Recruitment privacy notice

Part of: Privacy statements

  • Protecting the privacy of candidates, clients and establishment workers

We are committed to protecting your privacy when you use our service. This privacy notice explains how we use information about you and how we protect your privacy.

This privacy notice sits beneath the council’s corporate privacy statement and provides information about how personal data is used by Haringey’s recruitment services.

Please see the corporate privacy statement for details on your rights and who to contact about the use of your personal data.

Purpose and lawful basis for processing

Our purpose for processing this information is to:

  • assess your suitability for a role you have applied for
  • ensure that appointments are made on merit
  • monitor our compliance with the Equalities Act
  • to help us develop and improve our recruitment process

The lawful basis we rely on for processing your personal data is Article 6(1)(b) of the UK GDPR, which relates to processing necessary to perform a contract or to take steps at your request, before entering a contract.

f you provide us with any information about reasonable adjustments you require under the Equality Act 2010 the lawful basis we rely on for processing this information is article 6(1)(c) to comply with our legal obligations under the Act.

The lawful basis we rely on to process any information you provide as part of your application which is special category data, such as health, religious or ethnicity information is article 9(2)(b) of the UK GDPR, which relates to our obligations in employment and the safeguarding of your fundamental rights. And Schedule 1 part 1(1) of the DPA2018 which again relates to processing for employment purposes.

We process information about applicants' criminal convictions and offences. The lawful basis we rely on to process this data is Article 6(1)(e) for the performance of our public task. In addition, we rely on the processing condition at Schedule 1 part 2 paragraph 6(2)(a).

What will we do with the information you give us?

We’ll use all the information you provide during the recruitment process to progress your application with a view to offering you an employment contract with us, or to fulfil legal or regulatory requirements if necessary.

We will not share any of the information you provide with any third parties for marketing purposes.

We’ll use the contact details you give us to contact you to progress your application. We may also contact you to request your feedback about our recruitment process.

What information are you collecting about me and why?

We do not collect more information than we need to fulfil our stated purposes and will not keep it longer than necessary.

The information we ask for is used to assess your suitability for employment. You do not have to provide what we ask for, but it may affect your application if you don’t.

We will use any feedback you provide about our recruitment process to develop and improve our future recruitment campaigns.

We may also collect health information, and details of your family circumstances i.e., declaration of interest and for safeguarding purposes and if you contact us, we may keep a record of that correspondence.

To ensure political neutrality, some positions have restrictions on how involved an individual is with any political group or party. We will ask about this during recruitment.

Application stage

If you use our online application system, your details will be stored on our online system on our behalf.

We ask you for your personal details including name and contact details. We will also ask you about previous experience, education, referees and for answers to questions relevant to the role. Our recruitment team will have access to all this information.

You will also be asked to provide your equalities information. This is not mandatory – if you do not provide it, it will not affect your application. We will not make the information available to any staff outside our recruitment team, including hiring managers, in a way that can identify you. Any information you provide will be used to produce and monitor equal data statistics.

Shortlisting

Our hiring managers shortlist applications for interview. They will not be provided with your name or contact details or with your equality data if you have provided it.

Assessments

We may ask you to participate in assessment days; complete tests or occupational personality profile questionnaires; attend an interview; or a combination of these. Information will be generated by you and by us. For example, you might complete a written test, or we might take interview notes. This information is held by us.

If you are unsuccessful after assessment for the role, we may ask if you would like your details retained in our talent pool. If you say yes, we will proactively contact you should any further suitable vacancies arise.

Offer of Employment

If we make an offer of employment, we will ask you for information so that we can carry out pre-employment checks. You must successfully complete pre-employment checks to progress to a confirmation of offer. We must confirm the identity of our staff and their right to work in the United Kingdom, and seek assurance as to their trustworthiness, integrity, and reliability.

As part of our screening and compliance checks, you will be required to:

  • provide evidence of your Right to Work in the United Kingdom
  • provide satisfactory written employment reference/s
  • complete a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check if applicable
  • complete a Safeguarding declaration if applicable
  • complete a Criminal Record declaration if not required to complete a DBS check
  • provide Emergency Contact details
  • provide evidence of professional registrations/qualifications if applicable
  • provide bank details
  • complete a Health Declaration
  • declare any conflicts of interest if applicable

Where do we share and process your data?

  • Your application will be shared with appropriate managers within the council to determine your suitability for any role you apply for, and to decide whether to invite you to interview. We do not share national insurance details, union membership, bank details or demographic data with managers outside the Human Resources function
  • We share your data with an authorised third party as applicable to the service being provided. Access Screening is our employment background screening partners, your data will be stored in a cloud environment or on premise in accordance with the options selected by us
  • In some instances, we may engage a recruitment consultancy firm to manage the process
  • Depending on the nature of the role, we may contact unsuccessful candidates following an interview to give feedback on performance
  • For successful candidates, we will use the information provided to contact any references cited. We will also use the data provided to populate our HR and payroll system when you become an employee
  • For roles requiring it, we will also undertake appropriate background checks with the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)
  • Other than this, your information collected will not be shared outside Haringey Council unless required for legal or regulatory purposes
  • If the successful candidate declares a health condition they will be asked to complete a confidential health Questionnaire which is assessed by our Occupational Health provider. The content of the questionnaire is not shared with any employees of Haringey. The Occupational Health provider provides information back to the authority on a need-to-know basis only. This is to ensure the candidate is medically fit for the role and/or all appropriate adjustments are made where possible

How long we keep your data for

Haringey has a Data Retention Policy which applies to various functional activities, including HR. The policy mandates how long records containing personal data must be retained. Retention periods are determined by legislation and business requirements.

For successful applicants, we will hold this data for six years after the employee leaves the organisation. For unsuccessful applications, we will hold your data for 1 year after the last contact unless a legal or regulatory obligation requires that we hold this data for a superseding period.

Where and how is the information stored?

  • Applicant tracking system (ATS) – candidate data is captured and stored in TalentLink
  • Screening – candidate data is captured and stored in Access Screening
  • HR System – candidate data is captured and stored in SAP and documents are stored on the council’s secured electronic drives (once you become an employee). Before 2015, documents are stored in a secured offsite storage facility

Your rights

Please see our main Privacy Statement for more details on your right:

  • to be informed
  • to access your personal data
  • to rectify your personal data if it is incorrect
  • to restrict our processing of your personal data

  • You have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office about the way we are handling your personal information. Details on how you can do this can be found at the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO)

If you do find that the information we hold on you is incorrect, you should inform us as soon as possible to update our records.

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