Privacy Policy (Recruitment)

This notice explains what personal data (information) we will hold about you, how we collect it, and how we will use and may share information about you during the application process.

We are required to notify you of this information, under data protection legislation. Please ensure that you read this notice (sometimes referred to as a ‘privacy notice’) and any other similar notice we may provide to you from time to time when we collect or process personal information about you.

Who we are

Ward Gethin Archer (“We” “Us” “Our”) is a trading name of Ward Gethin Archer Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales (registered number 07869806).  We collect, use and are responsible for certain personal information about you.  When we do so we are regulated under the General Data Protection Regulation which applies across the European Union (including the United Kingdom) and we are responsible as “controller” of that personal information for the purposes of those laws.

Key terms

Personal data – Any information relating to an identified or identifiable individual.

Special category personal data – Personal data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, philosophical beliefs or trade union membership; Genetic and biometric data; Data concerning health, sex life or sexual orientation.

The personal information we collect and hold

What Information

We may collect the following information up to and including the shortlisting stage of the recruitment process:

  • Your name and contact details (i.e. address, home and mobile numbers, email address)
  • Details of your qualifications, experience, employment history (including job titles, salary, and working hours) and interests
  • Your racial or ethnic origin, sex and sexual orientation, religious or similar beliefs
  • Information regarding your criminal record
  • Details of your referees

We may collect the following information after the shortlisting stage, and before making a final decision to recruit:

  • Information about previous academic and/or employment history, including details of any conduct, grievance or performance issues, appraisals, time and attendance, from references obtained about you from previous employers and/or education providers.
  • Information regarding your academic and professional qualifications
  • Information regarding your criminal record, in criminal records certificates (CRCs)
  • Your nationality and immigration status and information related documents, such as your passport or other identification and immigration information
  • A copy of your driving licence.

How we collect the information

We may collect this information from you, your referees (details of whom you will have provided), your education provider, the relevant professional body, the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) and the Home Office.

How and why we use your personal information

We will typically collect and use this information for the following purposes:

  • to take steps to enter into a contract;
  • for compliance with a legal obligation (e.g. our obligation to check you are eligible to work in the United Kingdom);
  • for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest; and
  • for the purposes of our legitimate interests, but only if these are not overridden by your interests, rights and freedoms.

We seek to ensure that our information collection and processing is always proportionate.  We will notify you of any changes to information we collect or to the purposes for which we collect and process it.

Who we share your personal information with

We may also need to share some of the above categories of personal information with other parties, such as HR consultants and professional advisers.  Usually, information will be anonymised but this may not always be possible.  The recipient will be bound by confidentiality obligations.  We may also be required to share some personal information with our regulators or as required to comply with the law.

How long your personal information will be kept

We keep the personal information that we obtain about you during the recruitment process for no longer than is necessary for the purposes for which it is processed.  How long we keep your information will depend on whether your application is successful and you become employed by us, the nature of the information concerned and the purposes for which it is processed.

We will keep recruitment information (including interview notes) for no longer than is reasonable, taking into account the limitation periods for potential claims such as race and sex discrimination (as extended to take account of early conciliation), after which they are destroyed.  If there is a clear business reason for keeping recruitment records for longer than the recruitment period, we will only do so with your consent.

If your application is successful, we will keep recruitment information that is necessary in relation to your employment. 

Your rights

Under the General Data Protection Regulation, you have a number of important rights free of charge.  In summary, those include rights to:

  • fair processing of information and transparency over how we use your personal information
  • access your personal information and to certain other supplementary information that this Privacy Notice is already designed to address
  • require us to correct mistakes in your information which we hold
  • require the erasure of personal information concerning you in certain situations
  • receive the personal information concerning you which you have provided to us, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and have the right to transmit those data to a third party in certain situations.
  • object at any time to the processing of personal information concerning you for direct marketing.
  • object to decisions being taken by automated means which produce legal effects concerning you or similarly significantly affect you.
  • object in certain situations to our continued processing of personal information.
  • otherwise restrict our processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.

For further information on each of those rights, including the circumstances in which they apply, see the Guidance from the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) on individuals rights under the General Data Protection Regulation.

If you would like to exercise any of those rights, please:

  • email, call or write to Chris Dewey, Ward Gethin Archer, 10 Tuesday Market Place, King’s Lynn, Norfolk, PE30 1JT, telephone number (01553) 660033, email chris.dewey@wardgethinarcher.co.uk
  • let us have enough information to identify you
  • let us have proof of your identity and address (a copy of your driving licence or passport and a recent utility or credit card bill), and
  • let us know the information to which you request relates, including any account or reference numbers, if you have them.

Keeping your personal information secure

We have appropriate security measures in place to prevent personal information from being accidentally lost, or used or accessed in an unauthorised way.  We limit access to your personal information to those who have a genuine business need to know it.  Those processing your information will do so only in an authorised manner and are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

We also have procedures in place to deal with any suspected data security breach.  We will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected data security breach where we are legally required to do so.

If you want detailed information from Get Safe Online on how to protect your information and your computers and devices against fraud, identity theft, viruses and many other online problems, please visit www.getsafeonline.org.  Get Safe Online is supported by HM Government and leading businesses.

How to complain

We hope that we can resolve any query or concern you raise about our use of your information.

The General Data Protection Regulation also gives you right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, in particular in the European Union (or European Economic Area) state where you work, normally live or where any alleged infringement of data protection laws occurred.  The supervisory authority in the UK is the Information Commissioner who may be contacted at https://ico.org.uk/concerns/ or telephone: 0303 1231113

Changes to this privacy notice

This privacy notice was published on 22nd May 2018

We may change this privacy notice from time to time. When we do any changes will be published on our website.

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