Privacy Notice
Relating to job applicants
Care UK Care Services Limited, part of the Care UK Group, is a residential care services provider based in the UK and is registered as a data controller with the Information Commissioner's Office with registration number: Z5883635.
We recognise the privacy and security of personal information is of great importance to our residents, their families and representatives, our workers and others such as GPs and all those involved in looking after the welfare of our residents.
We have provided this Privacy Notice to set out why we need to collect personal information for individuals who apply for jobs with us, how we use it and how we protect it.
We have appointed a Data Protection Officer who is responsible for overseeing questions relating to this Privacy Notice. If you have any questions, please refer to the “How to Contact Us” section below.
Our privacy policy is governed by the principle of only collecting and using personal information when they help us provide a better experience to those for whom and with whom we work with now or in the future and to meet our legitimate interests including to protect our residents and workers.
Since January 2021 your and our data protection rights and obligations are set out in what is known as the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), which in all material respects replicates EU data protection laws.
The personal information we refer to in this Privacy Notice includes information that can be used to identify you. Your name and address are the main examples.
Set out below is the personal information we collect and the reasons why we need it.
How do we collect information from you?
We collect information about you when you apply for a job, we communicate with you, or you use our website.
What types of information do we collect from you?
Personal data or personal information can be any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. We may collect, use, store and transfer different types of personal data about you which we have grouped together as follows:
When applying for a job with our company
- Personal information including title, full name, address, telephone numbers, email address, marital status, date of birth, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation and health.
- Copies of personal identification documents e.g. passport, driving licence
- Qualifications
- Professional bodies member numbers and Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC) PINs
- DBS disclosure numbers
- Details of your work experience and your previous employers details
- Right to work
- Personal information in the public domain.
When you visit one of our care homes
- Name of the visitor, purpose of their visit and car registration details if car parking was used.
- Information relating to the prevention and detection of crime and the safety of residents and workers including CCTV recording.
When you use the Care UK website
- Any personal details you knowingly provide us with through forms or email, such as your name, address, telephone numbers and email address. We use the information that you provide so we can respond to your requests for information and to process your job application.
- Your preferences and use of email communications
- Your IP Address: this is a string of numbers unique to your computer that is recorded by our web server when you request any page or component on the website. This information is used to measure your usage of the website.
- We use software called Google Analytics to track your visits to our website and Infinity Cloud that means if you call us direct from our website, Facebook page, Google or an advert, we can better understand your interest and combine information collected during the call with browsing information.
What information do we get from other sources?
- We also work with other companies who provide professional services including the Disclosure and Barring Service, Professional Validation bodies, Professional Registration bodies, employment agencies, Occupational Health consultants and reference providers.
- The Sense Talent Engagement Platform provides an interview booking schedule process which includes providing the interviewer with interviewee contact details and information on the types of role the interviewee is looking for.
- We use Microsoft Power based technology to automatically transfer and consolidate information from the Medigold Occupation Health forms into our applicant tracking system (Harbour) part of our recruitment process.
How we use the information about you?
- Where you have registered your details on our job web site and consented to receive job alerts, we will send emails listing available jobs according to the preferences you have provided us.
- We process your personal data to progress your job application with us and to provide you with job information you have requested.
- To progress your application, verify your identify and credentials, we share your personal data with our Recruitment IT System supplier, the Disclosure and Barring Service, Professional Validation bodies, Professional Registration bodies, employment agencies and Occupational Health consultants.
- For individuals who have received conditional offers of employment from us, we may contact you via your personal mobile telephone number or personal email address regarding company news and information relating to your forthcoming employment. You may unsubscribe from this service at any time.
- We share information within the Care UK Group to provide necessary administrative and managerial support.
- We use either personal or anonymised data to review our recruitment processes as part of our continuing work to improve our services and meet the needs of our residents.
- We use cookies on our website to collect information to enable us to better present the job vacancies that we offer. Our Cookie policy provides further information.
We are required from time to time to provide specific information about you without your or your representative’s consent. This may include:
- Reporting health or safety issues
- Where there is a legal or statutory requirement, court order or public authority instructs us to do so
- Supporting police investigations, professional conduct hearings and safeguarding investigations in the public interest.
In exceptional circumstances, we may be required to share information without your or your representative’s consent. Circumstances may include:
- Where a serious crime or fraud has been committed.
- If there is a serious risk to the public, resident or employees.
- Where there is a need to protect children or vulnerable adults who are not able to decide if their personal data should be shared.
Standard Personal Information and Special Category Information
- Much of the above information is called standard personal information, such as names, addresses, contact details, identification paperwork, financial details and information, and how you use our website and other IT technologies.
- There is also what is called special category information, which tends to be more sensitive and results in additional protection being afforded to it.
- Special category information comprises race, ethnic origin, sex life and sexual orientation, religion, marital status and healthcare.
- Healthcare information covers both physical and mental aspects and may include genetic and biometric information, medical history and records including of disabilities or special requirements.
