Data controller: Assistance Dogs Northern Ireland, 15 Connell Street Car Park, Limavady, BT49 0DB
Data Protection Compliance Manager: Geraldine McGaughey CEO
Assistance Dogs Northern Ireland Promise
As part of any recruitment process, we collect and process personal data relating to job applicants. We are committed to being clear about how we collect and use that data and to meeting our data protection obligations.
What information do we collect?
We collect a range of information about you. This includes:
- your name, address and contact details, including email address and telephone number;
- details of your qualifications (including, where relevant to the role, whether you hold a driving licence), skills, experience and employment history;
- where given, information about your current level of remuneration, including benefit entitlements;
- where known, whether or not you have a disability for which we need to make reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process;
- information about your entitlement to work in the UK and, where applicable, outside the UK;
We collect this information in a variety of ways. For example, data might be contained in application forms, CVs or resumes, obtained from your passport or other identity documents, or collected through interviews or other forms of assessment, including tests and web searches.
We may also collect personal data about you from third parties, such as references supplied by former employers and information from criminal records checks, where relevant for the role. We will seek information from third parties only once a job offer to you has been made and we will inform you that we are doing this.
Data will be stored in a range of different places, including on your application record, in HR management systems and on other IT systems (including email).
Why do we need to process personal data?
We need to process data to take steps to assess your suitability for the position you have applied for. We also need to process your data to enter into a potential contract with you.
In some cases, we will need to process data to ensure that we are complying with our legal obligations; for example, we are required by law to check a successful applicant’s eligibility to work in the UK before employment starts.
We have a legitimate interest in processing personal data during the recruitment process and for keeping records of the process. Processing data from job applicants allows us to manage the recruitment process efficiently, keep candidates informed, assess and confirm a candidate’s suitability for employment and decide to whom to offer a job. We may also need to process data from job applicants to respond to and defend against legal claims.
Where we rely on legitimate interests as a reason for processing data, we have considered whether or not those interests are overridden by the rights and freedoms of employees or workers and have concluded that they are not.
We process health information if we need to make reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process for candidates who have a disability. This is to carry out our obligations and exercise specific rights in relation to employment.
For some roles, we are obliged to seek information about criminal convictions and offences. Where we seek this information, we do so because it is necessary for us to carry out our obligations and exercise specific rights in relation to employment.
If your application is unsuccessful, we will keep your personal data on file for 6 months in case there are future employment opportunities for which you may be suited. We will ask for your consent before we keep your data for this purpose and you are free to withdraw your consent at any time.
For the reasons set out above, we do not therefore consider that our processing of your data is prejudicial to you.
Who has access to data?
Your information will be shared internally for the purposes of the recruitment exercise. This includes recruitment team, interviewers involved in the recruitment process, and IT staff, if access to the data is necessary for the performance of their roles.
We will not share your data with third parties, unless your application for employment is successful and we make you an offer of employment. We will then share your data with former employers to obtain references for you, employment background check providers to obtain necessary background checks and, where relevant, the Disclosure and Barring Service to obtain necessary criminal records checks.
Your data may be transferred outside the European Economic Area (EEA) if your employment with us would require you to work or travel outside of the EEA.
How do we protect data?
We take the security of your data seriously. We have internal policies and controls in place to ensure that your data is not lost, accidentally destroyed, misused or disclosed, and is not accessed except by our employees in the proper performance of their duties.
For how long do we keep data?
If your application for employment is unsuccessful, then, as above, with your permission we will hold your data on file for 6 months after the end of the relevant recruitment process in case there are any follow-up queries regarding your application or future employment opportunities.
If your application for employment is successful, personal data gathered during the recruitment process will be transferred to your personnel file and retained during your employment. The periods for which your data will be held will be provided to you in a new privacy notice.
Your rights
As a data subject, you have a number of rights. You can:
- access and obtain a copy of your data on request;
- require us to change incorrect or incomplete data;
- require us to delete or stop processing your data, for example where the data is no longer
- necessary for the purposes of processing;
- object to the processing of your data where we are relying on our legitimate interests as the legal ground for processing; and
- ask us to stop processing data for a period if data is inaccurate or there is a dispute about whether or not your interests override our legitimate grounds for processing data.
If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please contact Geraldine McGaughey, CEO, at 15 Connell Street Car Park, Limavady, BT49 0DB. You can make a subject access request by completing our enquiry form for making a subject access request.
If you believe that we have not complied with your data protection rights, we suggest that you please let us know first. You may complain to the Information Commissioner, but we hope that we would be able to resolve your concerns without you needing to take this step.
What if you do not provide personal data?
You are under no statutory or contractual obligation to provide data to us during the recruitment process. However, if you do not provide the information, we may not be able to process your application properly or at all.
Policy
For more information about our privacy policy, please visit our privacy section on our website. You can change your preferences at any time by phoning 028777 68761.
