Introduction
All organisations that process personal data are required to comply with data protection legislation. This includes in particular the Data Protection Act 1998 (or its successor) and the EU General Data Protection Regulation (together the ‘Data Protection Laws’). The Data Protection Laws give individuals (known as ‘data subjects’) certain rights over their personal data whilst imposing certain obligations on the organisations that process their data.

As a recruitment business the Company collects and processes both personal data and sensitive personal data. It is required to do so to comply with other legislation. It is also required to keep this data for different periods depending on the nature of the data.

This policy sets out how the Company implements the Data Protection Laws. It should be read in conjunction with the Data Protection Procedure.

Content
• Definitions
• Data processing under the Data Protection Laws
1. The data protection principles
2. Legal bases for processing
3. Privacy by design and by default

• Rights of the Individual
1. Privacy notices
2. Subject access requests
3. Rectification
4. Erasure
5. Restriction of processing
6. Data portability
7. Object to processing
8. Enforcement of rights
9. Automated decision making

• Personal data breaches
1. Personal data breaches where the Company is the data controller
2. Personal data breaches where the Company is the data processor
3. Communicating personal data breaches to individuals

• The Human Rights Act 1998
• Complaints
Appendix
Annex – legal bases for processing personal data

Definitions

In this policy the following terms have the following meanings:

‘consent’ means any freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous indication of an individual’s wishes by which he or she, by a statement or by a clear affirmative action, signifies agreement to the processing of persona data relating to him or her;

‘data controller’ means an individual or organisation which, alone or jointly with others, determines the purposes and means of the processing of personal data;

‘data processor’ means an individual or organisation which processes personal data on behalf of the data controller;

‘personal data’* means any information relating to an individual who can be identified, such as by a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier or to one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person.

‘personal data breach’ means a breach of security leading to the accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorised disclosure of, or access to, personal data;

‘processing’ means any operation or set of operations performed on personal data, such as collection, recording, organisation, structuring, storage (including archiving), adaptation or alteration, retrieval, consultation, use, disclosure by transmission, dissemination or otherwise making available, alignment or combination, restriction, erasure or destruction.

‘profiling’ means any form of automated processing of personal data consisting of the use of personal data to evaluate certain personal aspects relating to an individual, in particular to analyse or predict aspects concerning that natural person’s performance at work, economic situation, health, personal preferences, interests, reliability, behaviour, location or movements;

‘pseudonymisation’ means the processing of personal data in such a manner that the personal data can no longer be attributed to an individual without the use of additional information, provided that such additional information is kept separately and is subject to technical and organisational measures to ensure that the personal data are not attributed to an identified or identifiable individual;

‘sensitive personal data’* means personal data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, or trade union membership, and the processing of genetic data, biometric data, data concerning health, an individual’s sex life or sexual orientation and an individual’s criminal convictions. [Note 1]

* For the purposes of this policy we use the term ‘personal data’ to include ‘sensitive personal data’ except where we specifically need to refer to sensitive personal data.

‘Supervisory authority’ means an independent public authority which is responsible for monitoring the application of data protection. In the UK the supervisory authority is the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

All of these definitions are italicised throughout this policy to remind the reader that they are defined terms.

Data processing under the Data Protection Laws
The Company processes personal data in relation to its own staff, work-seekers and individual client contacts and is a data controller for the purposes of the Data Protection Laws. The Company has registered with the ICO and its registration number is Z1568848.

The Company may hold personal data on individuals for the following purposes:

• Staff administration;
• Advertising, marketing and public relations please refer to the company’s Marketing Policy; Accounts and records;
• Administration and processing of work-seekers’ personal data and sensitive data for the purposes of providing work-finding services, including processing using software solution providers and back office support, and other third-party suppliers which may indirectly provide services to the employees in connection with their employment.
• Administration and processing of clients’ personal data for the purposes of supplying/introducing work-seekers;
• Administration and processing of employees’ personal data and sensitive data for the purposes of their employment, including processing using software solutions providers and back office support, and other third-party suppliers which may indirectly provide services to the employees in connection with their employment.
• Administration and processing of clients’ personal data for the purposes of sourcing, supplying/introducing workers;
• Administration and processing of suppliers’ personal data for the purposes of supplying services and goods to the company.

1. The data protection principles
The Data Protection Laws require the Company acting as either data controller or data processor to process data in accordance with the principles of data protection. These require that personal data is:

1. Processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner;
2. Collected for specified and legitimate purposes and not further processed in a manner that is incompatible with those purposes;
3. Adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary in relation to the purposes for which they are processed;
4. Accurate and kept up to date; every reasonable step must be taken to ensure that personal data that are inaccurate, having regard to the purposes for which they are processed, are erased or rectified without delay;
5. Kept for no longer than is necessary for the purposes for which the personal data are processed;
6. Processed in a manner that ensures appropriate security of the personal data, including protection against unauthorised or unlawful processing and against accidental loss, destruction or damage, using appropriate technical or organisational measures; and that
7. The data controller shall be responsible for, and be able to demonstrate, compliance with the principles.

2. Legal bases for processing
The Company will only process personal data where it has a legal basis for doing so (see Annex A). Where the Company does not have a legal reason for processing personal data any processing will be a breach of the Data Protection Laws.

The Company will review the personal data it holds on a regular basis to ensure it is being lawfully processed and it is accurate, relevant and up to date and those people listed in the Appendix shall be responsible for doing this.

Before transferring personal data to any third party (such as past, current or prospective employers, suppliers, customers and clients, intermediaries such as umbrella companies, persons making an enquiry or complaint and any other third party (such as software solutions providers and back office support)), the Company will establish that it has a legal reason for making the transfer.

3. Privacy by design and by default

The Company has implemented measures and procedures that adequately protect the privacy of individuals and ensures that data protection is integral to all processing activities. This includes implementing measures such as:

• data minimisation (i.e. not keeping data for longer than is necessary);
• pseudonymisation;.
• anonymization;
• cyber security.

For further information please refer to the Company’s Information Security Policy.

You can download a full copy of our data protection policy here