Applicant Privacy Policy | Citizens Advice Telford and the Wrekin

How we use your information

At Citizens Advice Telford and Wrekin we are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. This policy has been devised to help you understand what data we collect, why we collect it and what we do with it. It applies to the information we collect about job applicants.

This notice does not form part of any contract of employment or other contract to provide services. We may update this notice at any time.

The role of the data controller

A data controller is responsible for your data and must make sure that your data is processed in accordance with the law.

For the purposes of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Citizens Advice are data controllers ‘in common’ with the rest of the service for the client data held in our electronic case systems and are jointly responsible for client data.

For the purposes of the GDPR, Citizens Advice Telford and Wrekin is the data controller for all other personal and sensitive data processed and held within the organization unless otherwise stated.

Who are we?

Citizens Advice Telford and Wrekin is a registered charity (charity number 1077566) and a company limited by guarantee (Company number 03844929). We can be contacted at our registered office – Suite 4, Syer House, Stafford Park 1, TF3 3BD.

Citizens Advice Telford and Wrekin is the data controller for the information you provide during the process unless otherwise stated. If you have any queries about the process or how we handle your information, please contact us.

What will we do with the information you provide to us during the recruitment process?

All of the information you provide during the process will only be used for the purpose of progressing your job application, or to fulfil legal, contractual or regulatory requirements.

We will not share any of the information you provide during the recruitment process with anyone outside of Citizens Advice Telford and Wrekin. The information you provide will be held securely by us whether the information is in electronic or physical format.

We will use the contact details you provide to us to contact you to progress your application. We will use the other information you provide to assess your suitability for the role you have applied for.

What information do we ask for, and why?

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

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

Application stage

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

You will also be asked to provide equal opportunities information. This is not mandatory information – if you don’t provide it, it will not affect your application. This information will only be available to the HR Consultant in a way which can identify you. Any information you do provide, will be used only to produce and monitor equal opportunities statistics anonymised and only in a format which does not link the data to you.

Anonymised data

We use anonymised data for statistical purposes and funding applications. This data is anonymised effectively and no living individual can be identified from this data or the data combined with other information. We do this to enable us to:

meet our funders requirements,
help improve our service
ensure the service we provide is meeting the needs of our local community
enable us to secure funding to provide the services to our community

If you are unhappy with the way we record and use your information you should follow the Citizens Advice Feedback and complaints procedure.

You can also contact Citizens Advice Telford and Wrekin to ask for a copy of the Citizens Advice complaints leaflet.

The accuracy of your personal data is important to us, please let us know as soon as possible if anything relating to your contact details or issue changes, which may affect the information we hold.

Shortlisting

Our hiring managers shortlist applications for interviews. At this stage they will not be provided with your name, contact details, referees or with your equal opportunities information if you have provided it.

Assessments

We might ask you to participate in assessment days; complete tests; undertake a presentation on a given subject and/or to 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 Citizens Advice Telford and Wrekin.

Conditional offer

If we make a conditional 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 final offer. We are required to confirm the identity of our staff, their right to work in the United Kingdom and seek assurance as to their trustworthiness, integrity and reliability.

You will therefore be required to provide:

Proof of your identity – you will be asked to attend one of our offices with original documents, we will take copies
Proof of your right to work in the UK in line with current UK government legislation Right to work checklist – you will be asked to attend one of our offices with original documents, we will take copies.
Proof of your qualifications – you may be asked to attend one of our offices with original documents, we will take copies
You will be asked to complete a criminal records declaration to declare any unspent convictions
We will contact your referee, using the details you provide in your application, directly to obtain references

If we make a final offer, we will also ask you for the following:

Bank details – to process salary payments
Emergency contact details – so we know who to contact in case you have an emergency at work

How long is the information retained for?

If you are successful, the information you provide during the application process will be retained by us as part of your employee file for the duration of your employment plus 6 years following the end of your employment. This includes your application form, any interview notes and references.

If you are unsuccessful at any stage of the process, the information you have provided until that point will be retained for 12 months from the recruitment closing date.

Information generated throughout the assessment process, for example interview notes, is retained by us for 12 months from the recruitment closing date.

Equal opportunities information is destroyed immediately once it has been processed anonymously. You are not identifiable from any records that we store. The purpose of storing this data is for equality and diversity monitoring.

How we make decisions about recruitment?

Final recruitment decisions are made by the recruitment panel. All of the information gathered during the application process is taken into account.

You are able to ask about decisions made about your application by speaking to your contact within our recruitment panel.

Get in touch with us about your data

You can contact us at any time and ask us:

What information we’ve stored about you
To change or update your details
To delete your details from our records

You have the right to request access to any of your personal data held by Citizens Advice Telford and Wrekin. This is known as a Subject Access Request (SAR) and is free of charge. We will normally provide the information within 1 month of receipt of your request. To ensure compliance with the one month deadline, any such request should be addressed to:

Chief Executive

Syer House (Suite 4)

Stafford Park

Telford

TF3 3BD

You also have the right to withdraw consent, request that your data is updated or corrected, you have a right to have your data deleted or processing restricted and to object to the processing of your data. Please click on the link below to read more about your individual rights.

https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/individual-rights/

If you want to make a complaint

If you wish to raise a complaint on how we have handled your personal data, you should contact us at: