GDPR Privacy Notice For Job Applicants

Data controller: Ascension Supported Living

Information Security Lead: Esther Dankwah-Coffie

Data Protection Officer: Matthew Newman

Introduction

As part of any recruitment process, Ascension Supported Living collects and processes personal data relating to job applicants. ASL is committed to being transparent about how it collects and uses that data and to meeting its data protection obligations under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

The purpose of this privacy notice is to make all job applicants aware of how and why we collect and use your personal information, both during and after a job application process.

This privacy notice applies to all job applicants, whether they apply for a role directly or indirectly through an employment agency. It is non-contractual.

Data protection principles

Under the GDPR, there are six data protection principles that ASL must comply with. These provide that the personal information we hold about you must be:

1.   Processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner.

2.   Collected only for legitimate purposes that have been clearly explained to you and not further processed in a way that is incompatible with those purposes.

3.   Adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary in relation to those purposes.

4.   Accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date.

5.   Kept in a form which permits your identification for no longer than is necessary for those purposes.

6.   Processed in a way that ensures appropriate security of the data.

The Company is responsible for, and must be able to demonstrate compliance with, these principles. This is called accountability.

 What information does ASL collect?

ASL collects a range of information about you. This includes:

·         your name, address and contact details, including email address and telephone number;

·         details of your qualifications, skills, experience and employment history;

·         information about your current level of remuneration;

·         whether or not you have a disability for which the organisation needs to make reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process;

·         information about your entitlement to work in the UK; and

·         equal opportunities monitoring information, including information about your ethnic origin, sexual orientation, health and religion or belief.

ASL collects this information in a variety of ways. For example, data might be contained in application forms, CVs, obtained from your passport or other identity documents, or collected through interviews or other forms of assessment.

ASL will also collect personal data about you from third parties, such as references supplied by former employers, information from employment background check providers including information from criminal records checks. ASL will seek information from third parties only once a provisional job offer to you has been made and will inform you that it is doing so.

ASL may also collect, use and process the following special categories of your personal information during the recruitment process (as applicable):

·      whether or not you have a disability for which ASL needs to make reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process

·      information about your racial or ethnic origin, religious or philosophical beliefs and sexual orientation

·      information about criminal convictions and offences.

You are under no statutory or contractual obligation to provide personal information to ASL during the recruitment process.

Data will be stored in a range of different places, including on your application record, in HR management systems and on other IT systems (including email).

Why does the organisation process personal data?

ASL needs to process data to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract with you. It also needs to process your data to enter into a contract with you.

·      manage the recruitment process and assess your suitability for employment or engagement

·      decide to whom to offer a job

·      comply with statutory and/or regulatory requirements and obligations, e.g. checking your right to work in the UK

·      comply with the duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled job applicants and with other disability discrimination obligations

·      ensure compliance with your statutory rights

·      ensure effective HR, personnel management and business administration

·      monitor equal opportunities

·      enable us to establish, exercise or defend possible legal claims

Please note that we may process your personal information without your consent, in compliance with these rules, where this is required or permitted by law.

What if you fail to provide personal information?

If you fail to provide certain personal information when requested, we may not be able to process your job application properly or at all, we may not be able to enter into a contract with you, or we may be prevented from complying with our legal obligations. You may also be unable to exercise your statutory rights.

ASL relies on legitimate interests as a reason for processing data and has considered whether or not those interests are overridden by the rights and freedoms of employees or workers and has concluded that they are not.

Why and how do we use your sensitive personal information?

We will only collect and use your sensitive personal information, which includes special categories of personal information and information about criminal convictions and offences, when the law allows us to do so.

Some special categories of personal information e.g. information about your health, and information about criminal convictions and offences, is processed so that we can perform or exercise our obligations or rights under employment law and in line with our data protection policy.

We may also process information about your health and information about any criminal convictions and offences where we have your explicit written consent. In this case, we will first provide you with full details of the personal information we would like and the reason we need it, so that you can properly consider whether you wish to consent or not. It is entirely your choice whether to consent. Your consent can be withdrawn at any time.

The purposes for which we are processing, or will process, health information and information about any criminal convictions and offences, are to:

·      assess your suitability for employment or engagement

·      comply with statutory and/or regulatory requirements and obligations, e.g. carrying out criminal record checks

·      comply with the duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled job applicants and with other disability discrimination obligations

·      ensure compliance with your statutory rights

·      ascertain your fitness to work

·      ensure effective HR, personnel management and business administration

·      monitor equal opportunities

Where ASL processes other special categories of personal information i.e. information about your racial or ethnic origin, religious or philosophical beliefs and sexual orientation, this is done only for the purpose of equal opportunities monitoring in recruitment and in line with our data protection policy. Personal information that ASL uses for these purposes is either anonymised or is collected with your explicit written consent, which can be withdrawn at any time. It is entirely your choice whether to provide such personal information.

We may also occasionally use your special categories of personal information, and information about any criminal convictions and offences, where it is needed for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.

Change of purpose

We will only use your personal information for the purposes for which we collected it i.e. for the recruitment exercise for which you have applied.

However, if your job application is unsuccessful, ASL may wish to keep your personal information on file for in case there are future suitable employment opportunities with us. We will ask for your consent before we keep your personal information on file for this purpose. Your consent can be withdrawn at any time.

Who has access to data?

Your information will be shared internally for the purposes of the recruitment exercise. This includes members of the HR department, interviewers involved in the recruitment process, managers in the department with a vacancy and IT contractors, if access to the data is necessary for the performance of their roles. ASL will not share your data with third parties, unless your application for employment is successful and it makes you an offer of employment. ASL will not transfer your data outside the European Economic Area.

How does the organisation protect data?

ASL takes the security of your data seriously. It has internal policies and controls in place to ensure that your data is not lost, accidentally destroyed, misused or disclosed, and is not accessed except by our employees in the proper performance of their duties.

For how long does the organisation keep data?

If your application for employment is unsuccessful, ASL will either delete your data or if we would like to consider you for future roles, hold your data on file for six months after the end of the relevant recruitment process. If your application for employment is successful, personal data gathered during the recruitment process will be transferred to your personnel file and retained during your employment.

Your rights

As a data subject, you have a number of rights. You can:

·         access and obtain a copy of your data on request;

·         require the organisation to change incorrect or incomplete data;

·         require the organisation to delete or stop processing your data, for example where the data is no longer necessary for the purposes of processing;

·         object to the processing of your data where the organisation is relying on its legitimate interests as the legal ground for processing; and

·         ask the organisation to stop processing data for a period, if data is inaccurate or there is a dispute about whether or not your interests override the organisation's legitimate grounds for processing data.

If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please contact info@ascensionsupport.co.uk

If you believe that the organisation has not complied with your data protection rights, you can contact the Information Commissioner.