Job Applicants Privacy Statement

Throughout this Privacy Statement we use the term “processing” to cover all activities involving your personal information, including collecting, handling, storing, sharing, accessing, using, transferring and disposing of the information.

Why does the Firm process personal information

We need to process information to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract with you. We may also need to process your information to enter into a contract with you. In some cases, we need to process information to ensure that we are complying with legal obligations. For example, it is mandatory to check a successful applicant’s eligibility to work in the UK before employment starts.

The Firm has a legitimate interest in processing personal information during the recruitment process and for keeping records of the process. Processing information 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 a job.

We may also need to process information from job applicants to respond to and defend against legal claims.

We may also collect information about whether or not applicants are disabled to make reasonable adjustments for candidates who have a disability. We process such information to carry out our obligations and exercise specific rights in relation to employment.

What personal information do we collect

The Firm 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 for which the Firm needs to make reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process;
information about your entitlement to work in the UK.

Where we collect personal information from

The Firm may collect this information in a variety of ways. For example, information 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. We may also collect personal information about you from third parties, such as references supplied by former employers. We will seek information from third parties only once a job offer to you has been made and will inform you that we are doing so.

Who has access to personal information

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

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

How we protect personal information

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

Information 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).

What if you do not provide personal information

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

How long do we keep personal information

If your application for employment is unsuccessful, the organisation will hold your personal information on file for 6 (six) months after the end of the relevant recruitment process.

You may be asked when you submit your CV or Application Form whether you give us consent to hold your details for a longer period in order to be considered for other positions or not. If you agree to allow us to keep your personal information on file, we will hold your personal information for a further 6 (six) months for consideration for future opportunities. At the end of that period, or if you withdraw your consent, your personal information will be deleted or destroyed.

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

Your rights

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

access and obtain a copy of your personal information on request;
require us to change incorrect or incomplete personal information;
require us to delete or stop processing your personal information, for example where the information is no longer necessary for the purposes of processing your application;
object to the processing of your personal information where The Firm is relying on its legitimate interests as the legal ground for processing.

If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please contact our Managing Partner, Graham Bridgeford (Tel No 01224 584458 or by email )

Complaints:

We seek to resolve directly all complaints about how we handle your personal information but you also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office, whose contact details are as follows:

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Telephone – 0303 123 1113 (local rate) or 01625 545 745
Website – https://ico.org.uk/concerns

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