Privacy notice - For job applicants
Overview
In order to process your job application East Sussex County Council collects, stores and processes your personal information.
This privacy notice explains what information we collect from you, and what we do with it.
This privacy notice does not apply to partnership vacancies (those with references beginning PNR), where the employer is someone other than East Sussex County Council. That recruiting organisation will be able to let you know what privacy arrangements they have in place.
East Sussex County Council takes data protection seriously. Please be assured that your information will be used appropriately in line with data protection legislation, will be stored securely and will not be processed unless the requirements for fair and lawful processing can be met.
What information is being used?
East Sussex County Council collects the following information as part of the recruitment process. This information is held on the recruitment system from the point you provide it, even if you do not go on to submit a completed job application. If you go on to work with the Council, this information will also be added to your personnel file (see Privacy Notice – Employment Records):
- contact details including email address, phone number, and home address
- details of your employment and training history
- education history and qualifications
- any information you supply about how you meet the essential and desirable criteria for a role
- declarations about any disciplinary action, resignation in the face of dismissal, disqualifications or unspent convictions
- equal opportunities monitoring data
- details of your referees
- information provided as part of your employment references, if you are offered a job. This will normally include information about absence from work
How will your information be used?
- To allow recruiting managers to decide who to short list for a given vacancy, and to provide evidence of how recruitment decisions are made in the event of a challenge.
- To allow us to carry out pre-employment checks if you are offered a job. If additional checks (such as a criminal records check or an occupational health assessment) are needed, we will seek consent for these separately.
- To allow the Council to administer your contract of employment if you go on to work for us.
- To generate statistical equal opportunities information about our workforce. The County Council has a statutory duty to collect this information and it will assist us in ensuring fairness of treatment in appointment decisions, as statistical monitoring will show whether minority groups are being treated equitably. However, you are not obliged to provide equal opportunities information, and can withdraw it at any time.
- To generate statistical information about our workforce for workforce planning purposes, and in order to respond to Freedom of Information requests from the public. All information used in this way is anonymised, and does not identify specific individuals.
- To contact you if a current vacancy needs to be withdrawn for any reason.
- To contact you about other vacancies you may be interested in applying for, or to undertake research and seek your feedback on the recruitment process where you started but did not submit a completed application.
We may occasionally undertake online searches using information you have provided us but only where necessary and relevant to the performance of the job being applied for and in line with data protection legislation and the Council’s Recruitment Policy.
We aim to maintain high standards, adopt best practice for our record keeping and regularly check and report on how we are doing. Your information is never sold for direct marketing purposes.
Our staff are trained to handle your information correctly and protect your confidentiality and privacy.
Your information is processed in the UK or in a country with an adequacy agreement with the UK.
What is the legal basis for processing your information?
As your sole purpose for providing your data is to engage in the recruitment process, consent to process this information is deemed to have automatically been given.
How long will your information be kept for?
For unsuccessful applications, information provided as part of the recruitment process will be retained for 6 months or as long as your account remains active, whichever is the longer. We automatically close accounts (and delete content) after 12 months of inactivity.
In the event that you go on to work for us, recruitment information will be transferred to your personnel file.
Sharing your information
Information will routinely only be shared with those involved in the recruitment process.
Any sharing of personal data is always done:
- on case-by-case basis
- using the minimum personal data necessary
- with the appropriate security controls in place
- in line with legislation.
Information is only shared with those agencies and bodies who have a "need to know" or where you have consented to the sharing of your personal data to such persons.
We may use the information we hold about you to assist in the detection and prevention of crime or fraud. We may also share this information with other bodies that inspect and manage public funds.
Use of third party organisations
East Sussex County Council may share your information with trusted external organisations to process your data on our behalf.
The Council operates a shared HR Service with Surrey County Council and Brighton & Hove City Council and therefore from April 2019 your data may be shared with relevant HR staff from these partners only to fulfil the actions required to successfully administrate the recruitment exercise for which you have applied.
Any organisation commissioned by the Council will be under contractual obligation to comply with data protection legislation.
Your rights
Under data protection legislation, you have the right:
- to be informed why, where and how we use your information
- to ask for access to your information
- to ask for your information to be corrected if it is inaccurate or incomplete
- to ask for your information to be deleted or removed where there is no need for us to continue processing it
- to ask us to restrict the use of your information
- to ask us to copy or transfer your information from one IT system to another in a safe and secure way, without impacting the quality of the information
- to object to how your information is used
- to challenge any decisions made without human intervention (automated decision making)
Please visit data subject rights for further details.
How to find out more or complain
Should you have any further queries on the uses of your information, please speak directly to our service:
Recruitment Support team
Phone: 01273 335733
Email: Recruitment Support
To complain about the use of your information, please contact our Customer Services Team or our Data Protection Officer.
Further information on making a complaint.
You can also contact the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) for further information or to make a complaint:
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire SK9 5AF
Phone: 0303 123 1113 (local rate)