Privacy notice - Jobs
Mid Devon District Council is the data controller for the information you provide during the recruitment process unless otherwise stated. If you have any queries about the process or how we handle your information please contact us at opportunities@middevon.gov.uk
What will we do with the information you provide to us?
All of the information you provide during the recruitment process will only be used for the purpose of progressing your application, or to fulfil employment legislation if you are the successful candidate We will not share any of the information you provide during the recruitment process with any third parties for marketing purposes or store any of your information outside of the European Economic Area. The information you provide will be held securely by us and/or our data processors whether the information is in electronic or physical format.
We will use the contact details you provide to us to contact you regarding your application. We will use the other information you provide to assess your suitability for the role you have applied for.
Information and data, including personal information, obtained during the recruitment process and through an individual’s employment at the Council can be used by the Council when required. This can include, for example, contact details and anonymised equality data.
What information do we ask for, and why?
We do not collect more information than we need to fulfil our stated purposes and will not retain it for longer than is necessary.
The information we ask for is used to assess your suitability for employment. You don’t have to provide what we ask for but it might affect your application if you don’t.
Application stage
We ask you for your personal details including name, address and contact details, including email address and telephone number. We will also ask you about your previous experience, qualifications, skills and employment history, referees and for answers to questions relevant to the role you have applied for. We will ask you if you have a disability that we would consider making reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process as part of our obligations and exercise specific rights in relation to employment. Our Human Resources team will have access to all of this information.
You will also be asked to provide equal opportunities information, including your ethnic origin, sexual orientation and religion or belief. This is not mandatory information – if you don’t provide it, it will not affect your application. This information will not be made available to any staff outside of our Human Resources team, including recruiting managers, in a way which can identify you. Any information you do provide will be used only to produce and monitor equal opportunities statistics.
Shortlisting
Our recruiting managers shortlist applications for interview. They will not be provided with your name or contact details or with your equal opportunities information if you have provided it.
Assessments
We might ask you to participate in assessment days; complete tests or occupational personality profile questionnaires; and/or to attend an interview – or a combination of these. Information will be generated by you and by us. For example, you might complete a written test or we might take interview notes. This information is held by Mid Devon District Council.
Conditional offer
If we make a conditional offer of employment we will ask you for information so that we can carry out pre-employment checks. You must successfully complete pre-employment checks to progress to a final offer. We are required to confirm the identity of our staff, their right to work in the United Kingdom and seek assurance as to their trustworthiness, integrity and reliability.
You will therefore be required to provide:
- Proof of your identity – you will be asked to attend our office with original documents, we will take copies.
- Proof of your qualifications – you will be asked to attend our office with original documents, we will take copies.
- You will be asked to complete a disclosure and barring declaration to declare any unspent convictions.
- We will contact your referees, using the details you provide in your application, directly to obtain references
- We will also ask you to complete a pre-employment questionnaire about your health. This is to establish your fitness to work. This is done through a data processor (please see below).
If we make a final offer, we will also ask you for the following:
- Bank details – to process salary payments
- Emergency contact details – so we know who to contact in case you have an emergency at work
Post start date
Our Code of Conduct requires all staff to declare if they have any potential conflicts of interest, or if they are active within a political party. If you complete a declaration, the information will be held on your personnel record.
Use of data processors
Data processors who provide elements of our recruitment service for us. We have contracts in place with our data processors. This means that they cannot do anything with your personal information unless we have instructed them to do it. They will not share your personal information with any organisation apart from us. They will hold it securely and retain it for the period we instruct.
Resourcelink
If you accept a final offer from us, some of your personnel records will be held on Resourcelink which is an internally used HR records system.
Peninsular Pensions
Likewise, your details will be provided to Peninsular Pensions who are the administrators of the Local Government Pension Scheme, of which Mid Devon District Council is a member. You will be auto-enrolled into the pension scheme and the details provided to Peninsular Pensions will be your name, date of birth, National Insurance number and salary. Your bank details will not be passed to Peninsular Pensions at this time.
