HR recruitment privacy notice

We are Waltham Forest Council HR Recruitment team. We need certain information to assess your application to work for us and to fulfil our legal obligations as an employer. We are known as the ‘controller’ of the personal data you provide to us. We only collect and process information about you that is relevant to the recruitment and selection campaign. We may update this privacy notice at any time.

In some circumstances, we may anonymise your personal information so that it can no longer be associated with you, in which case we may use such information without further notice to you.

Why do we need your information and how do we use it?

When you apply for a job with us we ask for personal information for recruitment and selection purposes, to allow us to carry out pre-employment checks. We are required to process your information as an employer under the following legislation:

• Employment Rights Act 1996
• Employment Act 2008
• The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974; Exceptions Order (1975)
• Equality Act 2010
• Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013
• Trade Union Act 2016
• Asylum, Immigration and Nationality Act, 2006; Nationality Act (2016)
• Access to Medical Reports Act 1988
• Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006
• Part V of the Police Act 1997
• National Minimum Wage
• Working Time Regulations
• Childcare (Disqualifications) Regulations

We will comply with data protection law. This says that the personal information we hold about you will be:

• Used lawfully, fairly and in a transparent way
• Collected only for valid purposes that we have clearly explained to you and not used in any way that is incompatible with those purposes
• Relevant to the purposes we have told you about and limited only to those purposes
• Accurate and up to date and kept securely
• Kept only as long as necessary for the purposes we have told you about
• Processed in a manner that ensures appropriate security of the personal data

If you are applying for a role with us or have been selected as a preferred candidate or employee the following information is collected from you at different stages of the recruitment and selection process to assess your suitability for a role and if successful to progress an employment contract with you:

• Your name, date of birth, gender and contact details including; address, email address, phone number and any membership to a professional body.
• The terms and conditions of your employment.
• Details of your education, qualifications, skills, experience and your employment history; including start and end dates with previous employers and with the council.
• Location of your employment.
• Details of your bank account and national insurance number.
• Information about your remuneration such as your entitlement to pension benefits.
• Equal opportunities monitoring information including; information about your age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, marital status, disability status and religion to ensure meaningful monitoring and reporting.

The following information is collected from you to comply with our statutory obligations:

• Information about your nationality and entitlement to work in the UK.
• Details of your criminal records and if applicable obligations under the Childcare {Disqualification} regulations, we will collect information about criminal convictions if it is appropriate given the nature of the role and where we are legally allowed to do so. We may be notified by you of criminal convictions during the course of your employment with the council.
• Details about your pay, tax, national insurance deductions and other third-party deductions such as court orders.
• Information about medical or health conditions in consultation with Occupational Health including disability status to enable the council to make reasonable adjustments and meet our obligations under health and safety in the workplace.
• Equal opportunities monitoring information including; information about your age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, marital status, disability status and religion to ensure meaningful monitoring and reporting.

The Council has a legitimate interest in processing personal data as part of a recruitment and selection campaign. Processing employee data enables the council to:

• Undertake recruitment and promotion processes to attract the most suitably qualified staff.
• Ensure effective general recruitment and selection administration.

Generally, the information we hold will have been provided by you (on application or other forms or when we communicate with you (e.g. right to work documents, pension benefit forms). We may also hold information provided by third parties where this is relevant i.e. funding organisations such as Local Government Association (LGA), The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), His Majesty Revenue and Customs (HMRC), Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS), Occupational Health (OH), Training providers and references supplied by former employers.

(a) Consent: the individual has given clear consent for you to process their personal data for a specific purpose.

(b) Contract: the processing is necessary for a contract you have with the individual, or because they have asked you to take specific steps before entering into a contract.

(c) Legal obligation: the processing is necessary for you to comply with the law (not including contractual obligations).

(d) Legitimate interests: the processing is necessary for your legitimate interests or the legitimate interests of a third party unless there is a good reason to protect the individual’s personal data which overrides those legitimate interests.

Employment decisions about you will not be based on automated decision making, however, we will notify you in writing if this position changes.

We may share information you have provided, and obtain information about you from other Waltham Forest Council departments such as housing where held and only as appropriate.

Data will be stored in a range of different places, including your recruitment file, with your service, HR systems and other IT systems such as email and the HR shared drive.

We may share your information with third parties such as employers to obtain pre-employment references, training providers and funding agencies including The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), The Greater London Authority (GLA), Jobs go Public, occupational health (OH), Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) and His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC). Where you are auto-enrolled into the Local Government Pension Scheme, your details will also be held by Wandsworth Council.  Wandsworth are our Pensions administrators. We may share your information with the Local Government Ombudsman in the event of complaints.

We will not disclose any information to any other company outside of The London Borough of Waltham Forest except to prevent fraud, or if required to do so by law.

The Council will not transfer your data outside the European Economic Area (EEA).

If you are applying for a role and are unsuccessful, we will keep any rejected job application for 12 months from the date when it was rejected, at which point it will be purged (i.e. anonymised and/ or deleted). Your candidate profile will be purged upon 12 months from the date when your most recent application was rejected, unless your profile is linked with an active vacancy or application. This is to help provide a better candidate experience if you apply for Council jobs in future or join our talent pool. If you wish for your data to be purged earlier, please email the Council’s Recruitment Team at recruitment@walthamforest.gov.uk. We will keep your data for at least 6 months on the basis of legitimate interest. If you are or become an employee, we will keep your data after the end of your employment for a minimum of 7 years or 25 years if you work within Children services after the end of your employment after which time it will be securely destroyed.

Certain information, such as contact details, qualifications and employment history has to be provided to allow the council to assess your suitability for a role and to enter a contract of employment with you.

You will need to provide the council with data in order to exercise your statutory rights such as your right to work in the UK. Failure to provide this necessary personal data may mean that you are unable to exercise your statutory rights.

Our Data Protection Officer

Our Data Protection Officer is Mark Hynes, you can contact him by email at data.protectionofficer@walthamforest.gov.uk

Protecting your information

Please see the relevant section of the Corporate Privacy Notice.

Your information choice and rights

Please see the relevant section of the Corporate Privacy Notice.

Complaints and contact details

These are included in the relevant section of the Corporate Privacy Notice.

Information Commissioner’s Office

If we’re unable to resolve your complaint to your satisfaction, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO)