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Use of Personal Information Policy

Reed Specialist Recruitment Limited (“REED”) is part of the REED Group of companies.

This document explains how we use the personal data we collect about you when your personal data is given to us for Pre-Employment Screening.

We will ask you to supply limited sensitive or special category personal data relating to criminal records or your health (“sensitive personal data”) as part of our client’s pre-employment screening process.

What information do we collect about you?

We collect personal data from you or your employer about you in order to complete our client’s pre-employment screening process.

That personal data includes your name, contact details, work history, employment references, credit information, date of birth, national insurance number, nationality and relevant data relating to criminal convictions. We will also ask for and keep copies of your proof of eligibility to work in accordance with our legal obligations.

Unless identified as mandatory all the categories of Personal Information which are requested are optional. Failure to provide optional information will have no consequences and you will still be able to complete the process whereas failure to provide mandatory information will not allow you to complete the screening process and will not allow your application process to continue.

Pre-Employment Screening:

The information you provide to us will be used by REED and our third-party suppliers or agents for the purpose of pre-employment screening. The Information given at the point of application may be given to other organisations to complete the necessary checks.

Information given at the point of application is provided to credit reference and fraud prevention agencies, this information may be supplied to other organisations and used by them and us for:

  • Preventing crime, fraud and money laundering by, for example when checking details provided as part of our client’s recruitment process.

The checks undertaken could include:

  • Criminal Records Check: this check contains only convictions considered unspent under The Rehabilitation Offenders Act 1974. Data will be passed to the UK Disclosure and Barring Service (England & Wales), Disclosure Scotland or AccessNI where applicable.

  • Referencing – These checks will verify that the information in relation to previous employment history, education and professional qualification are true and accurate. We may require supporting documentation to cover any gaps in employment.

  • Adverse Financial Check – We use credit reference agencies (CRAs), who will supply both public (including the electoral register) and shared credit, financial situation and financial history information and fraud prevention information, which is used to verify the accuracy of the data you have provided to us.

The CRAs may confirm county court judgements, individual voluntary arrangements, trust deeds, debt relief orders or bankruptcy arrangements. Where appropriate, the CRAs may also provide REED with more detailed information about your identity and financial situation, including defaults, missed payments, arrears, and the balance of any secured or unsecured lending. When CRAs receive a search from us they will place a search footprint on your credit file that may be visible next time you see your report however this will not impact your credit rating or be visible to other lenders.

The identities of the CRAs, their role also as fraud prevention agencies, the data they hold, the ways in which they use and share personal information, data retention periods and your data protection rights with the CRAs are explained in more detail at:

Transunion - https://www.transunion.co.uk/crain; Experian - www.experian.co.uk/crain; Equifax www.equifax.co.uk/crain

  • Media Search – For senior roles. a search undertaken against a candidate’s name to establish if there is any adverse or negative coverage in any media sources. The searches will be performed against extensive global, historical and current media sources including national and local newspapers, trade business and professional journals, industry newsletters and corporate news reports and press releases

  • Directors Search – For senior roles, a check to search a list of directors, treasurers or company secretarial positions within any UK organisation. The search also reveals whether the candidate appears on a list of disqualified directors.

  • Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) registration check for senior roles

  • Fraud Prevention Check - The personal information we have collected from you will be shared with CIFAS who will use it to prevent fraud, other unlawful or dishonest conduct, malpractice, and other seriously improper conduct. If any of these are detected you could be refused certain services or employment. Your Personal information will also be used to verify your identity.

Further details of how your information will be used by us and CIFAS, and your data protection rights, can be obtained by contacting us at:

Compliance Team,

Reed Specialist Recruitment,

4th Floor, The Exchange

3 New York Street

Manchester

M1 4HN

or compliance.escalations@reedglobal.com

The information and/or results obtained as a result of these enquiries may be shared or disclosed to our client for the purpose of ensuring that we meet their screening policy and to meet audit requirements.

What do we do with your personal data?

We will use your personal data to ensure we comply with our client’s pre-employment screening process.

Your personal data and sensitive personal data will only be shared with external bodies to the extent that it is necessary.

We will keep your personal data only for as long as is necessary for this process.

Data Sharing and Transfers

We do not share your personal data with third parties, except where it is necessary to do so in order to provide you with our services as described above. Your personal data is stored on servers in the European Economic Area.

Access to your personal data and correction

You have the right to request a copy of the personal data that we hold about you. If you would like a copy of some or all of your personal information please email us at [Data.queries@reedglobal.com].

We want to make sure that your personal data is accurate and up to date, and are happy to remove or amend any information you think is inaccurate.

You also have the right to request us to delete all of your personal data if it is no longer required by our client.

Data Security:

All of the REED screening team have been trained on Data Protection and have been screened to the highest standards. We ensure that data is treated securely and confidentially. Data is stored on the REED system for up to 36 months before it is deleted, as per the retention requirements of our client.

In some circumstances clients may specify additional data retention requirements. If such policy is different to the above we may request you to sign a separate letter of authority that supersedes this policy.

Changes to our Personal Data Statement

We keep this document under regular review and we place any updates on this webpage.

This statement was last updated on 09.01.2019.

How to contact us

Please contact us if you have any questions about this statement or information we hold about you:

By email on data.queries@reedglobal.com

or write to us at Data Protection Officer, Reed Specialist Recruitment Limited, Academy Court, 94 Chancery Lane, London, WC2A 1DT.

You also have the right to raise any concerns about our processing of your personal data with the Office of the Information Commissioner (ICO), details of which are available at: https://ico.org.uk