Data Protection Policy

7.1 The Company have to process your personal data in various situations during recruitment, employment and even following termination of your employment.

7.2 For example:

• to decide whether to employ you;
• to decide how much to pay you, and the other terms of your contract with the Company;
• to check you have the legal right to work for the Company;
• to carry out the contract between the Company including where relevant, its termination;
• training you and reviewing your performance;
• to decide whether to promote you;
• to decide whether and how to manage your performance, absence or conduct;
• to carry out a disciplinary or grievance investigation or procedure in relation
• to you or someone else;
• to determine whether the Company need to make reasonable adjustments to your workplace or role because of your disability;
• to monitor diversity and equal opportunities;
• to monitor and protect the security (including network security) of the Company, of you, our other staff, customers and others;
• to monitor and protect the health and safety of you, our other staff, customers and third parties;
• to pay you and provide pension and other benefits in accordance with the contract between the Company;
• paying tax and national insurance;
• to provide a reference upon request from another employer;
• to pay trade union subscriptions;
• to pay professional bodies;
• monitoring compliance by you, the Company and others with our policies and our contractual obligations;
• to comply with employment law, immigration law, health and safety law, tax law and other laws which affect the Company;
• to answer questions from insurers in respect of any insurance policies which relate to you;
• running our business and planning for the future;
• the prevention and detection of fraud or other criminal offences;
• to defend the Company in respect of any investigation or litigation and to comply with any court or tribunal orders for disclosure;
• any other reason which the Company may notify you of from time to time.

The Company will only process special categories of your personal data in certain situations in accordance with the law. For example, the Company can do so if the Company have your explicit consent. If the Company asked for your consent to process a special category of personal data then the Company would explain the reasons for their request. You do not need to consent and can withdraw consent later if you choose by contacting the Data Officer.

7.3 The Company does not need your consent to process special categories of your personal data when the Company are processing it for the following purposes, which the Company may do:

• where it is necessary for carrying out rights and obligations under employment law;
• where it is necessary to protect your vital interests or those of another person;
• where you/they are physically or legally incapable of giving consent;
• where you have made the data public;
• where processing is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims; and
• where processing is necessary for the purposes of occupational medicine or for the assessment of your working capacity.

7.4 The company may process information in relation to criminal records only to comply with a legal or contractual obligation.

8.1 Sometimes the Company might share your personal data with group companies or our contractors and clients/agents/customers to carry out our obligations under our contract with you or for our legitimate interests.

8.2 The Company will require those companies to keep your personal data confidential and secure and to protect it in accordance with the law and the Company’s policies. They are only permitted to process your data for the lawful purpose for which it has been shared and in accordance with our instructions.

8.3 The Company also shares your data with third parties that process data on its behalf in connection with payroll, the provision of benefits and the provision of occupational health services. Furthermore, personal data is shared with the third parties for the following reasons:

• Education and Training – third parties include training providers, educational bodies (e.g. colleges and universities) for the purpose of up-skilling and education.
• Advertising & public relations for the purpose of business development,
• Various clients to carry out contractual obligations.
• Government and local authorities for contractual and legal compliance,
• Employee Management (Human resources) – third parties include health surveillance companies and holiday and sickness monitoring.

8.4 The Company do not send your personal data outside the European Economic Area. If this changes you will be notified of this and the protections which are in place to protect the security of your data will be explained.

9.1 Everyone who works for, or on behalf of, the Company is responsible for ensuring data is collected, stored and handled appropriately, in line with this policy and the Company’s Data Security and Data Retention policies.

9.2 The Company’s Data Officer is responsible for reviewing this policy and referring any changes for approval to the Board of Directors on the Company’s data protection responsibilities and any risks in relation to the processing of data. You should direct any questions in relation to this policy or data protection to the Data Officer.

9.3 You should only access personal data covered by this policy if you need it for the work you do for, or on behalf of the Company and only if you are authorised to do so. You should only use the data for the specified lawful purpose for which it was obtained.

9.4 You should not share personal data informally.

9.5 You should keep personal data secure and not share it with unauthorised people.

9.6 You should regularly review and update any employee/staff personal data that is processed for legitimate purposes.

9.7 You should not make unnecessary copies of personal data. You should keep or dispose of any copies securely.

9.8 You should use strong passwords to secure any data used. Any documents that are sent via email should be password protected and the password sent via text message or verbally given to the recipient.

