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Privacy Policy

PRIVACY POLICY FOR BERKELEY GROUP PLC JOB APPLICANTS

WHO WE ARE 

The Berkeley Group plc (Company number 01454064, whose registered office is at Berkeley House, 19 Portsmouth Road, Cobham, Surrey, KT11 1JG) (“Berkeley Group”, “we”, “us”, “our”) collects, uses and is responsible for certain personal data about you. When we do so, we are subject to the Data Protection Act 2018, and the UK General Data Protection Regulation, any national implementing laws, regulations and secondary legislation, and any related or successor legislation on data protection (“Data Protection Law”).

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THIS POLICY? 

This Policy describes how we collect and use personal data about you during and after the recruitment process. This Policy applies to all job applicants and does not form part of any contract of employment or other contract. Please read this Policy carefully, together with any other policy or notice relating to your personal data which we may provide on specific occasions when we are collecting or processing personal data about you.

TERMINOLOGY USED IN THIS POLICY

When we refer to “personal data” in this Policy, we mean any information about an individual which can be used to identify that individual. When we refer to ““special category” personal data in this Policy, we mean types of personal data which require a higher level of protection, for example, information revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions or religious beliefs. For the purposes of Data Protection Law, we are a “data controller”. This means that we are responsible for deciding how we hold and use personal data about you.

 PERSONAL DATA WE COLLECT ABOUT YOU 

We may collect, store, and use the following categories of personal data about you depending upon where you are in the recruitment process: 
  • Personal contact details such as name, title, addresses, telephone numbers, and personal email addresses 
  • Date of birth 
  • Gender 
  • Marital status and dependants 
  • National Insurance number 
  • Bank account details, payroll records and tax status information 
  • Salary, annual leave, pension and benefits information 
  • Details of the office to which you are applying to work 
  • Copy of driving licence 
  • Copy of identification information (for example passport, birth certificate, utility bill) 
  • Recruitment information (including copies of right to work documentation, references and other information included in a CV or cover letter or as part of the application process) 
  • Employment records (including job titles, work history, working hours, holidays, training records and professional memberships).
We may also collect, store and use the following special category personal data: 
  • Information about your race or ethnicity, religious beliefs, sexual orientation and political opinions.
  • Whether or not you have a disability for which we need to make reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process, and if so, the nature of that disability to the extent required to make such reasonable adjustments. 
  • We may also collect, store and use personal data relating to criminal convictions and offences. Please see below for further information about our collection and use of such data.
HOW IS YOUR PERSONAL DATA COLLECTED? 

We collect personal data about job applicants through the application and recruitment/on-boarding process on Pinpoint ATS, either directly from the individual or sometimes from an employment agency or background check provider. We may sometimes collect additional data from third parties including former employers or other background check agencies. You are not obliged by statute or contract to provide any personal data to the company during the recruitment process, however, we will only ask for information which is required to make an employment decision and carry out appropriate checks in line with our business needs.

To review Pinpoints Data Policy, please review Security & Privacy | Pinpoint.

HOW WE USE YOUR PERSONAL DATA 

Under Data Protection Law, we can only use your personal data if we have a proper reason for doing so. Most commonly, we will only use your personal data in the following circumstances: 

  1. where we need to do so to take steps (at your request) prior to, or in order to, consider your application for a job, or enter into a contract with you (for example, your employment contract); or 
  2. where we need such personal data in order to comply with a legal obligation; or 
  3. where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests.
Situations in which we will use your personal data 

The situations in which we may process your personal data are listed below. 

  • Considering your application for a job
  • Making a decision about your recruitment or engagement 
  • Determining the terms on which you work for us 
  • Checking that you are legally entitled to work in the UK 
  • Ensuring compliance with your statutory rights 
  • Complying with health and safety obligations 
  • To prevent fraud 
  • Equal opportunities monitoring 
  • To set up payment arrangements for your salary and expenses should you be offered employment 
  • Ensuring you will receive benefits from the start of your employment. Some of the above grounds for processing will overlap and there may be several grounds which justify our use of your personal data.

If you fail to provide personal data 

If you fail to provide certain information when requested, we may not be able to process your job application either in whole or at all, or we may be prevented from complying with our legal obligations, and you may be unable to exercise your statutory rights.

Change of purpose 

We will only use your personal data for the purposes for which we collected it, i.e. to process your recruitment application. If you are unsuccessful in your application, we may wish to continue to hold your personal data in case of future opportunities for which we believe you would be suitable. We will ask for your consent to keep your personal data for this purpose and you will be able to withdraw such consent at any time.

