RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION
PRIVACY NOTICE
WHO WE ARE
Loughborough Schools Foundation is the organisation (referred to in this policy as “the Foundation”) responsible for four independent schools and a nursery operating under a single Board of Trustees/Directors. The Foundation comprises Loughborough Grammar School (boys, 10-18, day and boarding), Loughborough High School (girls, 11-18), Fairfield Preparatory School (co-educational, 3-11), Loughborough Amherst School (co-educational 4-18), and ‘The Nursery’ for children from 6 weeks to 4 years.
The Foundation is incorporated as a company limited by guarantee, number 4038033, and is a registered charity, number 1081765.
The Foundation is registered as the Data Controller under Data Protection Law and will observe the provisions of all related legislation, as well as frameworks provided by the Department for Education (DfE), to all Schools and departments within the Foundation. This includes Early Years Foundation Stages (EYFS), The Nursery, alumni associations and any subsidiary companies.
WHAT THIS PRIVACY NOTICE IS FOR
This Notice is intended to provide information about how the Foundation will use (or “process”) personal data about individuals during its recruitment and selection process.
This information is provided in accordance with the rights of individuals under Data Protection Law to understand how their data is used.
JOB APPLICANTS, CURRENT AND FORMER LSF EMPLOYEES
The LSF is the data controller for the information you provide during the recruitment and selection process unless otherwise stated. If you have any queries about the process or how we handle your information, please contact us at recruitment@lsf.org.
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 or store any of your information outside of the European Economic Area. 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 trustworthiness, integrity, reliability and suitability to work at LSF. You don’t have to provide what we ask for but it might affect your application if you don’t.
Application stage
All applicants for employment will be required to complete an application form asking for information about their suitability for the role. If you use our online application system, this will be collected by a data processor on our behalf (please see below).
We ask you for your personal details including name and contact details. We will also ask you about your academic and employment history, for two referees and for answers to questions relevant to the role you have applied for. Our recruiting 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 recruiting team, including hiring managers, in a way which can identify you. Any information you do provide, will be used only to produce and monitor equal opportunities statistics.
Shortlisting and Pre-Employment Checks
Our hiring managers shortlist applications for interview. They will not be provided with your equal opportunities information if you have provided it. We will contact your referees, using the details you provide in your application, directly to obtain references.
All applicants who are invited to an interview will be required to bring with them proof of identity, proof of address, right to work in the UK, address and qualifications.
- Proof of your identity – you will be asked to attend our office with original documents, we will take copies.
- Proof of address – you will be asked to attend our office with original documents, to assist in the Recruitment process
- Proof of your qualifications – you will be asked to attend our office with original documents, we will take copies.
- Proof of date of birth is necessary so that LSF may verify the identity, and check for any unexplained discrepancies in the employment and education history, of all applicants.
Assessments
We might ask you to participate in an assessment day; complete tests and/or to 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 LSF.
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 in our talent pool 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 following the formal interview, any such offer will be conditional on the following;
- the agreement of a mutually acceptable start date and the signing of a contract incorporating the Foundation’s standard terms and conditions of employment;
- verification of the applicant’s identity (where that has not previously been verified);
- verification of qualifications, whether professional or otherwise, which the Foundation takes into account in making the appointment decision, or which are referred to in the application form, if a requirement for the role;
- verification of the applicant’s employment history;
- the receipt of two references (one of which must be from the applicant’s most recent employer) which the Foundation considers to be satisfactory;
- for positions which involve “teaching work”, information about whether the applicant has ever been referred to, or is the subject of a sanction, restriction or prohibition issued by the National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL) which renders them unable or unsuitable to work at the Foundation;
- for applicants who have carried out teaching work outside the UK, information about whether the applicant has ever been referred to, or is the subject of a sanction issued by a regulator of the teaching profession in any other country which renders them unable or unsuitable to work at the Foundation;
- where the position amounts to “regulated activity” the receipt of an enhanced disclosure from the Disclosure Barring Service which the Foundation considers to be satisfactory;
- where the position amounts to “regulated activity” confirmation that the applicant is not named on the Children’s Barred List;
- for management positions, information about whether the applicant has ever been referred to the Department for Education, or is the subject of a direction under section 128 of the Education and Skills Act 2008 which renders them unable or unsuitable to work at the Foundation;
- confirmation that the applicant is not disqualified from working in connection with early or later years’ provision;
- verification of the applicant’s right to work in the UK; and any further checks which the Foundation decides are necessary as a result of the applicant having lived or worked outside of the UK which may include an overseas criminal records check, certificate of good conduct or professional references.
