Policy and Performance privacy notices

As part of any recruitment process, the council collects and processes personal data relating to job applicants. The council must tell you how it collects and uses that data and how meets its data protection obligations in relation to that data.

What information does the council collect?

The council 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, including benefit entitlements
• whether or not you have a disability or a health condition for which the organisation needs to make reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process
• information about your entitlement to work in the UK

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

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

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 council process personal data?

The council needs to process data prior to and when entering into a contract with you.

In some cases, the council needs to process data to ensure that it is complying with its legal obligations. For example, it is required to check a successful applicant's eligibility to work in the UK before employment starts.

The council has a legitimate interest in processing personal data during the recruitment process and for keeping records of the process. Processing data from job applicants allows the council to manage the recruitment process, assess and confirm a candidate's suitability for employment and decide to whom to offer a job. The council may also need to process data from job applicants to respond to and defend against legal claims.

The council may process special categories of data, such as information about ethnic origin, sexual orientation or religion or belief, to monitor recruitment statistics. It may also collect information about whether or not applicants are disabled to make reasonable adjustments for candidates who have a disability or a health condition during the recruitment process. The council processes such information to carry out its obligations and exercise specific rights in relation to employment and to meet its obligations relating to equalities monitoring. The council is required by law to publish anonymised equalities monitoring data on an annual basis.  The equalities monitoring data is held on a separate section of the application form which is not seen by the recruiting manager and does not impact recruitment decisions apart from if a disability is disclosed then the applicant will be guaranteed an interview if they meet the minimum requirements of the role. 

For some roles, the council is obliged to seek information about criminal convictions and offences. Where the council seeks this information, it does so because it is necessary for it to carry out its obligations and exercise specific rights in relation to employment.

The organisation will not use your data for any purpose other than the recruitment exercise for which you have applied other than for equalities monitoring purposes as outlined above.

Who has access to data?

Your information may be shared internally for the purposes of the recruitment exercise. This includes members of the HR and Organisational Development team, interviewers involved in the recruitment process, and IT staff if access to the data is necessary for the performance of their roles.

The council shares your data with third parties in order to obtain pre-employment references from other employers, employment background checks from third-party providers and the necessary criminal records checks from the Disclosure and Barring Service.

If you are successful in your application the council will share your data with the companies engaged by the Council to process data on its behalf for payroll; the provision of benefits and the provision of occupational health services.

How does the council protect your personal data?

The council takes the security of your personal data seriously. All appropriate, technical and organisational measures are taken to ensure security of storage of and access to your data.

Where the council has engaged the services of third parties to provide services on their behalf and on behalf of employees, it does so on the basis of a comprehensive service supply contract which obliges them to comply fully with the data protection legislation including information security.

For how long does the council keep data?

If your application for employment is unsuccessful, the council will hold your data on file for 6 months after the end of the relevant recruitment process. At the end of that period, your data is deleted or destroyed.

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. The periods for which your data will be held will be provided to you in a new privacy notice at the point at which you are offered employment with the Council.

What are your rights?

Your rights are outlined in our corporate privacy notice.

If at any point you believe the personal information about you that we process is incorrect you can request to see this information and even have it corrected or deleted.

If you wish to fulfil your rights, please contact our Data Protection Officer and they will investigate the matter and make a decision on what will happen next. You will be notified of this decision and any next steps.

The full details of our Data Protection Officer can be seen in our corporate privacy notice.

If you are not satisfied with our response or believe we are processing your personal data not in accordance with the law, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), see Information Commissioner's Office: Make a complaint.