PRIVACY NOTICE
This privacy notice tells you what to expect when Headway Southampton collects personal information. It applies to information we collect about:
people who use our services, eg who attend our centre or our monthly drop-in
people who support us through grant giving, donation and fundraising activities
job applicants and our current and former employees
complainants and other individuals in relation to a data protection or freedom of information complaint or enquiry
People who contact us via social media
We manage our own social media interactions.
If you send us a private or direct message via social media, it will not be shared with any other organisations.
People who call us
When you call Headway Southampton, we will only record information necessary to provide you with the support you require, and should this information require the recording of personal or sensitive data, we will request your permission to do so. Unless otherwise stated at the time (and your consent has been given) this information will not be shared with any other parties.
People who email us
When we receive a request for information or support, we will need to pass this information to the relevant staff member within our organisation. This information will not be shared with any external organisations without your prior consent.
Where a person is in receipt of our support and at the same time is in receipt of statutory support (Social Care or Healthcare) it may be necessary to share information and/or discuss your case on your behalf. We will not do this without your consent.
People who make a complaint to us
We will only use the personal information we collect to process a complaint and to check on the level of service we provide. To satisfy contracts and/or grant conditions, we may compile and report statistics showing information like the number of complaints we receive, but not in a form which identifies anyone.
We usually have to disclose the complainant’s identity to whoever the complaint is about. If a complainant doesn’t want information identifying him or her to be disclosed, we will try to respect that. However, it may not be possible to handle a complaint on an anonymous basis.
We will keep personal information contained in complaint files for two years from closure. It will be retained in a secure environment and access to it will be restricted according to the ‘need to know’ principle.
Similarly, where enquiries are submitted to us we will only use the information supplied to us to deal with the enquiry and any subsequent issues and to check on the level of service we provide.
People who use Headway Southampton services
We have to hold the details of the people who have requested the service in order to provide it. However, we only use these details to provide the service the person has requested and for other closely related purposes. For example, we might use information about people who have been in receipt of our services to carry out a survey to find out if they are happy with the level of service they received. When people do contract our services, they can cancel their contract at any time and are given an easy way of doing this.
Job applicants, current and former Headway Southampton employees and Volunteers
Headway Southampton is the data controller for the information you provide during the process unless otherwise stated. If you have any queries about the process or how we handle your information, please contact us at [email protected]
What will we do with the information you provide to us?
All of the information you provide during the process will only be used for the purpose of progressing your application, or to fulfil legal or regulatory requirements if necessary.
We will not share any of the information you provide during the recruitment process with any third parties for marketing purposes. 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 to progress your application. We will use the other information you provide to assess your suitability for the role you have applied for.
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 and contact details. We will also ask you about your previous experience, education, referees and for answers to questions relevant to the role you have applied for. Our recruitment team will have access to all of this information.
You will also be asked to provide equal opportunities information. 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 recruitment team 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 manager and deputy manager shortlist applications for interview.
Assessments
We might ask you to attend an interview at which we might take interview notes. This information is held by Headway Southampton.
If you are unsuccessful following assessment for the position you have applied for, we may ask if you would like your details to be retained for a period of six months. If you say yes, we would proactively contact you should any further suitable vacancies arise.
Conditional offer
If we make a conditional offer of employment/volunteering, we will ask you for information so that we can carry out pre-employment/volunteering checks. You must successfully complete pre-employment/volunteering 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 criminal records declaration to declare any unspent convictions.
You will be asked to complete a Disclosure and Barring application. We use UK Umbrella Service as our provider. The information that you give will be directly to UK Umbrella Service and we will not directly hold this information ourselves, but we are able to access and view this information.
We will contact your referees, using the details you provide in your application, directly to obtain references
If we make a final offer of employment, 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
Pension Scheme (paid employee’s only)
Our 3rd party pension provider is True Potential Investments. If eligible, you will be auto-enrolled into the pension scheme and details provided to True Potential Investments will be your name, date of birth, National Insurance number and salary. Your bank details will not be passed to True Potential Investments at this time.
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 criminal records declaration, fitness to work, 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 campaign.
Information generated throughout the assessment process, for example interview notes, is retained by us for 6 months following the closure of the campaign.
Equal opportunities information is retained for 6 months following the closure of the campaign whether you are successful or not.
How we make decisions about recruitment of employees and volunteers?
Final recruitment decisions are made by hiring managers and members of our recruitment team. All the information gathered during the application process is considered.
You can ask about decisions made about your application by speaking to your contact within our recruitment team or by emailing [email protected]
Your rights
Under the General Data Protection Regulations 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/for-the-public/is-my-information-being-handled-correctly/
Complaints or queries
Headway Southampton 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 Headway Southampton’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 the address below.
If you want to make a complaint about the way we have processed your personal information, you can contact us or raise your concerns with the statutory body which oversees data protection law – www.ico.org.uk/concerns.
Access to personal information
Headway Southampton tries to 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 General Data Protection Regulations 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 to Headway Southampton for any personal information we may hold you need to put the request in writing to the address provided below. Note: In certain circumstances there may be a cost attached to the provision of hard copy data e.g. collation, printing and postage.
If you agree, we will try to deal with your request informally, for example by providing you with the specific information you need over the telephone.
If we do hold information about you, you can ask us to correct any mistakes by, once again, contacting the Manager.
Disclosure of personal information
In many circumstances we will not disclose personal data without consent. However, when we identify a safeguarding issue, for example, we will need to share personal information with the relevant authority concerned and with other relevant bodies. Further information is available on request about the factors we shall consider when deciding whether information should be disclosed.
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 any 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 03 July 2018.
How to contact us
If you want to request information about our privacy policy, you can email us or write to:
Headway Southampton
120 Commercial Road
Totton
SO40 3AD
