How we use your information
The purpose of this Privacy Notice is to tell you what personal information the council collects from you, how and when it may be collected and what happens to it.
What information might we collect from you?
- personal information and contact details (for example your name, address, ‘phone number, date of birth, next of kin, professional body registration number, bank details and national insurance number)
- special category of data (for example your ethnic group, health and criminal record)
- contract information (such as start dates, hours worked, post, roles and salary)
- work absence information (such as number of absences and reasons)
- qualifications (and, where relevant, subjects taught)
- details of your education, employment history, referees and permission to work in the UK.
When it may be collected
We will start collecting information when you apply for a job with us and if we offer you a job, as part of the pre-employment checks we carry out. If you go on to become employed by us, there will be other times and situations during your employment when we will need to collect and process additional information so we can perform our contract of employment with you.
Why we collect and use your information
We collect and use your information for a number of reasons.
When you apply for a job these include:
- to assess whether you meet the criteria required for the job/s
- to communicate with you throughout the process.
When you are offered a job these include:
- to check you have the necessary permission to work in the UK.
- to assess your suitability to work with children and/or vulnerable adults, if applicable.
When you start work with us:
- to pay your salary and other payments during any period/s of sick and maternity leave
- to pay contributions to the council’s pension scheme and make your pension payments when you retire
- to enable managers to make informed decisions when applying the council’s policies and procedures in relation to matters such as attendance, conduct and performance
- to make referrals to the council’s occupational health service
- to ensure we meet our legal obligations in relation to the employment of staff – for example in relation to permission to work in the UK and suitability to work with children and/or vulnerable adults, where applicable
- to contact you during working hours if we are unable to do so using the council’s ‘phone or e-mail system
- to review the effectiveness of our policies in relation to equality and diversity
- to inform the development of recruitment and retention policies.
The lawful basis for using your information
We collect and process this information for one or more of the reasons permitted by law, including:
- to perform our contract of employment with you
- to comply with the law
- to assess your working capacity.
Whilst the majority of information we ask you to provide is essential to perform our contract of employment with you or to comply with the law, some of it is provided to us on a voluntary basis. In order to comply with data protection legislation, we will inform you whether you are required to provide certain information to us or if you have a choice in this.
Storing this information
When you apply for a job but are not successful, we will hold your personal information for a period of 6 months.
In most other cases we hold personal information for as long as you are employed with us to enable us to perform our contract with you. If you cease to be employed by us we will hold your personal information for a period of 6 years. There are some exceptions to the amount of time we hold your personal information and the type of information we hold. Further information can be found in the Retention of HR Records schedule on our intranet.
Who we share your information with
Where necessary or required we share information with:
- a small number of external organisations whose systems we use for the provision of online training and career management solutions
- prospective employers where you have given your consent for them to request a reference from us
- the Department for Education (DfE) in relation to information on teaching staff as part of the school workforce census
- our pension’s administrator.
Why we share this information
We do not share information about you with anyone without consent unless the law and our policies allow us to do so.
Data collection requirements
We do not process your information with countries outside of the UK or European Economic Area (EEA) without the safeguards being in place that are equivalent to the UK Data Protection legislation or the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR).
Most of the information we collect from you is stored on servers that are owned and maintained by Oracle (who support our HR system) within the EEA.
Requesting access to your personal data
Under data protection legislation, you have the right to request access to information about you that we hold. To make a request for your personal information, contact your line manager or Human Resources.
You also have the right to:
- object to processing of personal data that is likely to cause, or is causing, damage or distress
- prevent processing for the purpose of direct marketing
- object to decisions being taken by automated means
- in certain circumstances, have inaccurate personal data rectified, blocked, erased or destroyed; and
- claim compensation for damages caused by a breach of the Data Protection regulations.
If you have a concern about the way we are collecting or using your personal data, we ask that you raise your concern with us in the first instance. Alternatively, you can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office
Further information
If you would like to discuss anything in this privacy notice, please contact our Data Protection Officer by email: dpo@brent.gov.uk or call 020 8937 1402.