As part of any recruitment process, the University collects and processes personal data relating to applicants using our e-recruitment system, Stonefish. The University is committed to being transparent about how it collects and uses that data and to meeting its data protection obligations.
1) What information does the University collect?
The University collects a range of information about you. This includes:
your name, address and contact details, including email address and telephone number;
details of your qualifications, skills, experience and employment history;
information about your current level of remuneration, including benefit entitlements;
whether or not you have a disability for which the University needs to make reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process;
information about your eligibility to work in the UK; and
equal opportunities monitoring information, including information about your ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability and religion or belief and social mobility.
The University may collect this information in a variety of ways. For example, data might be contained in application forms, CVs or resumes, obtained from your passport or other identity documents, or collected through interviews or other forms of assessment.
The University may also collect personal data about you from third parties, such as health questionnaire information from our Occupational Health service to help ensure the University considers additional control measures where and when required, information from criminal records checks etc. The University will seek information from third parties only once a job offer has been made to you and will inform you that it is doing so. The only exception to this is if you are selected for interview and have provided the University with your permission to contact your referees prior to a job offer being made then the University will go ahead and contact your referees.
For applicants applying for work experience at the University, we may also collect personal data about you from third parties, such as your school, college or partner organisation
Data will be stored in a range of different places, including on your application record, in HR and Payroll systems and on other IT systems (including email).
2) Why does the University process personal data?
The University needs to process data to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract, or agreement with you. It may also need to process your data to enter into a contract with you.
In some cases, the University needs to process data to ensure that it is complying with its legal obligations. For example, it is required to check a successful applicant's eligibility to work in the UK before employment starts.
The University has a legitimate interest in processing personal data during the recruitment process and for keeping records of the process. Processing data from applicants allows the University to manage the recruitment process, assess and confirm a candidate's suitability for work or work experience and decide to whom to offer a job or placement to. The University may also need to process data from applicants to respond to and defend against legal claims.
Processing data from work experience placements allows us to manage the administration and evaluation of the work experience process.
The University may process information about whether or not applicants are disabled to make reasonable adjustments for candidates who have a disability. This is to carry out its obligations and exercise specific rights in relation to employment.
Where the University processes other special categories of data, such as information about ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, religion or belief and social mobility this is for equal opportunities monitoring purposes.
For some roles, the University is obliged to seek information about criminal convictions and offences. Where the University seeks this information, it does so because it is necessary for it to carry out its obligations and exercise specific rights in relation to employment.
The University will not use your data for any purpose other than the recruitment exercise for which you have applied.
3) Who has access to data?
Your information may be shared internally for the purposes of the recruitment or work experience placement process. This includes members of the HR and recruitment team, shortlisting and interview panel members involved in the selection process (this may include external panel members), other managers in the department/faculty/school with a vacancy (where appropriate) and IT staff if access to the data is necessary for the performance of their roles.
The University will not share your data with third parties, unless your application for employment or work placement is successful and it makes you an offer of employment. As well as circulating your application and related materials to the appropriate staff at the University, we will share your personal information for the above purposes as relevant and necessary with:
your referees.
Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) in order to administer relevant recruitment checks and procedures.
UK Visas & Immigration (UKVI) in order to administer relevant recruitment checks and procedures.
Where relevant and as required for some posts, NHS organisations or similar organisations (e.g. NHS Trusts or Local Education Training Boards).
Companies or organisations providing specific services to, or on behalf of, the University (e.g. RUH Occupational Health Service).
Your data may be transferred outside the UK in order to meet our contractual obligations with you (e.g. to conduct reference checks). Such transfers are carried out with appropriate safeguards in place to ensure the confidentiality and security of your personal information.
4) How does the University protect data?
The University takes the security of your data seriously. It has internal policies and controls in place to ensure that your data is not lost, accidentally destroyed, misused or disclosed, and is not accessed except by our employees in the proper performance of their duties. Further details about the University's security procedures in relation to HR-related data can be found in our Workforce Data Protection & Privacy Statement.
5) For how long does the University keep data?
If your application is unsuccessful, the University will hold all your data on our e-recruitment system, Stonefish, and on the hard-copy recruitment file for 6 months after the end of the relevant recruitment process (except if the person appointed to the post is sponsored under the UK's points-based immigration system, when the University is required to retain the applications of all candidates shortlisted for final interview for 6 months or until UK Visas & Immigration (UKVI) have examined and approved them, whichever is the longer period). All personal data will be deleted from Stonefish after this point.
If your application is successful, the University will hold all your data on our e-recruitment system, Stonefish, for 6 months after the end of the relevant recruitment process. All personal data will be deleted from Stonefish after this point. Personal data gathered during the recruitment process will be transferred to your personnel file (in hard copy or electronic format, or both), and kept on HR and Payroll systems and retained for the duration of your employment. The periods for which your data will be held on our HR and Payroll systems are set-out in the HR Data Retention Schedule.
Wherever possible we will not retain original documents or print-outs and instead will make a note on our central HR and Payroll system that the relevant check or procedure has been completed.
Anonymised data may be retained to allow the University to undertake trend analysis. All remaining data will be anonymised so that they can no longer be traced back to an individual.
6) Your rights
As a data subject, you have a number of rights. You can:
access and obtain a copy of your data on request;
require the University to change incorrect or incomplete data;
require the University to delete or stop processing your data, for example where processing the data is no longer necessary for the purposes for which they were originally collected; and
object to the processing of your data where the University is relying on its legitimate interests as the legal ground for processing.
If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please contact the University’s Data Protection Officer using the contact details provided at the end of this Policy. If you believe that the University has not complied with your data protection rights, you can complain to the Information Commissioner.
7) What if you do not provide personal data?
You are under no statutory or contractual obligation to provide data to the University during the recruitment process. However, if you do not provide the information, the University may not be able to process your application properly or at all.
8) Automated decision-making
Recruitment processes are not based solely on automated decision-making.
9) Contact Details
University of Bath Address: University of Bath Claverton Down Bath BA2 7AY United Kingdom
Data Protection Officer: Mr David Jolly
Contact Details: +44 (0) 1225 386966, d.j.jolly@bath.ac.uk
Address: Data Protection Team, Vice-Chancellor's Office, 4 West 3.05, University of Bath, Claverton Down, Bath, BA2 7AY, United Kingdom