Welcome to the Applicant Gateway

Employee and Applicant Privacy Notice

1. Introduction

This Privacy Notice explains how Changing Lives ("we", "our", "us") collects, uses, shares, and protects personal data relating to our employees and job applicants. We are committed to protecting your privacy and ensuring that your personal data is handled in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018, and other applicable UK data protection laws.

2. Data Controller

Changing Lives is the data controller for the personal data processed under this Privacy Notice. If you have any questions about this notice or how we handle your personal information, please contact our Data Protection Officer at [insert contact details].

3. Types of Personal Data We Collect

We may collect and process the following types of personal data:

• Name, address, and contact details
• Date of birth and national insurance number
• Employment history and qualifications
• References and interview notes
• Right to work documentation
• Banking and tax information
• Performance and disciplinary records
• Health and medical information
• Equal opportunities monitoring information
• Trade union membership (where applicable)
• Criminal record information (where legally required and in accordance with the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974)

4. How We Collect Your Personal Data

We collect personal data through:

• Job applications and CVs
• Interviews and assessments
• Employment contracts and related documentation
• Background and reference checks
• During the course of your employment
• Third parties, such as former employers or government agencies, with your consent where required

5. How We Use Your Personal Data

We use your personal data for the following purposes:

• Recruitment and selection
• Payroll and benefits administration
• Performance management
• Training and development
• Health and safety compliance
• Equal opportunities monitoring
• Legal and regulatory compliance
• Workforce planning and management
• Ensuring network and information security

6. Legal Basis for Processing

We process your personal data on the following legal bases:

• Performance of a contract (or to take steps prior to entering into a contract)
• Compliance with legal obligations (including employment, social security, and social protection law)
• Legitimate interests of the organization
• Your consent (where applicable)
• For special category data (such as health information or equal opportunities data), we rely on the following additional legal bases:
• Employment, social security, and social protection law obligations
• Substantial public interest
• Occupational health purposes
• Your explicit consent (where applicable)

7. Data Retention

We will retain your personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.

For job applicants, we will retain your personal data for 6 months after the end of the relevant recruitment process. If you are successful in your application, we will retain your personal data in accordance with our employee data retention policy, which complies with UK employment law requirements.

8. Data Sharing

We may share your personal data with:

• Third-party service providers (e.g., payroll, benefits, IT services)
• Regulatory authorities and law enforcement agencies
• Professional advisers (e.g., lawyers, accountants)
• Potential buyers of our business (where applicable)

We require all third parties to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes.

9. International Transfers

We do not transfer your personal data outside the UK unless adequate safeguards are in place, such as standard contractual clauses approved by the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).

10. Your Rights

Under UK data protection law, you have the right to:

• Access your personal data (also known as a "subject access request")
• Rectify inaccurate or incomplete data
• Erase your personal data in certain circumstances
• Restrict processing of your personal data
• Data portability
• Object to processing based on legitimate interests
• Withdraw consent where processing is based on consent

To exercise these rights, please contact our Data Protection Officer. You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal data (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive, or excessive.

11. Data Security

We have implemented appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used, or accessed in an unauthorized way, altered, or disclosed. We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and the ICO of a breach where we are legally required to do so.

12. Changes to This Privacy Notice

We may update this Privacy Notice from time to time. We will notify you of any significant changes by email. This Privacy Notice does not form part of any contract of employment or other contract to provide services.

13. How to Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Notice or how we handle your personal information, please contact our Data Protection Officer at sunny.vara@changing-lives.org.uk.

Should you wish to remove your details prior to automatic deletion or for any other queries about how your information is handled, please contact Changing Lives directly.

14. Your Right to Complain

If you have concerns about how we handle your personal data, you have the right to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at www.ico.org.uk or by calling their helpline on 0303 123 1113.

Last updated: 11/09/2024