Privacy notices

Recruitment Privacy Notice

Who we are

South Derbyshire District Council is registered as a data controller with the Information Commissioner's Office.

Our address is Civic Offices, Civic Way, Swadlincote, Derbyshire, DE11 0AH.

The Council is committed to protecting your privacy when you use our services. This privacy notice tells you what to expect when our Recruitment team collects personal information. It also explains when and why we collect this information, how we use it, the conditions under which we may disclose it to others, how we keep it secure and what rights you have in relation to the data we hold about you.

How do we collect information from you?

We collect information from you when you fill in any forms on our website Home | South Derbyshire District Council or associated customer portals, when you contact us in writing, speak to us on the phone or face to face or communicate with us by email or any other type of electronic communication. 

What types of information do we collect from you?

The Council collects a range of information about you. This includes:

  • your name, address and contact details, including email address and telephone number(s)
  • details of your qualifications, skills and competencies, experience, training and employment history, including referee details
  • information about your current level of remuneration, including benefit entitlements and other contractual allowances
  • whether or not you have a disability for which the Council needs to make reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process
  • information about your criminal record – this is only applicable for designated posts and will be clearly stated on the recruitment material for the post
  • information about your entitlement to live and work in the UK
  • equal opportunities monitoring information, including information about your age, gender, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, health, gender reassignment and religion or belief.

The Council may collect this information in a variety of ways. For example, data might be contained in application forms, obtained from your passport or other identity documents or collected through interviews or other forms of assessment, including online tests, scenarios and presentations where applicable.

The Council may also collect personal data about you from third parties, such as references supplied by former employers and, where necessary, information from criminal record checks and historical medical information from occupational health. The Council will only seek information from third parties once a conditional job offer to you has been made and will inform you that it is doing so. 

It is your responsibility to inform third parties that you are sharing their personal details with the Council, for example, job referees.

Data will be stored in a range of different places, including on your electronic application record, in the Council’s HR and payroll systems and on other IT systems (including email).

How is your information used?

The Council needs to process data to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract of employment with you.

The Council needs to process data to ensure that it is complying with its legal obligations. For example, it is required to check a successful applicant's eligibility to live and work in the UK before employment starts.

The Council has a legitimate interest in processing personal data during the recruitment and selection process and for keeping records of the process. Processing data from job applicants allows the Council to manage and develop the recruitment process, assess and confirm a candidate's suitability for employment and decide to whom to offer a job. The Council may also need to process data from job applicants to respond to and defend against legal claims.

Where the Council relies on legitimate interests as a reason for processing data, it has considered whether or not those interests are overridden by the rights and freedoms of employees or workers and has concluded they are not.

The Council processes health information if it needs to make reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process for candidates who have a disability. This is to carry out its obligations and exercise specific rights in relation to employment.

Where the Council processes special categories of data, such as information about ethnic origin, sexual orientation, health, religion or belief, age, gender or gender reassignment, this is done for the purposes of equal opportunities monitoring with the explicit consent of job applicants, which can be withdrawn at any time.  

For some roles, the Council is obliged to seek information about criminal convictions and offences. Where the Council seeks this information, it does so because it is necessary for it to carry out its obligations and exercise specific rights in relation to employment.

The Council will not use your data for any purpose other than the recruitment exercise for which you have applied.

We will not sell or rent your information to third parties. We will not share your information with third parties for marketing purposes

Who has access to your information?

Your information will be shared internally for the purposes of the recruitment exercise. This includes members of the Human Resources team and interviewers involved in the recruitment process, managers in the service area with the vacancy and IT staff if access to the data is necessary for the performance of their roles.

If external parties to the Council are used to support the recruitment and selection process, this will be clearly stated on recruitment correspondence. Where the Council provides any personal data in this situation, they do so on the basis of written instructions, are under a duty of confidentiality and are obliged to implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure the security of data.

The Council will not share your data with third parties, unless your application for employment is successful and it makes you an offer of employment. The Council will then share your data with former employers to obtain references for you, employment background check providers to obtain necessary background checks and the Disclosure and Barring Service to obtain necessary criminal records checks where applicable.

Research and Statistics

Anonymised and pseudonymised data may be used for research and statistical purposes. Any data collected may be used for research and statistical purposes relevant and compatible with the purpose that the data was collected for.

What are your rights in relation to personal data we process?

Access: You can request copies of any of your personal information held by the Council.  

Rectification: You can ask us to correct any incorrect information.

Deletion: You can ask us to delete your personal information. The Council can refuse to delete information if we have a lawful reason to keep this.

Portability: You can ask us to transfer your personal data to different services or to you.

Right to object or restrict processing: You have the right to object to how your data is being used and how it is going to be used in the future. 

For further information, please visit the Data Protection Act 2018 section of our website.

How long will we keep your information for?

We keep and dispose of all records in line with our record retention schedule. Information about this can be found at https://www.southderbyshire.gov.uk/assets/attach/4952/Document%20Retention%20Schedule.pdf and will comply with the Data Protection 2018.

What precautions are in place to protect the loss, misuse or alteration of your information?

Your personal data will be stored electronically or in hard copy files as appropriate. The Council uses a variety of different systems to process and store personal data. We are strongly committed to data security and will take reasonable and appropriate steps to protect your personal information from unauthorised access, loss, misuse, alteration or corruption. We have put in place physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to safeguard the information you provide to us. However, we cannot guarantee the security of any information you transmit to us. We recommend that you take every precaution to protect your personal information.

Keeping your data up to date

We want to ensure any information we hold is accurate. You can help us by promptly informing us of any changes to the information we hold about you.

Where can I get advice or more information?

We want to ensure any information we hold is accurate. You can help us by promptly informing us of any changes to information we hold about you. If you have any worries or questions about how your personal information is handled, please contact our Data Protection Officer by emailing dataprotection@southderbyshire.gov.uk or by telephoning 01283 595795.

For independent advice about data protection, privacy and data sharing issues, you can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at:

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Telephone: 0303 123 1113 (local rate) or 01625 545 745 (national rate number).

Email: casework@ico.org.uk.

Further guidance on the use of personal information can be found at www.ico.org.uk.

More information on how long we retain your information can be found in our Record Retention Schedule. (pdf, 68kb)

The Council has a responsibility to protect its staff from incidents of violence, threatening behaviour and verbal abuse. Our staff can use devices to monitor and record incidents where they feel their safety is threatened. Evidence, including video and/or audio recordings, obtained through these devices may be used in criminal and civil proceedings and/or to take local sanctions against alleged offenders. The Council is responsible for the use of the devices and any recordings. Data will be kept for 12 months after an incident and will only be shared with parties concerned in criminal and civil proceedings. For more information call the Councils Organisational Development Health & Safety Officer on 01283 595872. The Council will continue to take any necessary steps to safeguard client confidentiality.

We use Google Analytics to collect standard website log information and details of visitor behaviour patterns. This process does not identify individuals. If we do collect information about you on our website, such as through online forms, we will explain what we intend to do with the data. Visit our Cookies page for further information on website privacy.

You can also find more information on your rights in relation to personal data we process by visiting our Data Protection Act 2018 page.