Human Resources Privacy Notice

This privacy notice tells you what to expect when the Council collects personal and sensitive information about you. It applies to all employees, ex-employees, contractors, secondees and agency workers. .

Under the General Data Protection Regulation 2016 (GDPR) and Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA) Bassetlaw District Council, Queen’s Building, Potter Street, Worksop, Notts, S80 2AH is a Data Controller for the information it holds about you.

How do we get your information

We get information about you from the following sources:

  • Directly from you.
  • From an employment agency.
  • From your employer if you are a secondee.
  • From referees, either external or internal.
  • From Occupational Health and other health providers.
  • From Pension administrators and other government departments, for example tax details from HMRC.
  • From your Trade Union.
  • From Criminal Records bureau.
  • From providers of staff benefits.

What personal data do we process?

The type of personal data we hold about you will include both personal data and sensitive data know as special category data obtained during the recruitment process, the interview, within various forms completed or information obtained during the course of your employment.

We use the following information to carry out the contract we have with you, provide you access to business services required for your role and manage our human resources processes.

Information relating to your employment

Examples of information and documents containing your personal data are:

  • Personal contact details such as your name, address, contact telephone number (landline and mobile) and personal email addresses.
  • Your date of birth, gender and NI number.
  • Marital status.
  • A copy of your passport or similar photographic identification and / or proof of address documents.
  • Next of kin, emergency contacts and their contact information.
  • Employment and education history including your qualifications, job application, employment references, right to work information and details of any criminal convictions that you declare.
  • Location of employment.
  • Details of any secondary employment, political declarations, conflict of interest declarations or gift declarations.
  • Information relating to Disclosure Barring Service checks.
  • Any criminal convictions that you declare to us.
  • Your responses to staff surveys if this data is not anonymised.

Information relating to you salary and pensions

We process this information for the payment of your salary, pension and other employment related benefits. We also process it for the administration of statutory and contractual leave entitlements such as holiday or maternity leave.

  • Information about your job role and your employment contract including; your start and leave dates, salary (including grade and salary band), any changes to your employment contract, working pattern (including any requests for flexible working).
  • Details of your time spent working and any overtime, expenses or other payments claimed.
  • Details of any leave including sick leave, holidays, special leave etc.
  • Pension details including membership of both state and occupational pension schemes (current and previous).
  • Your bank account details, payroll records and tax status
  • Trade Union Membership for the purpose of the deduction of subscriptions directly from salary.
  • Details relating to Maternity, Paternity, Shared Parental and Adoption leave and pay. This includes forms applying for the relevant leave, copies of MATB1 forms/matching certificates and any other relevant documentation relating to the nature of the leave you will be taking.

Information relating to your performance and training

We use this information to assess your performance, to conduct pay and grading reviews and to deal with any employer / employee related disputes. We also use it to meet the training and development needs required for your role.

  • Information relating to your performance at work e.g. probation reviews, promotions etc
  • Grievance and dignity at work matters and investigations to which you may be a party or witness.
  • Disciplinary records and documentation related to any investigations, hearings and warnings/penalties issues.
  • Whistleblowing concerns raised by you, or to which you may be a party or witness.
  • Information related to your training history and development needs.

Information relating to monitoring

We use this information to assess your compliance with corporate policies and procedures and to ensure the security of our premises, IT systems and employees.

  • Information about your access to data held by us for the purposes of criminal enforcement if you are involved with this work.
  • Information derived from monitoring IT acceptable use standards.
  • Photos and CCTV images.
  • Information needed for equalities monitoring

 

Information relating to your health and wellbeing and other special category data

We use the following information to comply with our legal obligations and for equal opportunities monitoring. We also use it to ensure the health, safety and wellbeing of our employees.

  • Health and wellbeing information either declared by you or obtained from health checks, eye examinations, occupational health referrals and reports, sick leave forms, health management questionnaires or fit notes i.e. Statement of Fitness for Work from your GP or hospital.
  • Accident records if you have an accident at work.
  • Details of any reasonable adjustments or DSE or desk assessments.
  • Information you have provided regarding Protected Characteristics as defined by the Equality Act and s.75 of the Northern Ireland Act for the purpose of equal opportunities monitoring. This includes racial or ethnic origin, religious beliefs, disability status, and gender identification and may be extended to include other protected characteristics.

What is our lawful basis for processing your personal data?

We rely on a number of lawful bases for processing personal data. Primarily, our lawful basis for the performance of the contract between us but in some cases we will process personal data where we are under a legal obligation. We also rely on legitimate interests in processing personal data where we are under a legal obligation. We also rely on legitimate interests in processing personal data (for example where we need to keep a record of employee performance, keep a record of grievance or disciplinary process, records of training, issuing ID cards, monitoring of systems and responding to or defending legal claims).

Where the Council relies on legitimate interests as a reason for processing data, it will consider whether or not the interests of the Council are overridden by the rights and freedoms of employees and has concluded that they are not. The Council will make every effort to inform individuals of instances where personal data will be processed on this basis.

In some cases, we rely on your consent to process personal information for example where we process information about your vehicle where members of staff wish to benefit from the staff parking permit. In this case, you can withdraw your consent at any time by contacting the HR service. By doing so, you will no longer be able to benefit from buying a permit.

From time to time we may ask you to provide your consent to process your data. In these instances, are you free to withdraw your consent at any time.

