Introduction

Birkett Long is committed to protecting the privacy and security of your personal information (Personal information means any information about an individual from which that individual can be identified.  It does not include information where the identity has been removed (anonymous data). And this notice will describe how we collect and use your personal information in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

What is the purpose of this document?

Birkett Long LLP is a “data controller”. This means we are responsible for deciding how we hold and use personal information about you.  You are being sent a copy of this privacy notice because you are applying for work with us (whether as an employee, worker, or contractor) it makes you aware of how and why your personal data will be used, namely for the purpose of the recruitment exercise, and how long it will usually be retained for.  It provides you with certain information that must be provided under the General Data Protection Regulation ((EU) 2016/679) (GDPR).

Data protection principles

Birkett Long will comply with data protection law and principles, which means that your data will be:

• Used lawfully, fairly and in a transparent way.
• Collected only for valid purposes which we have clearly explained to you and not used in any way that is incompatible with those purposes.
• Relevant to the purpose we have told you about and limited only to those purposes.
• Accurate and kept up to date.
• Kept for as long as necessary for the purpose we have told you about.
• Kept securely.

The kind of information we will hold about you

In connection with your application for work with us, we will collect, store, and use the following categories of personal information about you:

• The information you have provided within your curriculum vitae and covering letter.
• The information you have provided on our application form, including name, title, address(s), telephone numbers, personal email address(s), date of birth, gender, education details to include school/college/university attended, qualifications, employment history voluntary and paid
• Any other information you provide to us during interview
• Test results

We may also collect, store and use the following “special categories” of more sensitive personal information:

• Information about your race or ethnicity

How is your personal information collected?

We collect personal information about candidates from the following sources:

• You, the candidate
• Recruitment agency from which we collect the following categories of data:
  1. CV which may contain personal details such as name, title, address, telephone numbers, personal email addresses, current and previous employment details, education details and qualifications, hobbies and interests.
  2. Salary details
• Your named referees, from whom we collect the following data:
  1. Professional reference – Position held, length of service, reason for leaving, suitability and capability for position applied for, disciplinary and complaints records, criminal offences, honesty and trustworthiness, sickness absence, final salary.
  2. Personal reference - Capabilities, trustworthiness and any other information the referee believes to be relevant.
• Regulatory bodies where relevant.

How we will use information about you:

We will use the personal information we collected about you to:

• Assess your skills, qualifications and suitability for the role
• Carry out background and reference checks where applicable
• Communicate with you about the recruitment process
• Keep records related to our hiring process
• Comply with legal or regulatory requirements

It is in our legitimate interest to decide whether to appoint you to the role since it would be beneficial to our business to appoint someone to that role.

We also need to process your personal information to decide whether to enter into a contact of employment with you.

As a result of receiving your CV and covering letter or application form, we will then process that information to decide whether you meet the basic requirements to be shortlisted for the role. If you do, we will decide whether your application is strong enough to invite you to interview.  If we decide to invite you to interview we will use the information you provide at the interview together with any test which you may undertake on the day of the interview, to decide whether to offer you the role. If we offer you the role we will then take up references and carry out any other checks before confirming your appointment.

If you fail to provide personal information

If you fail to provide information when requested, which is necessary for us to consider your application (such as evidence of qualification or work history), we will not be able to process your application successfully.  For example, if we require a credit check or reference for this role and you fail to provide us with relevant details, we will not be able to take your application further.

How we use particularly sensitive information

We will use information about your disability status to consider whether we need to provide appropriate adjustments during the recruitment process, for example whether adjustments need to be made during a test or interview or other.

We will use information about your race or national or ethnic origin to ensure meaningful equal opportunity monitoring and reporting.

Information about criminal convictions

We do not envisage we will process information about criminal convictions.

Automated decision-making

You will not be subject to decisions that will have a significant impact on you based solely on automated decision-making.

Data sharing

We do not envisage we will share your personal information with any third party.

Data security

We have in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal information from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed.  In addition, we limit access to your information to those employees who have a business need to know. They will only process your information on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

We have in place procedures to deal with any suspected data security breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected breach where we are legally required to do so.

How long will we use your information for?

We will retain your personal information for a period of 6 months after we have communicated to you our decision about whether to appoint you to the role.  We retain your personal information for that period so that we can show, in the event of a legal claim, that we have not discriminated against candidates on prohibited grounds and that we have conducted the recruitment exercise in a fair and transparent way.  After this period, we will securely destroy your personal information in accordance with applicable laws and regulations.

If we wish to retain your personal information on file, on the basis that a further opportunity may arise in future and we may wish to consider you for that, we will write to you separately, seeking your explicit consent to retain your personal information for a fixed period on that basis.

Your rights in connection with personal information

By law, in certain circumstances, you have the right to:

• Request access to your personal information (commonly known as a “data subject access request”). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal information we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.
• Request correction of the personal information we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate information we hold about you corrected.
• Request erasure of your personal information.  This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal information where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it.  You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal information where you have exercised your right to object to processing (see below)
• Object to processing of your personal information where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular circumstances which makes you want to object to processing on this ground.  You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal information for direct marketing purposes.
• Request the restriction of processing of your personal information.  This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of personal information about you, for example if you want us to establish its accuracy or the reason for processing it.
• Request the transfer of your personal information to another party.

In the event you wish to review, verify, correct or request erasure of your personal information, object to the processing of your information or request we transfer a copy of your information to another party please contact the HR Department in writing.

Right to withdraw consent

When you applied for this role you provided consent to us processing your personal information for the purposes of the recruitment exercise.  You have the right to withdraw your consent for processing for that purpose at any time.  To withdraw your consent please contact the Head of HR.  Once we have received notification that you have withdrawn your consent, we will no longer process your application and, subject to our retention policy, we will dispose of your personal data securely.

Data Protection Officer

We have appointed Tracey Dickens Partner at Birkett Long as our data protection officer to oversee compliance with this privacy notice.  If you have any questions about it or how we handle your information please contact her.  You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues.