Data controller: Assistance Dogs Northern Ireland, 15 Connell Street Car Park, Limavady, BT49 0DB
Data Protection Compliance Manager: Geraldine McGaughey CE
Assistance Dogs Northern Ireland Promise
We collect and process personal data relating to volunteer applicants and volunteers and we will treat your personal data with care. 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 driving licence (where applicable and relevant to the role), skills and experience; and
- where known, whether or not you have a disability so that we can consider any potential adjustments needed.
We collect this information in a variety of ways. For example, data might be contained in a registration forms, CVs or resumes, obtained from your passport or other identity documents, or collected through interviews.
We may also collect personal data about you from third parties, such as references supplied by your nominated referees and information from criminal records checks, where relevant for the role. We will seek information from third parties at the appropriate point in the application process 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 Head Office management systems and on other IT systems (including email).
Why do we process personal data?
We need to process data to take steps to assess your suitability for the volunteering role you have applied for.
We have a legitimate interest in processing personal data during the volunteer recruitment process and for keeping records of the process. Processing data from volunteer applicants allows us to manage the volunteer recruitment process efficiently, assess and confirm an applicant’s suitability for voluntary work with us and decide when to offer volunteering opportunities. We may also need to process data from volunteer 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 volunteers and have concluded that they are not.
We process health information if we need to make adjustments for volunteer applicants and volunteers who have a disability. 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 volunteering. If your application is unsuccessful, we will keep your personal data on file for 6 months. We will ask for your consent before we keep your data 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 with those of our employees responsible for volunteer coordination, with health and safety representatives, with service managers, with IT staff (if access to the data is necessary for the performance of their roles) and with Emergency Services personnel (if necessary).
We will not share your data with third parties, unless your application for volunteering is successful. We will then share your data with your nominated referees to obtain references for you, to 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 volunteer work 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 volunteer application is unsuccessful, then, as above, with your permission we will hold your data on file for 6 months after the end of the relevant volunteer recruitment process, in case there are any follow-up queries regarding your application or future volunteering opportunities.
If your application for volunteering is successful, personal data gathered during the volunteer recruitment process will be transferred to your volunteer file and retained during your time volunteering with us.
If a successful applicant has not volunteered with us (or expressed a wish to volunteer with us) for over 12 months, then we will delete your volunteer file and you will be asked to complete the volunteer recruitment process again should you want to volunteer with us again in the future.
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 many 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 volunteer 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