We also process special categories of personal data pertaining to Occupational Health. For these purposes, we rely on the following legal bases for processing your personal data:

  • For the purposes of our legitimate interests;
  • Processing is necessary for carrying out the obligations and exercising specific rights of us or you in the field of employment; and
  • Processing necessary for health reasons including preventative or occupational medicine.

 

Information about criminal convictions

  • We may also use information relating to criminal convictions where the law allows us to do so.
  • Information about criminal convictions and offences will be used to determine if any activities and offences committed create a conflict with your job role, whether the conviction would put you or another individual at risk or potentially expose you or another individual to risk. We may also consider any criminal conviction or offence when determining your continued employment and your job role.
  • We are allowed to use your personal information in this way because it is necessary as part of your contract of employment and it is necessary for us to carry out the relevant checks in relation to your employment. In some cases, we are under a legal obligation to check for criminal convictions, such as where we are required by relevant safeguarding legislation.

We process all information in accordance with our legal obligations and public tasks arising from the following provisions:

  • The Data Protection Act 2018
  • The National Minimum Wage Act 1998
  • The Agency Workers Regulations 2010
  • The Local Government Act 1972
  • The Employment Rights Act 1996
  • The Employment Act 1992
  • The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974
  • The Equality Act 2010
  • The Trade Union Act 2016
  • Health and Safety at Work act 1974

The above list is not exhaustive.

How long do we keep your personal data?

We will keep your personal data in accordance with the Council’s retention schedule, unless you explicitly request it to be removed under GDPR information rights. This right to have your data removed is not an absolute right, for example, we will need to retain your data if this information forms part of a legal requirement, public registry or an existing contract.

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.

View the most recent copy of the Retention Schedule. The Retention Schedule is a Live Document and as such, is updated regularly. Read our policy and guidelines that govern how we manage our Retention Schedule.

Sharing of your personal data

In some cases, we need to share information that you give us. We are legally required to disclose information about you to HMRC in relation to your tax to ensure that we are paying the correct amount. We are also legally obliged to share information such as a court order.

We may also share information about you with third parties including other government agencies and external auditors. For example, during your employment you may be referred to Occupational Health following a request to HR by you or your line manager. This may result in a face-to-face consultation, a telephone appointment with an occupational healthcare professional and/or a medical report from a GP or specialist.

We may also share your information to a prospective employer or to your pension provider if you join the Nottinghamshire County Council pension scheme. Where another party is responsible for part or all of your employment, we will share personal information about you to the other party.

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

ICT Systems

We are committed to respecting individual users’ reasonable expectations of privacy concerning the use of our ICT systems and equipment. However, we have the right to monitor the use of computer and telephone facilities for purposes of:

  • Preventing and detecting criminal acts
  • Investigating unauthorised use
  • Making sure that policies are being followed
  • For training and quality control

In such cases, we may share personal information with Managers and certain members of the IT department.

Disclosures under the Freedom of Information Act

As a public authority, we receive information requests under the Freedom of Information Act (2000) about our staff and we must consider whether to disclose staff information (including agency and temporary staff) in response to these requests.

We will normally disclose work-related information about staff in a public-facing role. We may also disclose information about staff members whose work is purely administrative if their names are routinely sent out externally.

It is less likely that information about those who do not deal directly with the public in an operational capacity will be disclosed. The Senior Management Team will have more information disclosed about them, such as photographs, due to their position with the Council.

We will consider withholding information if we think that it will prejudice our regulatory role or the rights and safety of our staff, irrespective of grade or position.

The type of information you can expect we will disclose is as follows:

  • Name and work contact details.
  • Pay bands (not your exact salary).
  • Your position in the corporate structure

The list above does not include every area where we might disclose information about you. The type of information provided will only concern your professional life at the Council. We will not disclose non-work related personal or special category data.

We will consult with you prior to deciding whether to disclose any information that we consider would not be within your reasonable expectations.

Request for References

If you leave, or are thinking of leaving, we may be asked by your new or prospective employers to provide a reference. For example, we may be asked to confirm the dates of your employment or your job role. If you are still employed by us at the time the request for a reference is received we will discuss this with you before providing this.

Protecting your 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 personal information that we hold.

We do not currently transfer your data to any third country or international organisation.

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 that are relevant and compatible with the purpose that the data was collected for.

Your rights

There are a number of rights that you may exercise depending on the legal basis for processing your personal data. In most cases, these rights are not absolute and there may be compelling or overriding legal reasons why we cannot meet these rights in full. This will be explained to you in more detail should you contact us for any of the reasons detailed below:

  • Request a copy of the personal information the council holds about you
  • To have any inaccuracies corrected
  • To have your personal data erased
  • To place a restriction on the council’s processing of your data
  • To object to processing and
  • To request your data to be ported (data portability)
  • To object to any automated decision-making including profiling and the right to ask for any automated decision-making to be reviewed by a human

Where the processing of your personal data is based on your consent, in most circumstances, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time and we will act on your instructions.

For more information about how the Council may use your data and to learn more about your rights please see the Council’s Privacy Statement.

If you have any concerns or questions about how your personal data is processed, please contact the Council’s Data Protection Officer at the above address or by email to DataProtectionOfficer@bassetlaw.gov.uk. If you are dissatisfied, you can then make a complaint to the Chief Executive under stage 1 of the Council’s complaints procedure.  Should you wish to pursue this further, please send your reasons in writing to the Council’s Chief Executive Officer here at Queen’s Buildings. If you remain dissatisfied with the Council’s response, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office in writing to: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF or by telephone 0303 123 1113 (local rate) or 01625 545 745. 


Last Updated on Wednesday, September 6, 2023