Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority
Contents
- Purpose
- Who we are
- About personal information
- Types of personal information we process
- Purpose of processing and the lawful basis for the process
- Who the information may be shared with
- Storing your information
- How our digital service uses cookies
- Access to personal information
- When we ask you for personal information
- More details
- Complaints
Purpose
This privacy notice sets out the standards that you can expect from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) when we request or hold personal data (personal information) about you; how you can get access to a copy of your personal information; and what you can do if you think the standards are not being met.
Who we are
CICA deals with compensation claims from people who have been physically or mentally injured in England, Wales, and Scotland as a result of violent crime.
Our role is to administer the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme and provide a service that is sensitive in dealing with applicants, fair in deciding applications and efficient in managing all cases.
CICA is the data controller for the personal information we hold. Our Data Protection Officer is the person responsible for ensuring we comply with our data protection obligations.
About personal information
Personal information is information about you as an individual. It can be your name, address or telephone number. It can also include information about your criminal injuries compensation application.We know how important it is to protect customers privacy and to comply with data protection laws. We will safeguard your personal information and will only disclose it where it is lawful to do so, or with your consent.
Types of personal information we process
We only process personal information that is relevant to the services we are providing to you. When we receive a new claim we make up an electronic file. This normally contains information relating to your identity, any other individuals involved in the application and the details of the incident provided in the application form. We contact the police to obtain information about the incident and criminal convictions you have and health professionals for medical information relating to your claim.
Purpose of processing and the lawful basis for the process
We will use the personal information we collect only for the purpose of processing your application, to check on the level of service we provide and as required by law. We do compile and publish statistics showing general information, but not in a form which identifies anyone.
When an application is made we will require you to confirm your understanding that your personal information will be shared to enable us to process your claim and comply with our legal obligations. We have a legal obligation to deal with claims in accordance with rules of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme. This requires us to share your personal information with some other people and organisations so that applications can be properly investigated and assessed.
Who the information may be shared with
We need to share the personal information we process with you and with other organisations. Where this is necessary we will comply with all aspects of the data protection laws. As well as members of our own staff, we have to disclose your identity and details of your application to the police and/or prosecuting authorities to obtain information we need to assess the application. This will include obtaining details of any criminal convictions held by you.
We will usually also have to disclose your identity and some application details to your doctor or other health professionals and obtain from them sufficient evidence of your injuries to allow us to assess what compensation should be awarded.
In some circumstances we may need to share details of your application with other third parties, such as your employer, DWP, HMRC, or other relevant government or local authority agency. If you contact us as a result of being a victim of violent crime occurring in an EU country, on request, we may pass your details on to the equivalent EU compensation authority. We may also use Fraud Prevention Agencies for the purposes of verifying your identity and preventing crime, fraud and money laundering. Such disclosures will be made in accordance with current data protection laws.
Storing your information
We will keep personal information contained in our case files in line with our retention policy. This means that information relating to an application will be retained for a designated number of years from the date of closure. The precise length of time depends on the nature of the application. Routine case files will normally be held for 3 years from the date the application is finalised or, if the application relates to a child, until the child turns 21. Cases involving a serious injury will normally be held for 7 years from the date the application is finalised. We need to do this to comply with our statutory obligations even if you do not give your consent.Our business requires us to retain a small amount of personal information on each application beyond the destruction date. This is for fraud prevention and in case a request is made to re-open an application on medical grounds. We will retain personal information in a secure environment and access to it will be made only where required for our statutory purposes.
How our digital service uses cookies
When you apply for compensation online, we store a small file, known as a cookie, on your device. When you use the service, well set a cookie to remember your progress through this site. This cookie does not store your personal data.
The cookie is deleted when you:
- Submit your application
- Do not interact with the service for 30 minutes
- Close your browser window
We also use cookies to:
- Help your PC or digital device connect with us quicker
- Store information, if you create a user account
- Measure how you use our service, so we can update and improve it
- Make sure we do not keep showing you the same notifications
- Protect your security, by stopping sites that pretend to be GOV.UK services from gathering your information
You can read more about how cookies are usedYou can read about how to manage cookies
Access to personal information
You can find out if we hold any personal information about you by making a subject access request. You can find out more about this on our guidance page, Request your personal data from CICA.
When we ask you for personal information
We promise to inform you why we need your personal information and ask only for the personal information we need and not collect information that is irrelevant or excessive. You can:
- Make a request to see all the personal information we hold on you at any time
- Protect your personal information and make sure no unauthorised person has access to it
- Make sure we only share your personal information with other organisations for legitimate purposes where appropriate and necessary
- Ask us to transfer your data to another organisation of your choosing
- Adhere to our retention policy to make sure we dont keep your personal information longer than is necessary
- Make sure that we do not make your personal information available for commercial use without your consent
- Make a request to correct, stop processing or erase your personal information
- Lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority if you consider your personal information has been handled incorrectly.
You can get more details on:
- Agreements we have with other organisations for sharing information
- Circumstances where we can pass on personal information without telling you, for example, to help with the prevention or detection of crime or to produce anonymised statistics
- Our instructions to staff on how to collect, use or delete your personal information
- How we check that the information we hold is accurate and up-to-date
If you have any queries about the above issues or how your personal information is handled you can contact us at:
Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority
Governance Team
10 Clyde Place
Buchanan Wharf
Glasgow
G5 8AQ
Email: SAR@cica.gov.uk
Telephone: 0300 003 3601
Outside the UK: +44 (0) 203 684 2517
Relay UK (if you cannot hear or speak on the phone): 18001 0300 003 3 601