatic right to withdraw your consent only applies to consent based processing. Where we rely on our legitimate interests to process your data (for example to process your name, address etc…), you can ask us to stop processing it, however we will only stop processing your data where we are satisfied that your rights override our legitimate interests. 

How we use your information

The main reason we need your information is to work out which debt solutions or plans are best for you. It may also be used for the following purposes:

  • For training and quality;
  • To investigate complaints;
  • To get feedback from you about our services
  • ​To help us improve our services 

We use some information to create statistics about who we're helping and identify what problems are the most common. This information is always anonymised - you can't be identified. 

We share the information with funders, regulators, government departments and publicly on our blogs, reports, social media, press releases, and at our Annual General Meetings. 

The statistics also inform our policy research, campaigns, or media work.


We might use your contact details to get in touch about your experience of our service or ask you to take part in surveys or research - we'll only do this if you give us permission.

After your case is concluded, your Adviser will ask you to complete a feedback survey, which they will send to you via text or email. The survey is anonymous and helps us improve our Services. You are not obliged to complete the survey.

There is an option, in the survey, to leave your contact details, if you feel your case needs a follow up. Only where you clearly indicate that you wish to be contacted again, the Adviser will attempt to reach you.

If we're concerned about yours or someone else's safety

Under Article 6(1)(d) GDPR (‘Vital Interests’), if you tell us that your life or that of someone else is in imminent danger, we will share all necessary information and personal data with the emergency services in order to protect your life, or that of someone else.

Storing your information

Whether you contact us by phone, in person or by email, your personal data and relevant information about your enquiry (such as copies of letters, or details about your issue and the advice you were given) will be stored in a secure case management system – AdvicePro.  We retain this information for 6 years from the date we close your case.

ACM solutions, who develop, manage and provide the helpdesk services for AdvicePro, have released the following commitments to the GDPR:

  • All of their staff and those of our hosting provider are familiar with GDPR and their personal responsibilities.
  • All members of staff are trained on Data Protection issues on commencement of employment and this is updated as and when regulations change or are updated.
  • All data is held within the UK on servers based in Dundee and Aberdeen.
  • All storage is secure and their hosting provider has GDPR procedures in place.
  • They have a notification process in place for any breach.
  • AdvicePro provides appropriate tools to allow all customers to properly enact the right to erasure process.
  • ​AdvicePro provides functionality to allow the details of a client to be extracted in a machine readable format (XML).

ACM Solutions, who develop, manage and provide the helpdesk services for AdvicePro and our current hosting partner (BrightSolid Ltd) are ISO27001 accredited.

Call Monitoring

Under Article 6(1)(f) GDPR, we rely on having a ‘legitimate interest’ for carrying out call listening and recording of a small proportion of calls. If we didn’t monitor the Advice being given, we would not be able to ensure the Quality of our services.

We will live- listen to a proportion of inbound calls, for training and quality purposes. This aids learning and development of advisers and ensures good practice and quality of the advice given.

In certain circumstances, we may record a small proportion of inbound calls, where areas for further enhanced training and quality development have been identified. These calls will be stored on secure 3CX system servers for maximum of 30 days and then they will be automatically deleted.

You have a right to object to this type of data processing – please let your Adviser know at the first opportunity and we will consider whether your objection outweighs our legitimate interest to process this data. Advice NI follows ICO Guidance regarding the application of legitimate interest

​When we share your information

Sometimes we share your personal information with other organisations, for example where you require assistance in relation to something that is outside the scope of the Debt Advice Service. We will always get your permission before doing this, and we will never pass on your details to another agency without your permission, save for when it is necessary for the protection of life. (See “If we're concerned about yours or someone else's safety” above)

Where necessary to progress your case, we will share your information with your creditors so but only where you have agreed to this in advance. It is necessary for us to share your information with your creditors where, for example, you have instructed us make offers of repayments on your behalf, or to request that any interest and charges on your accounts be suspended pending an offer of repayment. 

Contact us about your information 

If you have used this service, 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;
  • To send you a copy of your personal data as well as other supplementary information. This information will be sent to you electronically unless you request otherwise. 
  • ​To send you any personal data you have provided to us in a structured, commonly used and machine readable format – this will be provided in XML format, which is an industry standard format which can be read be electronic systems. You may also ask us to transmit this data directly to another data controller.

