Purpose and lawful basis for processing
Our purpose for processing this information is to assess your suitability for a role you have applied for and to help us develop and improve our recruitment process.
The lawful basis we rely on for processing your personal data is article 6(1)(b) of the UK GDPR, which relates to processing necessary to perform a contract or to take steps at your request, before entering a contract.
If you provide us with any information about reasonable adjustments you require under the Equality Act 2010 the lawful basis we rely on for processing this information is article 6(1)(c) to comply with our legal obligations under the Act.
The lawful basis we rely on to process any information you provide as part of your application which is special category data, such as health, religious or ethnicity information is article 9(2)(b) of the UK GDPR, which relates to our obligations in employment and the safeguarding of your fundamental rights. And Schedule 1 part 1(1) of the DPA2018 which again relates to processing for employment purposes.
What will we do with the information you give us?
We’ll use all the information you provide during the recruitment process to progress your application with a view to offering you an employment contract with us, or to fulfill legal or regulatory requirements if necessary.
We’ll use the contact details you give us to contact you to progress your application. We may also contact you to request your feedback about our recruitment process. We’ll use the other information you provide to assess your suitability for the role.
What information do we ask for, and why?
We do not collect more information than we need to fulfill our stated purposes and will not keep it longer than six months for unsuccessful candidates. Interview notes and references for successful candidates are retained for the term of their employment with us.
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 may affect your application if you don’t.
We will use any feedback you provide about our recruitment process to develop and improve our future recruitment campaigns.
Application stage
If you use our online application system, your details will be collected by our data processor on our behalf.
We ask you for your personal details including name and contact details. We’ll also ask you about previous experience, education, referees and for answers to questions relevant to the role. Our recruitment team (in-house and a third party, where relevant) will have access to all this information.
You will also be asked to provide equal opportunities information. This is not mandatory – if you don’t provide it, it won’t affect your application. Any information you provide will be anonymous and no responses are tied or traceable to your application. Data will be used to produce and monitor equal opportunities statistics. This information may be shared with external equality and diversity auditors and data is retained indefinitely.
Shortlisting
Our hiring managers shortlist applications for interviews. They will not be provided with your equal opportunities information if you have provided it, as the data is anonymous and not tied to your application.
Assessments
We may ask you to participate in assessment days; complete tests; attend an interview; or a combination of these. Information will be generated by you and by us. For example, you might complete a written test or we might take interview notes. This information is held by us.
If you are unsuccessful after assessment for the role, we may ask if you would like your details retained in our talent pool. If you say yes, we would proactively contact you should any further suitable vacancies arise within six months of your first application.
Conditional offer
If we make a conditional offer of employment, we’ll ask you for information so that we can carry out pre-employment checks. You must successfully complete pre-employment checks to progress to a final offer. We must confirm the identity of our staff and their right to work in the United Kingdom, and seek assurance as to their trustworthiness, integrity and reliability. As we work closely with governments, all of our staff need to pass BPSS clearance.
We conduct right to work checks and identity checks and will require two pieces of identification. Employment history, education history, criminal conviction and financial tests are conducted by a third-party program. They will contact your referees, using the details you provide in your application, directly to obtain references.
We’ll ask you about any reasonable adjustments you may require under the Equality Act 2010. This information will be shared with relevant Apolitical staff to ensure these are in place for when you start your employment. If we make a final offer, we’ll also ask you for: bank details, to process salary payments; emergency contact details, so we know who to contact in case you have an emergency at work; your address and contact number; a secondary email address; and your national insurance number.
Our employment contract requires all staff to declare if they have any potential conflicts of interest or secondary employment. If you complete a declaration, the information will be held on your personnel file.
How long is the information kept for?
Unsuccessful recruitment candidate information, including third party referee details, is destroyed six months after the last action between Apolitical and the candidate as part of our hiring process. We retain the information for six months to enable us to refer to information relating to any possible claims of discrimination during our hiring practice, as detailed in the Limitation Act 1980.
Successful recruitment candidate information, including third party referee details, is destroyed six months after the end of their employment with Apolitical. We retain the information for six months to enable us to refer to information relating to any possible claims of discrimination during their employent, as detailed in the Limitation Act 1980.
How we make decisions about recruitment
Final recruitment decisions are made by hiring managers and members of our recruitment team.
You can ask about decisions on your application by speaking to your contact in our recruitment team or by emailing recruitment@apolitical.co
Your rights
As an individual, you have certain rights regarding your own personal data.
For more information on your rights, please see ‘Your rights as an individual’.
Do we use any data processors?
We use a third party provider to operate our online application system and to produce anonymised management information about campaigns. Here is a link to the provider’s privacy notice.
If you accept a final offer from us, some of your personnel records will be held on our HR software. Here is a link to its privacy notice.
If you are employed by us, relevant details about you will be provided to our accountants who provide our payroll services. This will include your name, bank details, address, date of birth, National Insurance Number and salary.
Contacting Us
If you want to discuss a data issue with Apolitical, please contact our data protection officer at dpo@apolitical.co
If you are based in the EU, you may contact our EU representative at dpo.agl@apolitical.foundation