When you apply to work or volunteer with us

This page only applies to people who apply to work for:

• the National Citizens Advice Service - this doesn't include local Citizens Advice

• the Citizens Advice Witness Service

If you apply to work or volunteer at a local Citizens Advice, they'll have their own policy about how they collect, use and store your information. Contact your local Citizens Advice and ask to see their policy - or check their website.

How we collect your information

We collect information about you through your job or volunteer application form. For jobs at Citizens Advice you will complete a job application on our recruitment platform Jobtrain.

Depending on the role we may also collect information through a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. You will be informed if such a check will be required for the role at application stage.

What information we ask for

We'll collect personal information such as name, address, telephone number and email address, previous job history and experience, qualifications, and any support needs you may have.

We'll also ask for diversity information like your gender, ethnicity and sexual orientation. You don't have to tell us this.

Where it's needed for the role, we might contact the DBS for a criminal record check. Once the DBS check is completed and you've received your certificate, we'd expect you to share this information with us as part of the background check process.

We may also ask for:

• references for your previous and current work

• proof of your right to work in the UK, like a valid UK passport or visa

• your national insurance number and P45

• your bank details, so we can pay you

• details of your student loan if you’re paying one back

What we use your information for

The main reasons we ask for your personal information are to:

• send you job alerts if you sign up for them

• check you’ve got the right skills for a role when you apply

• arrange an interview

• contact you to tell you the result of your application

• do checks when we make an offer, for example contacting your references or checking your right to work in the UK

• send you an offer letter or contract

We’ll treat any diversity information you give us as strictly confidential. We’ll anonymise this information and only use it to look at trends. This means we won't look at your information individually or compare it to other people and we won’t use it as part of the recruitment selection process.

We run a guaranteed interview scheme for people with disabilities. The hiring manager and the recruitment team will see your application if you applied using this scheme. They will treat this information as strictly confidential and they won’t be able to see the rest of your diversity information. This information won’t be used in making any other decisions about your application.

Who we share your information with

If you accept an offer to work for us we’ll:

• get your permission to share your information with your references

• share your contact information with our occupational health provider, Health Management

We won’t usually share your personal information with anyone else in a way that could identify you. In some rare situations we have to share your information, for example if:

• we’re investigating a safeguarding issue

• the police ask for the information to help them investigate a crime

• a court orders us to share the information

We sometimes share anonymous statistics with organisations we trust so they can analyse the information.