1. What information do we collect?

We collect a range of information about you which may include:

a) Your name, home address and contact details, including email address and telephone number
b) Details of your qualifications, skills, experience, and employment history
c) Information about your current level of remuneration, including any benefit entitlements such as healthcare and pensions
d) Whether or not you have a disability for which the organisation needs to make reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process; and
e) Information about your entitlement to work in the UK.

We may also collect personal data about you from third parties, such as references supplied by former employers. We will seek information from third parties only once a job offer has been made and we will inform you that we are doing so.

2. Why we have to process personal data?

We need to process your data before entering into a contract with you. In some cases, we need to process data to ensure that we are complying with a legal obligation. For example, it is mandatory to check a successful applicant’s eligibility to work in the UK before employment starts.

We have established a legitimate interest in processing personal data during the recruitment process and for keeping records of the process. Recording and processing data from job applicants allows us to manage the recruitment process, assess and confirm a candidate’s suitability for employment and decide to whom to offer the job.

3. Who has access to your data?

Your information may be shared internally for the purposes of the recruitment exercise. This includes members of the HR and recruitment team, interviewers involved in the recruitment process, senior managers in the business area with a vacancy and IT staff if access to the data is necessary for the performance of their roles.

We will not share your data with third parties unless your application for employment is successful and we make you an offer of employment. We will then contact your former employers to obtain references for you or employment background check providers to obtain necessary background checks.

4. How do we protect your personal data?

We take the security of your personal data seriously. We have internal policies and controls in place to ensure that your data is not lost, accidentally destroyed, misused, or disclosed and is not accessed by anyone, except by employees in the performance of their duties.

5. For how long do we keep your personal data?

If your application for employment is unsuccessful, the organisation will hold your data on file for 6 (six) months after the end of the relevant recruitment process. At the end of that period, or earlier if asked, we will ensure that your personal data is deleted or destroyed securely.

If your application for employment is successful, personal data gathered during the recruitment process will be transferred to your Human Resources file (electronic and paper based) and retained during your employment. The periods for which your data will be held will be provided to you in a new privacy notice.

6. Your rights

As it is your personal data, you have several rights. You can:

a) Access and obtain a copy of your personal data that we hold
b) Ask the organisation to change incorrect or incomplete data
c) Ask the organisation to delete or stop processing your data, for example where the data is no longer necessary for the purposes of processing; and
d) Object to the processing of your data where we are relying on its legitimate interest as the legal grounds for processing.

If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please email [email protected] If you believe that the organisation has not complied with your data protection rights, you can make a complaint to the Information Commissioners Office (ICO).

7. What if you do not provide personal data?

You are under no statutory or contractual obligation to provide data to us during the recruitment process, however, if you do not provide the information requested, we may not be able to process your application properly or at all.

PDF Download: Applicant_Privacy_Notice_Nov2020