As part of any recruitment process, APSS collects and processes personal data relating to job applicants. APSS is committed to being transparent about how it collects and uses that data and to meeting its data protection obligations.
What information does APSS collect?
APSS collects a range of information about you. This includes:
- your name, address and contact details, including email address and telephone number;
- details of your qualifications, skills, experience and employment history;
- information about your current level of remuneration, including benefit entitlements;
- whether or not you have a disability for which Apss needs to make reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process;
- information about your entitlement to work in the UK; and
- equal opportunities monitoring information, including information about your ethnic origin, sexual orientation, health, and religion or belief.
APSS collects this information in a variety of ways. For example, data might be contained in application forms or CVs, obtained from your passport or other identity documents, or collected through interviews or other forms of assessment, including online tests.
APSS will also collect personal data about you from third parties, such as references supplied by former employers and information from employment background check providers. APSS will seek information from third parties only once a job offer to you has been made and will inform you that it is doing so.
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 does APSS process personal data?
APSS needs to process data to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract with you. It also needs to process your data to enter into a contract with you.
In some cases, APSS needs to process data to ensure that it is complying with its legal obligations. For example, it is required to check a successful applicant's eligibility to work in the UK before employment starts.
APSS has a legitimate interest in processing personal data during the recruitment process and for keeping records of the process. Processing data from job applicants allows Apss to manage the recruitment process, assess and confirm a candidate's suitability for employment and decide to whom to offer a job. APSS may also need to process data from job applicants to respond to and defend against legal claims.
Where APSS relies on legitimate interests as a reason for processing data, it has considered whether or not those interests are overridden by the rights and freedoms of employees or workers and has concluded that they are not.
APSS processes health information if it needs to make reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process for candidates who have a disability. This is to carry out its obligations and exercise specific rights in relation to employment.
Where APSS processes other special categories of data, such as information about ethnic origin, sexual orientation, health or religion or belief, this is for equal opportunities monitoring purposes.
APSS is obliged to seek information about criminal convictions and offences. Where APSS seeks this information, it does so because it is necessary for it to carry out its obligations and exercise specific rights in relation to employment.
Who has access to data?
Your information will be shared internally for the purposes of the recruitment exercise. This includes members of the HR team, interviewers involved in the recruitment process, managers in the business area with a vacancy and IT staff if access to the data is necessary for the performance of their roles.
APSS will not share your data with third parties unless your application for employment is successful and it makes you an offer of employment. APSS will then share your data with former employers to obtain references for you and employment background check providers to obtain necessary background checks.
How does APSS protect data?
APSS takes the security of your data seriously. It has 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 does APSS keep data?
If your application for employment is unsuccessful, APSS will hold your data on file for at least 6 months after the end of the relevant recruitment process.
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 are detailed in the Data Protection section with the Employee Handbook.
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 APSS to change incorrect or incomplete data;
- require APSS 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 APSS is relying on its legitimate interests as the legal ground for processing; and
- ask APSS to stop processing data for a period if data is inaccurate or there is a dispute about whether or not your interests override APSS’ legitimate grounds for processing data.
If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the following address: APSS, Kingsley Road, Lincoln, LN6 3TA.
If you believe that APSS has not complied with your data protection rights, you can complain to the Information Commissioner.
What if you do not provide personal data?
You are under no statutory or contractual obligation to provide data to APSS during the recruitment process. However, if you do not provide the information, APSS may not be able to process your application properly or at all.
You are under no obligation to provide information for equal opportunities monitoring purposes and there are no consequences for your application if you choose not to provide such information.