9.9 You should lock your computer screens and any other devices when not at your desk. In order to secure all data, a clear desk policy should be implemented at the end of each day. Consideration should be given when leaving your desk for meetings and breaks.

9.10 Personal data should be encrypted before being transferred electronically to authorise both internal and external contacts. Speak to IT for more information on how to do this.

9.11 Consider anonymising data or using separate keys/codes so that the data subject cannot be identified. It is a criminal offence to conceal or destroy personal data which is part of a subject access request (see below). This conduct may also amount to gross misconduct under our disciplinary procedure, which could result in your dismissal.

9.12 Do not save personal data to your own personal computers or other devices.

9.13 Personal data should never be transferred outside the European Economic Area except in compliance with the law and authorisation of the Data Officer.

9.14 You should lock drawers and filing cabinets. Do not leave paper with personal data lying about.

9.15 You should not take personal data away from the Company’s premises without authorisation from your line manager or Data Officer.

9.16 Personal data should be shredded and disposed of securely when you have finished with it. Do not save any data un-necessarily.

9.17 You should ask for help from our Data Officer if you are unsure about data protection or if you notice any areas of data protection or security the Company can improve upon.

9.18 Any deliberate or negligent breach of this policy by you may result in disciplinary action being taken against you in accordance with our disciplinary procedure.

10.1 Data subjects can make a ‘subject access request’ (‘SAR’) to find out the information the Company hold about them. Upon receipt of a request of a SAR you should forward it immediately to the Data Officer who will coordinate a response.

10.2 If you would like to make a SAR in relation to your own personal data the request should be submitted on the Subject Access Request form. The form should then be returned to Data Officer for the Company.

10.3 The Company will respond within 30 calendar days unless the request is complex or numerous in which case the period in which the Company must respond can be extended by a further 2 months.

10.4 There is no fee for making a SAR. However, if your request is manifestly unfounded or excessive the Company may charge a reasonable administrative fee or refuse to respond to your request.

11.1 The Company has a process in place to minimise and prevent data breaches from taking place. Should a breach of personal data occur (whether in respect of you or someone else) then the Company will document and keep evidence of that breach. If the breach is likely to result in a risk to the rights and freedoms of individuals then the Company must also notify the Information Commissioner’s Office within 72 hours.

11.2 If you are aware of a data breach you must contact Data Officer immediately and keep any evidence you have in relation to the breach.

11.3 In the event of a data breach against an employee, the employee must be informed and notified.

12.1 You have the right to information about what personal data the Company process, how and on what basis as set out in this policy.

12.2 You have the right to access your own personal data by way of a subject access request form (see above).

12.3 You can correct any inaccuracies in your personal data. To do so you should contact Data Officer.

You have the right to request that the Company erase your personal data where the Company are not entitled under the law to process it or it is no longer necessary to process it for the purpose it was collected. To do so you should contact Data Officer.

While you are requesting that your personal data is corrected or erased or are contesting the lawfulness of our processing, you can apply for its use to be restricted while the application is made. To do so you should contact Data Officer.

12.4 You have the right to object to data processing where the Company are relying on a legitimate interest to do so and you think that your rights and interests outweigh our own and you wish us to stop.

12.5 You have the right to object if the Company process your personal data for the purposes of direct marketing.

12.6 You have the right to receive a copy of your personal data and to transfer or request the Company to transfer your personal data to another data controller. The Company will not charge for this and will in most cases aim to do this within one month.

12.7 With some exceptions, you have the right not to be subjected to automated decision-making.

12.8 You have the right to be notified of a data security breach concerning your personal data.

In most situations the Company will not rely on your consent as a lawful ground to process your data. If The Company do however request your consent to the processing of your personal data for a specific purpose, you have the right not to consent or to withdraw your consent later. To withdraw your consent, you should contact Data Officer.

12.9 You have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner. You can do this by contacting the Information Commissioner’s Office directly. Full contact details including a helpline number can be found on the Information Commissioner’s Office website (www.ico.org.uk). This website has further information on your rights and our obligations.