Freedom of Information
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 requires public authorities to produce and maintain a publication scheme. The scheme commits an authority:
To proactively publish or otherwise make available as a matter of routine, information, including environmental information, which is held by the authority
To specify the information which is held by the authority and falls within the classifications below
To proactively publish or otherwise make available as a matter of routine, information in line with the statements contained within this scheme
To produce and publish the methods by which the specific information is made routinely available so that it can be easily identified and accessed by members of the public
To review and update on a regular basis the information the authority makes available under this scheme
To produce a schedule of any fees charged for access to information which is made proactively available
To make this publication scheme available to the public
Classes of information
Who we are and what we do
This publication scheme refers to Citizens Advice England and Wales only. Our website contains general information about who we are, the impact of what we do, where to find us, how to contact us and how we are managed (our executive directors and trustees).
Citizens Advice is a charity and not a public authority. Citizens Advice is subject to the Freedom of Information Act in respect of certain consumer information only. That is, information recorded by our Consumer Service. This is because some functions were transferred to us as a result of the abolition of the Office of Fair Trading Consumer Advice Scheme (Helpline) in 2013. Also, some information in relation to Consumer Advocacy that transferred to us in April 2014 as a result of the abolition of the National Consumer Council. This Publication Scheme is only required to cover this information.
Information relating to our consumer work can be found for free on our website.
We have a statutory duty to provide energy supplier performance information to consumers and we are also the statutory consumer body for postal consumers in England and Wales.
There is also information about us on the charity commission website.
What we spend and how we spend it
What our priorities are and how we are doing
How we make decisions
Information about the decisions we take, how we make decisions and how we involve others. Our research areas and consultations are listed below:
Consumer surveys and consultations
Our policies and procedures
Working for us and recruitment
The services we offer
Charges
The information supplied on our website is available to download for free but remains protected by copyright. You are free to use it for your own purposes, including for private study and non-commercial research, and for any other purpose authorised by an exception in current copyright law. Any other reuse, for example commercial publication, would require the permission of the copyright holder. To make a copyright request, please complete this copyright request form.
If you would like us to print off information from the website, or publish information which is not yet on our website or publication scheme, we may charge for providing information. However we will charge you no more than it actually costs Citizens Advice to provide the information to you.
Make a Freedom of Information request
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 gives everyone the right to request information held by any public authority.
As we have outlined in the “who we are and what we do” section, Citizens Advice is subject to the Freedom of Information Act in respect of certain consumer information only. All other information held by Citizens Advice as a result of its other functions and that held by individual local Citizens Advice are not subject to the Act and therefore the information you request may not be disclosed unless already publicly available.
If you you have any questions about the information published or would like to request information that hasn’t been published, please email foirequests@citizensadvice.org.uk
Or write to us:
FOI team
Citizens Advice
3rd Floor North
200 Aldersgate
London
EC1A 4HD
Guidance on making a FOI request can be found on the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) website.
Internal review
If you are not satisfied with the outcome of your request, you can request an internal review. Internal review requests should be submitted within two months of the date of receipt of the response to your original request and should be addressed to:
Information Governance Lead and DPO
Citizens Advice
3rd Floor North
200 Aldersgate Street
London
EC1A 4HD
Or email foirequests@citizensadvice.org.uk.