Making a complaint

If you are unhappy about how we obtain or process your data, you should raise you concern with us in the first instance, either in writing:

For the attention of the Data Officer
Advice NI
First Floor
Forestview
Purdy’s Lane
BT8 7AR

via email:

dataofficer@adviceni.net

or, via telephone:

028 9064 5919


We take all complaints seriously and we will investigate any concerns you raise thoroughly, and provide you with a timely response. Following this, if we have been unable to resolve your complaint, you can then raise it further with the Information Commissioners Office:

The Information Commissioner’s Office – Northern Ireland
3rd Floor
14 Cromac Place,
Belfast
BT7 2JB
Tel: 028 9027 8757 / 0303 123 1114
Email: 
ni@ico.org.uk

Using our HMRC Tax and Benefits service

We collect and use the details you give us so we can help you; under data protection law, we rely on your consent to collect and process your personal information and your special category information. You can choose to remain anonymous if you like, and this will not prevent you from using this service. In addition, you can decide which data you wish to share, and that which you do not wish to share; again, this will not affect your ability to use this service.

We will only ask you for information which is relevant, which may relate to or reveal information about your:

  • Name and contact details (including your telephone number and full address);
  • Date of Birth;
  • Gender identity;
  • National Insurance Number
  • Marital status;
  • Physical or mental health;
  • ​Ethnic origin;

If you have provided us with consent to collect any or all of the above information, but you later change your mind, you can contact us at any time by phone – 028 9064 5919, or by email – dataofficer@adviceni.net to withdraw your consent. Just tell us what personal information you don't want us to store and we'll delete it.

How we use your information

The information you provide to us will be used to answer your query and to provide you with the most relevant advice with regards to your current circumstances. It may also be used for the following purposes:

  • For training and quality;
  • To investigate complaints;
  • To get feedback from you about our services
  • ​To help us improve our services

We use some information to create statistics about who we're helping and identify what problems are the most common. This information is always anonymised - you can't be identified.

We share this information with funders, regulators, government departments and publicly on our blogs, reports, social media, press releases, and at our Annual General Meetings. 

The statistics also inform our policy research, campaigns, or media work.

If we're concerned about yours or someone else's safety

Under Article 6(1)(d) GDPR (‘Vital Interests’), if we are concerned that your life or that of someone else is in imminent danger, we will share all necessary information and personal data with the relevant emergency service(s) in order to protect your life, or that of someone else.

Storing your information

Whether you contact us by phone, in person or by email, your personal data and relevant information about your enquiry (such as copies of letters, or details about your issue and the advice you were given) will be stored in a secure case management system – AdvicePro.  We retain this information for 7 years from the date we close your case.

ACM solutions, who develop, manage and provide the helpdesk services for AdvicePro, have released the following commitments to the GDPR:

  • All of their staff and those of our hosting provider are familiar with GDPR and their personal responsibilities.
  • All members of staff are trained on Data Protection issues on commencement of employment and this is updated as and when regulations change or are updated.
  • All data is held within the UK on servers based in Dundee and Aberdeen.
  • All storage is secure and their hosting provider has GDPR procedures in place.
  • They have a notification process in place for any breach.
  • AdvicePro provides appropriate tools to allow all customers to properly enact the right to erasure process.
  • AdvicePro provides functionality to allow the details of a client to be extracted in a machine readable format (XML).
  • ​ACM Solutions, who develop, manage and provide the helpdesk services for AdvicePro and our current hosting partner (BrightSolid Ltd) are ISO27001 accredited.

Call Monitoring

Under Article 6(1)(f) GDPR, we rely on having a ‘legitimate interest’ for carrying out limited call listening and recording of a small proportion of calls. If we didn’t monitor the Advice being given, we would not be able to ensure the Quality of our services.

We will live- listen to a proportion of inbound calls, for training and quality purposes. This aids learning and development of advisers and ensures good practice and quality of the advice given.

In certain circumstances, we may record a small proportion of inbound calls, where areas for further enhanced training and quality development have been identified. These calls will be stored on secure 3CX system servers for maximum of 30 days and then they will be automatically deleted.

You have a right to object to this type of data processing – please let your Adviser know at the first opportunity and we will consider whether your objection outweighs our legitimate interest to process this data. Advice NI follows ICO Guidance regarding the application of legitimate interest.

Contact us about your information

If you have used this service, 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;
  • To send you a copy of your personal data as well as other supplementary information. This information will be sent to you electronically unless you request otherwise. 
  • ​To send you any personal data you have provided to us in a structured, commonly used and machine readable format – this will be provided in XML format, which is an industry standard format which can be read be electronic systems. You may also ask us to transmit this data directly to another data controller.

