Privacy Notice for Applicants

• receive, administer and access your application,

• communicate with you about your application,

• arrange and conduct interviews and assessments,

• assess your suitability, qualification, skills and experience for the role

• verify information provided as part of your application

• obtain references and where appropriate conduct background checks and pre-employment checks

• comply with our legal and regulatory obligations

• make decisions about recruitment and employment,

• maintain appropriate recruitment records

• where you are successful, take steps necessary to enter into and administer your employment with us.

What is our lawful basis for processing your personal information?

Our lawful basis for processing your personal data is that it is necessary to take these steps at your request before entering into a contract of employment. Further, it is in our legitimate interests to run an effective recruitment process, thus collecting, processing and storing your personal information is necessary.

If you have provided your consent to the collection, processing or transfer of your personal data for a specific purpose, such as for future employment opportunities, then the use will be restricted to that purpose and the purposes referred to above.

What personal information do we collect?

Much of the information we collect will be provided directly by you, through your application and your communications with us.

The personal data we collect and process may include;

• your name and contact details,

• your CV, employment history, education, qualifications and professional memberships,

• information provided in your application and answers to application questions,

• correspondence and communications relating to your application,

• interview notes and assessment outcomes

• information about your right to work

• references and information provided by referees

• information obtained through appropriate background and pre-employment checks

• information obtained from publicly available sources

Where do we obtain your personal data from?

We obtain most of the personal data we process directly from you. We may also obtain personal data about you from other sources where appropriate including;

• recruitment agencies

• referees and previous employers

• professional and regulatory bodies

• providers of background and pre-employment screening services

• publicly available professional sources

• other third parties where necessary and lawful

Special category personal data

During the recruitment process, we may process certain types of particularly sensitive personal data, known as special category data. This may include information about your health or disability where necessary to consider and provide reasonable adjustments, assess your ability to perform the role or obtain appropriate occupational health advice.

We may also process equality, diversity and inclusion monitoring information, including information about racial or ethnic origin, religious or philosophical beliefs, health, disability or sexual orientation.

Providing equality, diversity and inclusion monitoring information is voluntary. Where collected, this information will be used for monitoring and statistical purposes and will be handled appropriately and, where possible, separately from the recruitment decision-making process.

Criminal offence data and background checks

For certain roles we may process information relating to criminal convictions and offences or carry out appropriate background checks. We will only process criminal offence data where it is necessary and lawful to do so and where the requirements of the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018 are satisfied.

The nature and extent of any checks will depend upon the role for which you are applying, and applicable legal, regulatory and professional requirements.

Automated Decision Making

As part of our recruitment process, we may use automated tools to assist with the administration and screening of applications. However, recruitment decisions are not made solely by automated means. All recruitment decisions are reviewed by the recruitment team before any final decision is made.

What happens if you do not provide information we request?

You are not required to provide personal data to us simply because we request it. However, certain information is necessary for us to assess and progress your application or comply with our legal and regulatory obligations.

If you do not provide the information that is necessary for these purposes including information needed to verify your identity, qualifications, professional standing and right to work, we may be unable to progress or complete our assessment of your application.

How is your data shared?

We may share your personal data internally with those who require access to it for legitimate recruitment, HR, management, legal, compliance or administrative purposes.

We may also share your personal data with third parties where it is necessary and lawful to do so.

Depending on your role these may include:

• Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA)

• Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEX)

• Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)

• recruitment agencies

• background screening providers, including First Advantage

• occupational health providers

Other professional bodies or regulatory bodies applicable to the role

Legal, regulatory or public bodies where disclosure is required or permitted by law.

How long do we keep your data?

We will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, including satisfying any legal, regulatory, accounting or reporting requirements.

If your application is unsuccessful, we will retain your applicant data for six months after the end of the recruitment process.

With your consent, we may retain certain personal data for longer where you choose to join our Talent Pool, so that we may contact you about future employment opportunities. You may withdraw your consent at any time.

If you are successful in your application, relevant personal data collected during your recruitment process will become part of your employee record and will be retained in accordance with our colleague data retention requirements.

Visitors

We keep your personal data for one (1) year for security purposes. The retention periods for cookies are set out in our Cookie Policy. We keep your personal data to analyse the performance of the Career Site for as long as we keep personal data about you for other purposes.

Your rights

Under data protection legislation you may have a number of rights with regard to your personal data. You have the right to;

• request access to your personal data,

• request rectification of inaccurate or incomplete personal data,

• request erasure of your personal data in certain circumstances,

• request restriction of processing in certain circumstances,

• object to processing, and

• withdraw your consent where we rely on consent to process your personal data.

These rights are subject to certain legal conditions, limitations and exemptions and may not apply in all circumstances.

If you wish to exercise any of your rights or have concerns about a how we have processed your personal data, please contact our Data Protection Officer using the contact details provided above.

You can also review our Data Protection Complaints Handling Procedure.

You have the right to lodge a complaint to the Information Commissioner if you are concerned about how we have processed your personal data.