Split Dimension
Split Dimension provide our Occupational Health service. If we make you a conditional offer, we will ask that you complete a pre-employment questionnaire which will help to determine if you are fit to undertake the work that you have been offered, or advise us if any adjustments are needed to the work environment or systems so that you may work effectively.
The information you provide will be held by Split Dimension who will provide us with a fit to work report with recommendations. You are able to request to see the report before it is sent to us. If you decline for us to see it, then this could affect your job offer. If an occupational health assessment is required, this is likely to be carried out by Split Dimension.
ERAS Limited
Eras Limited provide online testing for us. If we ask you to complete one of these tests, we will send you a link to the test. Your answers will be provided to and held by Mid Devon District Council.
Comensura
For some vacancies, we recruit via Comensura’s Agency portal. Comensura will collect the application information and might ask you to complete a work preference questionnaire which is used to assess your suitability for the role you have applied for, the results of which are assessed by recruiters. Information collected by Comensura will be retained for 12 months following the end of our agreement.
How long is the information retained for?
If you are successful, the information you provide during the application process will be retained by us as part of your employee file for the duration of your employment plus 6 years following the end of your employment. This includes your fitness to work, and records of any security checks and references.
If you are unsuccessful at any stage of the process, the information you have provided until that point will be retained for 6 months from the closure of the vacancy at the end of that period your data is deleted or destroyed.
Information generated throughout the assessment process, for example interview notes, is retained by us for 6 months following the completion of the selection process.
Equal opportunities information is retained for 6 months following the completion of the selection process whether you are successful or not.
How we make decisions about recruitment
Final recruitment decisions are made by hiring managers and members of our HR team. All of the information gathered during the application process is taken into account.
ERAS online testing is marked and a result is generated automatically. However, if you wish to challenge the mark you have received, the result can be checked manually.
You are able to ask about decisions made about your application by speaking to your contact within our Human Resources team or by emailing opportunities@middevon.gov.uk
Secondments
We also offer opportunities for people to come and work with us on a secondment basis. We accept applications from individuals or from organisations who think they could benefit from their staff working with us.
Applications are sent directly to Mid Devon District Council. Once we have considered your application, if we are interested in speaking to you further, we’ll contact you using the details you provided.
We might ask you to provide more information about your skills and experience or invite you to an interview.
Your rights
Under the Data Protection Act 2018, you have rights as an individual which you can exercise in relation to the information we hold about you.
You can read more about these rights here – https://ico.org.uk/your-data-matters/
Complaints or queries
Mid Devon District Council tries to meet the highest standards when collecting and using personal information. For this reason, we take any complaints we receive about this very seriously. We encourage people to bring it to our attention if they think that our collection or use of information is unfair, misleading or inappropriate. We would also welcome any suggestions for improving our procedures.
This privacy notice was drafted with brevity and clarity in mind. It does not provide exhaustive detail of all aspects of Mid Devon District Council’s collection and use of personal information. However, we are happy to provide any additional information or explanation needed. Any requests for this should be sent to hr@middevon.gov.uk
Access to personal information
Mid Devon District Council will be as open as it can be in terms of giving people access to their personal information. Individuals can find out if we hold any personal information by making a subject access request under the Data Protection Act 2018. If we do hold information about you we will:
- give you a description of it;
- tell you why we are holding it;
- tell you who it could be disclosed to; and
- let you have a copy of the information in an intelligible form.
To make a request please complete the Exercising you Rights Form on our website here.
Disclosure of personal information
In many circumstances we will not disclose personal data without consent. However when we investigate a plaint, for example, we will need to share personal information with the manager conducting the investigation. You can also get further information on:
- agreements we have with other organisations for sharing information;
- circumstances where we can pass on personal data without consent for example, to prevent and detect crime and to produce anonymised statistics;
- our instructions to staff on how to collect, use and delete personal data; and
- how we check that the information we hold is accurate and up to date.
Links to other websites
This privacy notice does not cover the links within this site linking to other websites. We encourage you to read the privacy statements on the other websites you visit.
Changes to this privacy notice
We keep our privacy notice under regular review. This privacy notice was last updated on 8 May 2018.