Making a complaint

If you are unhappy about how we obtain or process your data, you should raise you concern with us in the first instance, either in writing:

For the attention of the Data Officer
Advice NI
First Floor
Forestview
Purdy’s Lane
BT8 7AR

via email:

dataofficer@adviceni.net

or, via telephone:

028 9064 5919

We take all complaints seriously and we will investigate any concerns you raise thoroughly, and provide you with a timely response. Following this, if we have been unable to resolve your complaint, you can then raise it further with the Information Commissioners Office:

The Information Commissioner’s Office – Northern Ireland
3rd Floor
14 Cromac Place,
Belfast
BT7 2JB
Tel: 028 9027 8757 / 0303 123 1114
Email: ni@ico.org.uk

Contacting our European Union Settlement Scheme (‘EUSS’) Project

When you contact our EUSS Project, we collect personal information about you so that we can give you advise which may help you and your family to continue living in the UK after 30th June 2021. In doing so, we rely on having a ‘legitimate interest’ under GDPR; in other words, we need you to provide certain information otherwise we would be unable to provide this service to you; this information may include:

  • Your name and contact details (including your telephone number and full address);
  • Your Date of Birth;
  • Your gender identity;
  • Your marital status;
  • Your housing status;
  • Details about when you became resident in the UK;
  • Details about your family circumstances which are relevant to you situation;
  • Proof of identity

We will however, always ask for your consent to process or store information about your:

  • Physical or mental health conditions
  • Ethnic origin
  • Religion
  • Trade union membership
  • Sexual orientation

 You will still be able to use the EUSS Project if you do not give us consent to process or store all or any of this data. Where you have provided consent, it can be withdrawn at any time by contacting us:
 
In writing:

Advice NI
First Floor
Forestview
Purdy’s Lane
Belfast
BT8 7AR

By telephone:

028 9064 5919

By email:

dataofficer@adviceni.net


This automatic right to withdraw your consent only applies to consent based processing. Where we rely on our legitimate interests to process your data (for example to process your name, address etc…), you can ask us to stop processing it, however we will only stop processing your data where we are satisfied that your rights override our legitimate interests.

Partnership with Migrant Centre NI

The EUSS service is delivered jointly by Advice NI and Migrant Centre NI. Migrant Centre NI will deal with Level 1 cases only, while Advice NI will be able to assist with Level 2 and above cases, as well as to retain some Level 1 cases. As the two organisations are jointly delivering the project, there may be scenarios in which your case will be triaged by Advice NI and then passed on to Migrant Centre NI, and those where the case will be triaged by Migrant Centre NI and referred to Advice NI. In those scenarios, your details will be transferred through our digital referrals system, which uses Secure Sockets Layer encryption (‘SSL’).

We will rely on Legitimate Interests legal basis to pass information between Advice NI and Migrant Centre NI, to assist with EUSS queries effectively. Any other sharing of your information requires your consent and is covered by the section ‘When we share your information’, below.’

Criminal offence data

The law sets out that to provide advice in complex cases, advisers need to be qualified to OISC Level 2 or above. An example of a complex case is where client has criminal conviction in the UK or abroad, and wishes to apply to the EUSS. From July 2023, Advice NI EUSS service will be able to deal with complex cases, and it will work in partnership with Migrant Centre NI, who will deal with Leve l1 cases only.

To correctly identify the level of complexity, and to comply with the law, our advisers must ask all of their clients if they have any criminal convictions in the UK or abroad. Where there are no criminal convictions and the case can be qualified as Level 1, cases may be referred out to Migrant Centre NI service. Obtaining the information allows Advice NI to correctly allocate cases and provide advice effectively

We do not process data which discloses the nature or type of criminal offences committed; this data is limited to a ‘yes’ ‘no’ or ‘declined to answer’ response. Nevertheless, we process this information in accordance with Article 10 GDPR and Paragraph 10 of Schedule 1 of the Data Protection Act 2018.

How we use your information

The main reason we need your information is to provide you with advice about your eligibility to the EUSS, and to assist you with any subsequent application. It may also be used for the following purposes:

  • For training and quality;
  • To investigate complaints;
  • To get feedback from you about our services
  • To help us improve our services

We use some information to create statistics about who we're helping and identify what problems are the most common. This information is always anonymised - you can't be identified. 

We might use your contact details to get in touch about your experience of our service or ask you to take part in surveys or research - we'll only do this if you give us permission.

We share this information with funders, regulators, government departments and publicly on our blogs, reports, social media, press releases, and at our Annual General Meetings. 

The statistics also inform our policy research, campaigns, or media work.

