Introduction
This Notice explains what personal data (information) Robertsons Legal Limited, (‘the Firm’) 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 Collects the Information
The Firm is a ‘data controller’ and gathers and uses certain information about you.
Data Protection Principles
We will comply with the data protection principles when gathering and using personal information, as set out in our Data Protection (Employment) Policy and our GDPR & Data Protection Policy (both of which are available on request).
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 phone numbers, email address)
- Details of your qualifications, experience, employment history (including job titles, salary, and working hours) and interests
- Details of your referees.
We may collect the following information after the shortlisting stage, and before making a final decision to recruit:
- Information about your 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
- Health or disability issues
- Your nationality and immigration status and information from 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, and the Home Office.
Why We Collect the Information and How We Use It
We will typically collect and use this information for the following purposes (other purposes that may also apply are explained in our GDPR & Data Protection Policy)
- To take steps to enter into a contract
- For compliance with a legal obligation
- For the performance of a task carried out in the public interest
- For the purposes of our legitimate interests or those of a relevant third party (such as a benefits provider), but only if these are not overridden by your interests, rights or freedoms
- Because it is necessary for carrying out obligations or exercising rights in employment law
- For reasons of substantial public interest (i.e. equality of opportunity or treatment, preventing or detecting unlawful acts); and
- To establish, exercise and/or defend any legal claims that may be brought by or against us in connection with your recruitment.
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.
How We May Share the Information
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 of the information 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.
Sensitive Personal Information and Criminal Records Information
Further details on how we handle sensitive personal information and information relating to criminal convictions and offences are set out in our GDPR & Data Protection Policy.
Where Information May Be Held
Information may be held at our offices and those of our group companies, and third-party agencies, service providers, representatives and agents as described above.
How Long We Keep Your Information For
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 or sex discrimination (as extended to take account of early conciliation), after which they will be destroyed. If there is a clear business reason for keeping recruitment records for longer than the recruitment period, we may do so but will first consider whether the records can be pseudonymised, and the longer period for which they will be kept.
If your application is successful, we will keep only the recruitment information that is necessary in relation to your employment. For further information, see our Data Protection (Employment) Policy.
Further details on our approach to information retention and destruction are available in our Data Retention Policy, which you can be supplied with upon request.
Your Right to Object to Us Processing Your Information
Where our processing of your information is based solely on our legitimate interests (or those of a third party), you have the right to object to that processing if you give us specific reasons why you are objecting, which are based on your particular situation. If you object, we can no longer process your information unless we can demonstrate legitimate grounds for the processing, which override your interests, rights and freedoms, or the processing is for the establishment, exercise, or defence of legal claims.
Please contact our Data Privacy Manager, Chris Barber, who can be contacted by email c.barber@robsols.so.uk or by post Chris Barber, Robertsons Legal Limited, 6 Park Place, Cardiff CF10 3RS if you wish to object in this way.
Your Rights to Correct and Access Your Information and to Ask for It to Be Erased
Please contact our Data Privacy Manager, as above, if (in accordance with applicable law) you would like to correct or request access to information that we hold relating to you or if you have any questions about this notice. You also have the right to ask our Data Privacy Manager for some but not all of the information we hold and process to be erased (the ‘right to be forgotten’) in certain circumstances. Our Data Privacy Manager will provide you with further information about the right to be forgotten if you ask for it.
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.
How to Complain
We hope that our Data Privacy Manager can resolve any query or concern you raise about our use of your information. If not, contact the Information Commissioner at https://ico.org.uk/concerns/ or telephone: 0303 123 1113 for further information about your rights and how to make a formal complaint.
