Human Resources privacy statements
Job applicants
As part of the recruitment process, Guildford Borough Council collects and processes personal data relating to job applicants.
When you apply to work at the Council, we will only use the information you supply to us to process your application and to monitor recruitment statistics.
Guildford Borough Council collects a range of information about you. This includes:
- your name, address and contact details
- details of your qualifications, skills, experience and employment history
- information about your entitlement to work in the UK
- whether or not you have a disability for which the Council needs to make reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process
- equal opportunities monitoring information, including information about your ethnic origin, religion or belief, sexual orientation and whether or not you have a disability
The Council collects this information in a variety of ways. For example, data is collected from your application form, CVs or from your passport or other identity documents.
If an offer of employment is made to you, the Council will collect personal data about you from third parties and we will inform you that we are doing so. This includes:
- references supplied by former employers or educational referees
- for some roles, we are obliged to obtain a 'disclosure' from the Disclosure and Barring Service
Should the Council need to disclose personal data about you to third parties, we will not do so without informing you beforehand, unless a disclosure is required by law.
The Council also needs to process data to ensure it is complying with its legal obligations. For example, we are required to check a successful applicant's eligibility to work in the UK before employment starts. The Council may also need to process data from job applicants to respond to and defend against legal claims.
If your application for employment is unsuccessful, Guildford Borough Council will retain your data for 12 months after the recruitment process has been completed, it will then be securely deleted or destroyed. We retain de-personalised statistical information about applicants to help inform our recruitment activities, but no individuals are identifiable from that data.
You are under no obligation to provide data to the organisation during the recruitment process. However, if you do not provide the information, we may not be able to process your application properly or at all. You are under no obligation to provide information for equal opportunities monitoring purposes and there are no consequences for your application should you choose not to do so.
Current and former Guildford Borough Council employees
If your application is successful and you take up employment with Guildford Borough Council, we will compile a file relating to your employment. This HR file will include the personal data collected during the recruitment process. Other information held in your HR file includes:
- the terms and conditions of your employment
- remuneration information and bank account details
- emergency contacts
- attendance information, including periods of leave or sickness absence
- details of any disciplinary or grievance procedures
- assessments of your performance
- medical or health information
The Council collects this information in a variety of ways. For example, data is collected from the recruitment process, forms completed by you at the start of or during employment, from correspondence with you or through interviews or meetings with you.
Data is stored in a range of different places, including in your HR file, in the HR management system and in other IT systems, such as email.
The information will be kept secure and will only be used for purposes directly relevant to your employment or in order for the Council to meet a legal obligation.
The Council also shares your data with third parties that process data on its behalf for example, in connection with the provision of occupational health services or the provision of benefits, such as childcare vouchers.
Should the Council need to disclose personal data about you to third parties, we will not do so without informing you beforehand, unless a disclosure is required by law for example reporting to the Department for Work and Pensions and HMRC.
The information contained in your employment file will be retained during your employment.
Once employment with the Council has ended, we will retain/delete your data in accordance with our record retention and disposal schedule. Employees can view the schedule on the staff intranet or request a copy prior to from Human Resources.
Further Information
If you have any questions about your data, privacy or the way the Council uses personal information, contact our data protection team.
If you believe we are not processing your data lawfully you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office.