If we're concerned about yours or someone else's safety

Under Article 6(1)(d) GDPR (‘Vital Interests’), if you tell us that your life or that of someone else is in imminent danger, we will share all necessary information and personal data with the emergency services in order to protect your life, or that of someone else.

Storing your information

Whether you contact us by phone, in person or by email, your personal data and relevant information about your enquiry (such as copies of letters, or details about your issue and the advice you were given) will be stored in a secure case management system – AdvicePro.  We retain this information for 6 years from the date we close your case.

ACM solutions, who develop, manage and provide the helpdesk services for AdvicePro, have released the following commitments to the GDPR:

  • All of their staff and those of our hosting provider are familiar with GDPR and their personal responsibilities.
  • All members of staff are trained on Data Protection issues on commencement of employment and this is updated as and when regulations change or are updated.
  • All data is held within the UK on servers based in Dundee and Aberdeen.
  • All storage is secure and their hosting provider has GDPR procedures in place.
  • They have a notification process in place for any breach.
  • AdvicePro provides appropriate tools to allow all customers to properly enact the right to erasure process.
  • AdvicePro provides functionality to allow the details of a client to be extracted in a machine readable format (XML).
  • ​ACM Solutions, who develop, manage and provide the helpdesk services for AdvicePro and our current hosting partner (BrightSolid Ltd) are ISO27001 accredited.

Call Monitoring

Under Article 6(1)(f) GDPR, we rely on having a ‘legitimate interest’ for carrying out call listening and recording of a small proportion of calls. If we didn’t monitor the Advice being given, we would not be able to ensure the Quality of our services.

We will live- listen to a proportion of inbound calls, for training and quality purposes. This aids learning and development of advisers and ensures good practice and quality of the advice given.

In certain circumstances, we may record a small proportion of inbound calls, where areas for further enhanced training and quality development have been identified. These calls will be stored on secure 3CX system servers for maximum of 30 days and then they will be automatically deleted.

You have a right to object to this type of data processing – please let your Adviser know at the first opportunity and we will consider whether your objection outweighs our legitimate interest to process this data. Advice NI follows ICO Guidance regarding the application of legitimate interest.

When we share your information

Sometimes we share your personal information with other organisations, for example where you require assistance in relation to something that is outside the scope of the EUSS Project. We will always get your permission before doing this, and we will never pass on your details to another agency without your permission, save for when it is necessary for the protection of life. (See “If we're concerned about yours or someone else's safety” above)

Contact us about your information

If you have used this service, 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;
  • To send you a copy of your personal data as well as other supplementary information. This information will be sent to you electronically unless you request otherwise.
  • To send you any personal data you have provided to us in a structured, commonly used and machine readable format – this will be provided in XML format, which is an industry standard format which can be read be electronic systems. You may also ask us to transmit this data directly to another data controller.

Making a complaint

If you are unhappy about how we obtain or process your data, you should raise you concern with us in the first instance, either in writing:

For the attention of the Data Officer
Advice NI
First Floor
Forestview
Purdy’s Lane
BT8 7AR

via email:

dataofficer@adviceni.net

or, via telephone:

028 9064 5919

We take all complaints seriously and we will investigate any concerns you raise thoroughly, and provide you with a timely response. Following this, if we have been unable to resolve your complaint, you can then raise it further with the Information Commissioners Office:

The Information Commissioner’s Office – Northern Ireland
3rd Floor
14 Cromac Place,
Belfast
BT7 2JB
Tel: 028 9027 8757 / 0303 123 1114
Email: ni@ico.org.uk

Subscribing to email updates about our work, e.g. AdviceMatters, Policy eNews, AdviceLink

By subscribing to these updates, you have given your active consent. You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link or emailing DataOfficer@adviceni.net. The information we process is limited to the following:

  • Your primary contact name
  • The name of the organisation you work for/volunteer at
  • The email address you use to subscribe to these updates, and;
  • A log of whether you open the emails and clicked on link

Making a complaint

If you are unhappy about how we obtain or process your data, you should raise you concern with us in the first instance, either in writing:

For the attention of the Data Officer
Advice NI
First Floor
Forestview
Purdy’s Lane
BT8 7AR

via email:

dataofficer@adviceni.net

or, via telephone:

028 9064 5919

We take all complaints seriously and we will investigate any concerns you raise thoroughly, and provide you with a timely response. Following this, if we have been unable to resolve your complaint, you can then raise it further with the Information Commissioners Office:

The Information Commissioner’s Office – Northern Ireland
3rd Floor
14 Cromac Place,
Belfast
BT7 2JB
Tel: 028 9027 8757 / 0303 123 1114
Email: ni@ico.org.uk

Signing up as an Advice NI member

By paying your membership fee you have entered into a contractual relationship with us as set out in our membership terms and conditions. Therefore, Advice NI rely on the lawful basis of ‘Contract’ to process any personal data, in accordance with Article 6(1)(b) of the GDPR.

