Applying for a job

Purpose

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. 

We do not collect more information than we need to fulfil our stated purposes and will not keep it longer than 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 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. 

We will 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 fulfil legal or regulatory requirements if necessary. 

We will not share any of the information you provide with any third parties for marketing purposes. 

We will 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, but you don’t need to provide feedback if you don’t want to. We will use the other information you provide to assess your suitability for the role. 

Information we collect 

In order to meet our purpose above and to protect your fundamental rights as an employee we need to collect information from you. 

We ask you for your personal details including name and contact details. We’ll also ask you about previous experience, education, referees, health and for answers to questions relevant to the role. Our recruitment team will have access to all this information. The recruiting manager and interview panel will also have access to this information, however during the early stages of your application this will exclude your name. 

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. We won’t make the information available to any staff outside our recruitment team, including hiring managers, in a way that can identify you. Any information you provide will be used to produce and monitor equal opportunities statistics. 

We may ask you to participate in assessment days; complete tests or occupational personality profile questionnaires; 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 in line with our records retention schedule. 

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. 

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. 

You must therefore provide: 

  • Proof of your identity – you may be asked to attend our office with original documents; we’ll take copies, or submit your documents via our secure digital platform. 
  • Proof of your qualifications – you may be asked to attend our office with original documents; we will take copies. 
  • a criminal records declaration to declare any unspent convictions. 
  • Criminal Record check via the Disclosure and Barring Service, or Access NI, which will verify your declaration of unspent convictions. 
  • We will contact your referees, using the details you provide in your application, directly to obtain references. 
  • We will also ask you to complete a questionnaire about your health to establish your fitness to work. 
  • We will also ask you about any reasonable adjustments you may require under the Equality Act 2010. This information will be shared with relevant trust 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 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 
  • any membership of a pension scheme 

If you are coming from another NHS organisation, we will request further information from your current NHS employer via the ESR interface. This information is your mandatory training record and vaccine status. 

Our code of conduct requires all staff to declare if they have any potential conflicts of interest this includes any secondary employment. Depending on the conflict and your seniority within the trust, this may be published on the trust website in line with NHS guidance. 

Our lawful basis 

In order to legally be able to process your personal data, we must have a lawful basis under the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR). Our lawful basis for the purpose of processing data in our stated purpose is: 

  • UK GDPR Article 6(1)(b) 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 or subsequent pre-employment checks, which is special category data, such as religious or ethnicity information or biometric data is UK GDPR Article 9(2)(b) processing is necessary for the purposes of carrying out the obligations and exercising specific rights of the controller or of the data subject in the field of employment and social security and social protection law in so far as it is authorised by domestic law or a collective agreement pursuant to domestic law providing for appropriate safeguards for the fundamental rights and the interests of the data subject; and Data Protection Act 2018, Schedule 1, part 1(1) which again relates to processing for employment purposes.  

We may also process some health data under UK GDPR Article 9(2)(h) processing is necessary for the purposes of preventive or occupational medicine, for the assessment of the working capacity of the employee, medical diagnosis, the provision of health or social care or treatment.  

If we identify fraudulent or suspicious activities as part of identity check we may share information with the police under UK GDPR Article 9 (2) (g) processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest, on the basis of domestic law which shall be proportionate to the aim pursued, respect the essence of the right to data protection and provide for suitable and specific measures to safeguard the fundamental rights and the interests of the data subject domestic law; and Data Protection Act 2018 (c. 12) Schedule 1 — Special categories of personal data and criminal convictions etc data Part 2 — Substantial public interest conditions. Preventing fraud: Paragraph 14 of Schedule 1 of the DPA 2018. 

We process information about applicant criminal convictions and offences. The lawful basis we rely on to process this data are UK GDPR Article 6(1)(e) for the performance of our public task. In addition, we rely on the processing condition Data Protection Act 2018, Schedule 1, part ,1 paragraph 1(1)(a). 

By processing your health data, we will also recognise your rights established under English case law, collectively known as the “Common Law Duty of Confidentiality”. This means that we only use your personal data in ways that would reasonably be expected, including where we share your information with your consent or where we can reasonably expect that you would consent in order to provide you with occupational health support, or for reasons of substantial public interest. 

Who we share your information with 

Our processors

Processors are organisations who act on our behalf and under our authority. They carry out some of the technical processes, for example, providing a system that stores information. We do not allow our processors to use your information for their own purposes or allow them to link this to other personal data they may have.  

The category of our processors are organisations who: 

  • provide our IT systems; 
  • provide the platforms which process your application 
  • dispose of confidential waste (paper records, laptops or other IT equipment); 
  • provide some of our recruitment services; 
  • provide identity checking service 

How long will we keep your data 

We will keep your personal data in line with the retention periods detailed in the NHS retention schedule. 

Your Rights 

Data protection laws give you a number of rights over your personal data. These rights are detailed below. 

The right to be informed 

The trust is required by law to provide you with information about how it collects and uses your personal data. The trust, by way of this privacy notice is providing you with this information. 

The right of access 

You have the right to access the information we hold about you. To access personal information we hold, please contact the Access Team at: rf-tr.AccessRequests@nhs.net. 

The right to rectification 

You have the right to have inaccurate information about you corrected or incomplete information completed. To update your application details please login to the platform you applied on or contact the recruitment team on. 

To request any other inaccurate information corrected please contact: rf-tr.AccessRequests@nhs.net. 

The right to erasure 

The right to erasure is also known as ‘the right to be forgotten’. The right is not absolute and only applies in certain circumstances. 

This is limited to: 

  • where we still hold your personal data, but it is no longer necessary for the purpose for which we originally collected or processed it; or, 
  • we have to erase it to comply with a legal obligation. 

To exercise this right, please contact: rf-tr.AccessRequests@nhs.net. 

The right to restrict processing 

You have the right to restrict the processing of your personal data in certain circumstances. This means that you can limit the way we use your data. This is an alternative to requesting the erasure of your data. The right is not absolute and only applies in certain circumstances. 

This is limited to: 

  • where you contest the accuracy of your personal data and we are verifying the accuracy
  • we no longer need the personal data, but you need us to keep it in order to establish, exercise or defend a legal claim

To exercise this right, please contact: rf-tr.AccessRequests@nhs.net. 

The right to data portability 

You have the right to data portability in some limited circumstances. This only applies to information you have given us. You have the right to ask that we transfer the information you gave us from one organisation to another, or give it to you. 

The right to object 

You have the right to object to the processing of your personal data at any time. This effectively allows you to stop or prevent us from processing your personal data. 

An objection may be in relation to all of the personal data we hold about you or only to specific information. 

The right to object only applies in certain circumstances. You must give specific reasons why you are objecting to the processing of your data. These reasons should be based upon your particular situation. 

In these circumstances, your right to object is not an absolute right, and we do not need to comply if we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds for the processing, which override your interests, rights and freedoms. To exercise this right, please contact: rf-tr.AccessRequests@nhs.net. 

Rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling 

The trust does not use automated decision making and profiling for recruitment purposes.