Criminal Records Checks
The Foundation applies for an enhanced disclosure from the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) and a check of the Children’s Barred List (now known as an Enhanced Check for Regulated Activity) in respect of all positions at the Foundation which amount to “regulated activity” as defined in the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 (as amended).
The DBS issues the DBS disclosure certificate to the subject of the check only, rather than to the Foundation. It is a condition of employment with the Foundation that the original disclosure certificate is provided to the Foundation within two weeks of it being received by the applicant.
Medical Fitness
It is the Foundation’s practice that all applicants to whom an offer of employment is made must complete a Medical Questionnaire to establish your fitness to work. The Foundation may arrange for the information contained in the Health Questionnaire to be reviewed by the Foundation’s medical advisor.
Use of data processors
Data processors are third parties who provide elements of our recruitment service for us. We have contracts in place with our data processors. This means that they cannot do anything with your personal information unless we have instructed them to do it. They will not share your personal information with any organisations apart from us. They will hold it securely and retain it for the period we instruct.
If we make a final offer, we will also ask you for the following:
- Bank details – to process salary payments
- Student loans – to process salary payments
- Emergency contact details – so we know who to contact in case you have an emergency at work
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 and in accordance with the Foundation’s internal Information and Record Retention policy after employment terminates. This will include copies of documents used to verify identity, right to work in the UK, medical fitness and qualifications.
If you are unsuccessful at any stage of the process, the information you have provided until that point will be confidentially destroyed six 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.
Vacancy Filler will provide us with management information about our recruitment campaigns. This is anonymised information which tells us about the effectiveness of campaigns, for example, from which source did we get the most candidates, equal opportunities information for monitoring purposes. This anonymised information will be retained for 6 years from the end of the campaign.
How we make decisions about recruitment?
Final recruitment decisions are made by hiring managers and members of our recruiting team. All of the information gathered during the application process is taken into account.
You are able to ask about decisions made about your application by speaking to your contact within our recruiting team or by emailing recruitment@lsf.org
REQUESTING ACCESS TO YOUR PERSONAL DATA
Under data protection legislation, you have the right to request access to information about you that we hold. To make a request for your personal information, put the request in writing addressing it to the Data Protection Officer or email dataprotection@lsf.org.
If we do hold information about you, we will:
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- 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.
You also have the right to:
- object to processing of personal data that is likely to cause, or is causing, damage or distress
- prevent processing for the purpose of direct marketing
- object to decisions being taken by automated means
- in certain circumstances, have inaccurate personal data rectified, blocked, erased or destroyed; and
- claim compensation for damages caused by a breach of the Data Protection regulations
If you have a concern about the way we are collecting or using your personal data, or to correct any mistakes on the information we hold about you, we ask that you raise your concern with us in the first instance. Alternatively, you can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office at https://ico.org.uk/concerns/
Please be as specific as you can about the information you’re asking us about. If possible, state which School or department is holding the information and why.
Before we can consider your request, we will need to check your identity and your right to access the information you are requesting. This means we may ask you to supply us with a copy of the identification pages of your current passport or photo driving licence. We may also ask you for proof of your current address.
QUERIES AND COMPLAINTS
The Foundation 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 the Foundation’s collection and use of personal information. However, we are happy to provide any additional information or explanation needed.
If an individual believes that the Foundation has not complied with this notice or acted otherwise than in accordance with Data Protection Law, they should utilise the Foundation’s Complaints policy and should also notify the Data Protection Officer. You can also make a referral to or lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), although the ICO recommends that steps are taken to resolve the matter with the Foundation before involving the regulator. Their address is: First Contact Team, Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, SK9 5AF.
HOW TO CONTACT US
Any comments or queries on this notice, or if you want to request more information about our privacy notice, you can contact the Data Protection Officer at dataprotection@lsf.org or in writing to 3 Burton Walks, Loughborough, Leics LE12 2DU
CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY NOTICE
We keep our privacy notice under regular review. The Foundation will update this Privacy Notice from time to time. Any substantial changes that affect your rights will be provided to you directly as far as is reasonably practicable.
This privacy notice was last updated on 17th May 2018.