Advice NI will process the following information when you sign up as a member:

  • Primary contact name and email address;
  • The name, address, telephone number of the organisation
  • Invoicing details

Making a complaint

If you are unhappy about how we obtain or process your data, you should raise you concern with us in the first instance, either in writing:

For the attention of the Data Officer
Advice NI
First Floor
Forestview
Purdy’s Lane
BT8 7AR

via email:

dataofficer@adviceni.net

or, via telephone:

028 9064 5919

We take all complaints seriously and we will investigate any concerns you raise thoroughly, and provide you with a timely response. Following this, if we have been unable to resolve your complaint, you can then raise it further with the Information Commissioners Office:

The Information Commissioner’s Office – Northern Ireland
3rd Floor
14 Cromac Place,
Belfast
BT7 2JB
Tel: 028 9027 8757 / 0303 123 1114
Email: ni@ico.org.uk

Participating in our training courses and / or events

By booking onto a course and / or event you have entered into a contract of service for us to provide you with training. Consequently, we rely on the lawful basis of ‘Contract’, as set out under Article (6)(1)(b) of the GDPR to process the following personal data:

  • Your full name
  • The name and address of the organisation you work for/volunteer with
  • The email address you provide us with
  • The invoicing detail you provide us with.

During the course of our sessions, we sometimes take photographs, video and/or sound recordings in printed and electronic media, for promotional, educational and archival purposes. We ask for your written consent before doing so, which you can withdraw at anytime by contacting our data protection officer Agnieszka Wlodarska, Advice NI, First Floor, Forestview, Purdy’s Lane, Belfast, BT8 7AR. You can also call on 028 9064 5919, or email your request to dataofficer@adviceni.net 

When we share your information

If your course is accredited we are required to share your information with the relevant accrediting body. 

If you attend training courses on behalf of an organisation (that may be your employer or an organisation you volunteer for), we may share the progress with that organisation, if requested. Under GDPR, the legal basis for sharing the information is Legitimate Interests.

Applying for a job or to volunteer with Advice NI

Purpose and lawful basis for processing

Our purpose for processing this information is to assess your suitability for a role you have applied for and to help us develop and improve our recruitment process.

The lawful basis we rely on for processing your personal data is article 6(1)(b) of the GDPR, which relates to processing necessary to perform a contract or to take steps at your request, before entering a contract.

If you provide us with any information about reasonable adjustments you require under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, the lawful basis we rely on for processing this information is article 6(1)(c) to comply with our legal obligations under the Act.

The lawful basis we rely on to process any information you provide as part of your application which is special category data, such as health, religious or ethnicity information is article 9(2)(b) of the GDPR, which relates to our obligations in employment and the safeguarding of your fundamental rights. And Schedule 1 part 1(1) of the DPA2018 which again relates to processing for employment purposes.

What we do with the information you provide to us

We’ll use all the information you provide during the recruitment process to progress your application with a view to offering you an employment contract with us, or to fulfil legal or regulatory requirements if necessary.

We will not share any of the information you provide with any third parties for marketing purposes.

We’ll use the contact details you give us to contact you to progress your application. We may also contact you to request your feedback about our recruitment process. We’ll use the other information you provide to assess your suitability for the role.

What information do we ask for?

We do not collect more information than we need to fulfil our stated purposes and will not keep it longer than necessary. The type of data we may ask you for includes, but is not limited to:

  • Your name;
  • Your full address;
  • Your Date of Birth
  • You email address
  • Your phone number
  • Relevant employment history/experience;
  • Details of relevant academic history/qualifications etc…

The information we ask for is used to assess your suitability for employment. You don’t have to provide what we ask for but it may affect your application if you don’t.

When you are employed by Advice NI

When you are employed by Advice NI, your personal data will be processed in accordance with Advice NI GDPR Privacy Notice for Employees, included in the Employee Handbook

Creating a user account(s) on our website

By creating a user account on our website(s) you have entered into a contractual relationship to use our online services. The lawful basis we rely on for processing your personal data is article 6(1)(b) of the GDPR, which relates to processing necessary to perform a contract or to take steps at your request, before entering a contract. 

What information will we process?

We will only process the following information:

  • Your name
  • The organisation you work for/volunteer with;
  • The email address you provide to us
  • The date of when you last signed in