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Data protection for complaints

(Last updated 19 September 2023)

Overview

Debt Justice is committed to protecting your data and your privacy. We process personal details in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018 and the EU General Data Protection Regulations 2016 (GDPR).

If you choose, you can report a concern to Debt Justice anonymously. Whether anonymous or not, the concern you raise and the information you are willing to share will be passed on within the organisation to for investigation, action and resolution. The information you submit will be treated confidentially and where the law or the investigation requires information to be shared, this will be done sensitively.

This policy explains how and why we gather and use your data in order to investigate complaints. If you have any questions about this policy or how your data is handled, please contact us at:

Debt Justice
Oxford House
Derbyshire Street
London
E2 6HG
info@debtjustice.org.uk

What information we collect

The personal information we collect depends on the concern raised and the steps needed to investigate, action and resolve the concern. It may include:

  • Your name and contact details, as the person who raises the concern. It will not be shared outside Debt Justice if you wish it to remain confidential, unless required by law (e.g. with regulators, public authorities, or law enforcement) or to prevent or detect crime or dishonesty.
  • Your relationship to Debt Justice and associated information.
  • The name and contact details of individuals involved, such as the subject of your concern, or witnesses, and their relationship to Debt Justice.
  • The context of concern being raised. Depending upon the nature of the allegation or concern, this could include a description of behaviour, activities in relation to Debt Jsutice, location and time of incident, or other data which is relevant to the allegation or concern.

Purpose
If you are not anonymous, we process your name and contact details in order that we can:

  • Gather further information regarding your concern;
  • Update you regarding the way in which we are dealing with it;
  • Make referrals if appropriate to other services or organisations.

You do not need to share your name or details with Debt Justice, you can raise a concern anonymously, or ask that your name is not shared with anyone. It may improve our investigation if we can have additional information from you. Indeed, in some situations, the actions we can take are limited if the concern is raised anonymously. If you provide your details we will be able to feed back to you, as far as we are able, the actions taken to resolve your concern.

We process the other information regarding your concern to:

  • Determine what we may need to investigate or follow upon;
  • Take appropriate action where necessary to address your concern;
  • Identify misconduct, illegal acts, or protect those with whom we work.

Lawful processing

All organisations in the UK need a lawful basis to collect and use personal data. There are two legal bases that we may use in relation to your details when investigating a complaint:

  • Depending on the circumstance it may be a legal requirement for us to prevent and detect unlawful acts or dishonesty, or protect those with whom we work;
  • In addition, we believe we have a legitimate interest to investigate in order to protect those we work with and ensure that we are upholding the highest standards of conduct, ethics and integrity in our work.

Your personal information will not be used for direct marketing unless you have separately consented to this.

It is important that the data we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed of any information updates that are necessary during or after the investigation.

Data retention

We only retain your information for as long as is necessary for us, and use it as described above or to comply with our legal obligations.

Data sharing

Your data will be shared with Trustees or staff of Debt Justice who are responsible for investigations. Outside Debt Justice, your data will only be shared in an anonymous way unless required by law (e.g. with regulators, public authorities, or law enforcement) or to prevent or detect crime or dishonesty.

With your consent data may be shared with therapeutic services or other agency to provide support to you.

Your rights

The law gives you a number of rights in relation to your personal data. For a full list, please see the general Debt Justice privacy policy.

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