Avocet Academy Trust

Privacy Notice for Job Applicants

Introduction

Under data protection law, individuals have a right to be informed about how the trust uses any personal data we hold about them. We comply with this right by providing ‘privacy notices’ (sometimes called ‘fair processing notices’) to individuals where we are processing their personal data.

This privacy notice explains how we collect, store and use personal data about individuals applying for jobs within our Trust.

Our trust, Avocet Academy is the ‘data controller’ for the purposes of data protection law.

Our data protection officer is Nicki Legh-Smith (see ‘Contact us’ below).

The personal data we hold

Personal data that we may collect, use, store and share (when appropriate) about you includes, but is not restricted to:

• Contact details
• Copies of right to work documentation
• References
• Evidence of qualifications
• Employment records, including work history, job titles, training records and professional memberships

We may also collect, store and use information about you that falls into “special categories” of more sensitive personal data. This includes information about (where applicable):

• Race, ethnicity, religious beliefs, sexual orientation and political opinions
• Disability and access requirements
• Photographs and CCTV images captured in school (where CCTV is used)

We may also collect, use, store and share (when appropriate) information about criminal convictions and offences.

We may also hold data about you that we have received from other organisations, including other schools and social services, and the Disclosure and Barring Service in respect of criminal offence data.

Why we use this data

The purpose of processing this data is to aid the recruitment process by:

• Enabling us to establish relevant experience and qualifications
• Facilitating safe recruitment, as part of our safeguarding obligations towards pupils
• Enabling equalities monitoring
• Ensuring that appropriate access arrangements can be provided for candidates that require them

Our lawful basis for using this data

Our lawful basis for processing your personal data for the purposes listed in section 3 are as follows:

• Comply with a legal obligation
• Carry out a task in the public interest

Less commonly, we may also use personal information about you where:

• You have given us consent to use it in a certain way
• We need to protect your vital interests (or someone else’s interests)

Where you have provided us with consent to use your data, you may withdraw this consent at any time. We will make this clear when requesting your consent, and explain how you go about withdrawing consent if you wish to do so.

Some of the reasons listed above for collecting and using personal information about you overlap, and there may be several grounds which justify the school’s use of your data.

Our basis for using special category data

For ‘special category’ data, we only collect and use it when we have both a lawful basis, as set out above, and one of the following conditions for processing as set out in data protection law:

• We have obtained your explicit consent to use your personal data in a certain way
• We need to perform or exercise an obligation or right in relation to employment, social security or social protection law
• We need to protect an individual’s vital interest (i.e. protect your life of someone else’s life), in situations where you’re physically or legally incapable of giving consent
• The data concerned has already been made manifestly public by you
• We need to process it for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims
• We need to process it for reasons of substantial public interest as defined in legislation
• We need to process it for health or social work professional or by other person obliged to confidentiality under law
• We need to process it for health reasons, and the processing is done by, or under the direction of, a health professional or by any other person obliged to confidentiality under law
• We need to process it for archiving purposes, scientific or historical research purposes, or for statistical purposes, and the processing is in the public interest.

For criminal offence data, we will only collect and use it when we have both a lawful basis, as set out above, and a condition for processing as set out in data protection law.  Conditions include:

• We need to perform or exercise an obligation or right in relation to employment, social security or social protection law
• We have obtained your consent to use it in a specific way
• We need to protect an individual’s vital interests (i.e. protect your life or someone else’s life), in situations where you’re physically or legally incapable of giving consent
• The data concerned has already been made manifestly public by you
• We need to process it for, or in connection with, legal proceedings, to obtain legal advice, or for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal rights
• We need to process it for reasons of substantial public interest as defined in legislatio

​​​​​​​Collecting this information

While the majority of the information we collect from you is mandatory, there is some information that you can choose whether or not to provide to us.

Whenever we seek to collect information from you, we make it clear whether you must provide this information (and if so, what the possible consequences are of not complying), or whether you have a choice.​​​​​​​

Most of the data we hold about you will come from you, but we may also hold data about you from:

• Local Authorities
• Government department or agencies
• Police forces, courts, tribunals

How we store this data

We keep personal information about you during the application process. We may also keep it beyond this if this is necessary. Our Data Protection Policy and our Record & Retention Policy sets out how long we keep information about applicants.

A copy of these policies can be requested via any of our school offices or found on the Trust website under Policies tab.

We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal information from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed.

We will dispose of your personal data securely when we no longer need it.

Who we share data with

We do not share information about you with any third party without your consent unless the law and our policies allow us to do so.

Where it is legally required, or necessary (and it complies with data protection law), we may share personal information about you with:

• Our local authority – to meet our legal obligations to share certain information with it, such as shortlists of candidates for a head of school position
• Suppliers and service providers – to enable them to provide the service we have contracted them for, such as HR and recruitment support
• Professional advisers and consultants
• Employment and recruitment agencies

Transferring data internationally
If we share personal information about you with international third parties outside of the of the UK or European Economic Area, where different data protection legislation applies:

• Where we transfer your personal data to a country or territory outside the European Economic Area, we will do so in accordance with data protection law.

In cases where we have to set up safeguarding arrangements to complete this transfer, you can get a copy of these arrangements by contacting us.

Your rights

How to access the personal information we hold about you

You have a right to make a ‘subject access request’ to gain access to personal information that we hold about you.

If you make a subject access request, and if we do hold information about you, we will:

• Give you a description of it
• Tell you why we are holding and processing it, and how long we will keep it for
• Explain where we got it from, if not from you
• Tell you who it has been, or will be, shared with
• Let you know whether any automated decision-making is being applied to the data, and any consequences of this
• Give you a copy of the information in an intelligible form

You may also have a right for your personal information to be transmitted electronically to another organisation in certain circumstances.

If you would like to make a request, please contact our data protection officer.

​​​​​​​Your other rights regarding your data

Under data protection law, individuals have certain rights regarding how their personal data is used and kept safe. You have the right to:

• Object to the use of your personal data if it would cause, or is causing, damage or distress
• Prevent your data being used to send direct marketing
• Object to and challenge the use of your personal data for decisions being taken by automated means (by a computer or machine, rather than a person)
• In certain circumstances, have inaccurate personal data corrected
• In certain circumstances, have the personal data we hold about you deleted or destroyed, or restrict processing
• In certain circumstances be notified of a data breach
• Make a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office
• Claim compensation for damages caused by a breach of the data protection regulations

To exercise any of these rights, please contact our data protection officer.

Complaints

We take any complaints about our collection and use of personal information very seriously.

If you think that our collection or use of personal information is unfair, misleading or inappropriate, or have any other concern about our data processing, please raise this with us in the first instance.

Alternatively, you can make a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office:

• Report a concern online at https://ico.org.uk/concerns/
• Call 0303 123 1113
• Or write to: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF​​​​​​​

Contact us

If you have any questions, concerns or would like more information about anything mentioned in this privacy notice, please contact our data protection officer:

• Nicki Legh-Smith – nls@avocetacademy.org or through your school office.