Egress Switch secure emails

If you want to contact the council use our contact us page

Why we use Egress Switch

Egress Switch allows us to send sensitive and confidential information securely to customers via email. 

When Cheshire East Council processes personal data, we do so in accordance with the principles of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). In particular, the sixth principle states that personal data should be processed in a manner that ensures appropriate security of the personal data.

The Council meets this requirement by using Egress Switch as a way of communicating with individuals when the correspondence contains personal data, or special category data (such as health information). Please be assured that the content of emails sent from Cheshire East Council via Egress remains on Cheshire East secure servers and is not accessed by Egress or any of its group companies or sub-contractors.

Egress Switch is easy to set up and free to use. When you register with Egress to access the emails sent by Cheshire East Council, you become a 'free user'. Being a free user then allows you to use Egress secure email for your own purposes, ie to create, send or receive emails for your own use and is not related to communication with Cheshire East Council. Where Egress state they may use personal data for other purposes, the data they would use is purely the registration information, and the Council is satisfied that use by Egress of the information you provide is proportionate to the benefit of your personal data being encrypted in communications with the Council.

Egress Switch free user 

If you choose to use the services of Egress outside of the communication with Cheshire East Council, you will be subject to the privacy notice and terms and conditions of Egress.

If you prefer to use standard email, you should be aware that this is not a completely secure means of communication and there is a risk of possible interception when sending emails over the internet. 

If you receive an email from Cheshire East Council through Egress Switch, and would prefer to receive it un-secured, contact the sender confirming your acceptance of this risk and we will re-send the message by standard email. 

It would be preferable, and in keeping with Cheshire East Council policy, if you would agree to use the secure solution and access email via Egress. This will protect your personal details and reduce the risk of inappropriate access or disclosure.

How to read and reply to a secure email

1. Click on the link contained in the email you receive

2. Sign in if you already have an Egress account or register for free

3. Enter your email address and select a password to register

4. Check your email for an activation code. Don’t forget to check your spam folder

5. Access your secure email by selecting Read your message now

You can also view our useful video tutorial.

Accessing email more than 90  days after receipt

When you try to access secure email received more than 90 days ago you will get an error advising that the package couldn't be accessed. This is due to the Council's 90 day retention policy on secure emails. The email can still be accessed using the following method.

1. Save the attachment from the secure email you received to your computer
2. Sign in on the Egress website
3. Click the option to Upload a .switch file
4. Locate the attachment you saved to your computer and click Open. Your secure email will be displayed.

Egress Switch App on smart phones

You can download Egress Switch via an App on your smart phone. Once you have registered, the App will ask for your permission to access your contacts and photographs on your phone. You can choose to accept or reject this request.