Lawful basis for processing
At Care UK, we care for vulnerable adults in our care homes across England, Wales and Scotland. This is a heavily regulated activity that requires collection, processing and storage of a considerable large amount of data about the residents, visitors, contractors and in general any person we come into contact that is relevant to the regulated activity we perform.
Article 6 of the UK GDPR sets out the bases for our processing standard personal information, and article 9 likewise for special category information. Different stages and aspects of our relationship with you give different bases. For example, assessing your initial candidature will involve less initial personal data about you than once an in principle job offer has been made and accepted. We may need to consider, for example, any health issues, but we will always have to meet legal and regulatory requirements, and to enable us to contract with you. To quote the UK GDPR, ‘’processing is necessary :
- For the performance of a contract to which the data subject is party or in order to take steps at the request of the data subject prior to entering into a contract…”
- For the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller….”
- For compliance with a legal obligation to which the controller is subject for the purposes of preventive or occupational medicine… medical diagnosis, the provision of health or social care or treatment or the management of health or social care systems and services on the basis of domestic law …” For example we are subject to the Care Homes Regulations 2001 as well as other statutes and regulations.
- Other bases include the necessity to protect your vital interests and our legitimate interests in managing our relationship with you, and where you have provided us with your unambiguous consent, but all bases are prescribed by and confined to the specific purposes for the lawful processing of the particular information.
When we process special category of data under article 9 of the UK GDPR, we will do so with your express consent; unless the 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 or the management of health or social care systems and services on the basis of domestic law or pursuant to contract with a health professional.
How we store, process and protect your data
We take the privacy and security of your personal data very seriously. We ensure we handle your data with the highest level of care by having clear internal policies and procedures, physical security to our premises and IT security technologies to prevent the unauthorised access, damage and loss of your data.
The personal data that we collect from you is only stored inside the UK, the European Economic Area (EEA), the USA (in accordance with the data bridge that permits certified US companies to receive UK personal data (the ‘UK-US data bridge’) (see https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-us-data-bridge-supporting-documents), and countries, territories and sectors covered by the European Commission’s adequacy decisions (in force at 31 December 2020) or any other country or international organisation where we have provided appropriate safeguards in accordance with Article 46 of the UK GDPR, thereby ensuring we achieve the maximum privacy and security in line with UK Data Protection Laws.
How long will we hold your personal data
- We will only keep your information for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including satisfying any legal, contractual or reporting requirements. How long we keep the data for is determined by law and is largely determined by necessity. Once your information is no longer required it will be securely destroyed.
Your right to have your data deleted
- This is known as the ‘right to erasure’ or the ‘right to be forgotten’. You can ask us to delete your data where retaining it is no longer necessary.
- Whilst at all times compliant with legislation and acting reasonably, we reserve the right to judge what information we must continue to hold to be able to fulfil our legal and contractual obligations to you or legal obligation owed to others.
- We may anonymise your personal data (so that you can no longer be identified) for research and analysis purposes in which case we may use this information indefinitely without further notice to you.
- Where we process data based solely on your consent, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. For job alerts, you can choose to no longer receive these emails also at any time.
Access to your information and correction
- You have the right to request a copy of the information that we hold about you. If you would like a copy of some or all of your personal information, please email or write to us at the address set out in the “How to Contact Us” section below.
- You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal data and you are entitled to receive a copy of your personal data within one calendar month of receipt of your request once we have verified your identity.
- It may take us longer if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests, in which case, we will notify you and keep you updated.
- You have the right to receive the personal data you provided to us in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format or to request from us to transmit this data directly to another controller. This portability right only applies when our lawful basis for processing your information is consent, or for the performance of a contract; and we are carrying out the processing by automated means (i.e. excluding paper files).
- We want to make sure that your personal information is accurate and up to date. You may ask us to correct or remove information you think is inaccurate.
- We may ask for proof of identity before we share your personal data with you or your representative.
Request restriction of processing
You have the right to request us to suspend the processing of your personal data where:
- You want us to establish the data’s accuracy or
- Where our use might be unlawful but you do not want us to erase it or
- You need us to hold the data even if we no longer require it as you need it to establish and exercise any legal claims or
- You have objected to our use of your data but you need to verify whether we have a legitimate need to use it.
If possible we will inform any third parties to whom your data has been disclosed of your requirement.
Automated decision making
- You have the right not to be subject to decisions made solely on automated data processing if the decisions have legal impact or significantly affects you.
- The Sense and robotic process automation systems contain automated systems which are used when processing job applications, but in all cases human intervention is required about offering a candidate a job.
Other websites
Our website contains links to other websites. This privacy policy only applies to this website so when you link to other sites, please read their own Privacy Notices.
Changes to our privacy policy
- We regularly review our privacy policy and will place any updates on this webpage.
- This policy was last updated in November 2024
How to contact us
Please contact us if you want to exercise any of your rights or if you have any questions about our privacy policy or information we hold about you.
Data Protection Officer
Care UK
Connaught House
850 The Crescent
Colchester
Essex
CO4 9QB
Email: dpo.carehomes@careuk.com
You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues (www.ico.org.uk). We would, however, like to have the opportunity to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO so please contact us in the first instance.