HOW WE USE SPECIAL CATEGORY PERSONAL DATA 

Where it is necessary for us to collect special category personal data (as defined above), we will ensure that such data is suitably protected. We may process special categories of personal data in the following circumstances: 

  1. in limited circumstances, with your explicit written consent; or 
  2.  where we need to carry out our legal obligations or exercise rights in connection with employment; or 
  3. where it is needed in the public interest, such as for equal opportunities monitoring; or 
  4. less commonly, we may process this type of data where it is needed in relation to legal claims.

Situations in which we will use your special category personal data 

The situations in which we may process your special category personal data are listed below: 

  • To ensure we comply with your statutory rights. 
  • To assess your suitability for employment. 
  • We will use information about your physical or mental health, or disability status, to ensure your health and safety in the workplace and to assess your fitness to work, to provide appropriate adjustments to allow you attend interview. 
  • We may use information about your race or national or ethnic origin, religious, philosophical or moral beliefs, or your sexual life or sexual orientation, to ensure meaningful equal opportunity monitoring and reporting in recruitment. Such personal data used for these purposes is either anonymised or collected with your explicit consent which may be withdrawn at any time. We may use your special categories of personal data, and any information about any criminal convictions and offences, where it is needed to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.
WHO WE SHARE YOUR PERSONAL DATA WITH 

We may share your personal data internally within the company in order to progress your job application and make a decision about recruitment. This will include sharing your data with members of the People Team and Recruitment Team, managers in the department advertising the vacancy and IT staff if necessary. We will only disclose your personal data to third parties when the law allows us to do so. These may include, but are not limited to: 

  • External organisations for the purposes of conducting pre-employment reference and employment background checks 
  • Former employers or other referees in order to collect references 
  • Professional advisors 
  • Regulators to ensure compliance with the law 
  • Other third parties where it is necessary in order to enter into a contract with you, in order to comply with a legal obligation, or where it is necessary for our interests (or those of a third party) 
  • Banking providers (for example where making travel expense payments) 
  • Affiliated companies within Berkeley’s corporate group, such as subsidiary corporations, for their recruitment, recordkeeping and/or reporting purposes 
  • External organisations for the purposes of conducting aptitude tests/assessments and/or other similar activities to aid us in the recruitment process
KEEPING YOUR PERSONAL DATA SECURE 

We have appropriate security measures in place to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, or used or accessed unlawfully. We limit access to your personal data to those who have a genuine business need to know it. Those processing your personal data will only do so in an authorised manner and are subject to a duty of confidentiality. 

In the event that we become aware of an actual or suspected data security breach, we will promptly take all necessary steps to address such breach. 

Where your personal data is shared with third parties, we require all third parties to take appropriate security measures to protect your personal data and to treat it subject to a duty of confidentiality and in accordance with data protection law.

HOW LONG YOUR PERSONAL DATA WILL BE KEPT 

We will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements.

In some circumstances we may anonymise your personal data so that it can no longer be associated with you, in which case we may use such data without further notice to you.

If your application for employment is successful, personal data collected during the recruitment process will be retained for the duration of your employment or engagement. Our privacy statement for Berkeley Group Employees and Workers will then apply to you. 

YOUR RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Your duty to inform us of changes It is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal data changes during your working relationship with us.  Under certain circumstances, by law you have the right to: 

  • Request access to your personal data (commonly known as a “data subject access request”). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal data we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it. 
  • Request correction of the personal data that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate data we hold about you corrected. 
  • Request erasure of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal data where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal data where you have exercised your right to object to processing (see below). 
  • Object to processing of your personal data where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground. 
  • Request the restriction of processing of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of personal data about you, for example if you want us to establish its accuracy or the reason for processing it. 
  • Request the transfer of your personal data to another party. 
If you wish to exercise any of the above rights please contact us using the following email address data.protection@berkeleygroup.co.uk. 

For more information about your rights, we would recommend that you look at the Information Commissioners website at www.ico.gov.uk. 

No fee usually required 

You will not normally have to pay a fee to access your personal data (or to exercise any of the other rights), however, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request for access is clearly unfounded or excessive. Alternatively, we may refuse to comply with the request in such circumstances. 

What we may need from you 

We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access the information (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is another appropriate security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it.

RIGHT TO WITHDRAW CONSENT 

In the limited circumstances where you may have provided your consent to the collection, processing and transfer of your personal data for a specific purpose, you have the right to withdraw your consent for that specific processing at any time. To withdraw your consent, please contact us. Once we have received notification that you have withdrawn your consent, we will no longer process your data for the purpose or purposes you originally agreed to, unless we have another legitimate basis for doing so in law. 

AUTOMATED DECISION MAKING

Our recruitment processes are not based solely on automated decision-making (i.e. when an electronic system uses your personal data to make a decision without human intervention). 

HOW TO CONTACT US

If you have any questions about this Policy or how we handle your personal data, please contact us using the following email address data.protection@berkeleygroup.co.uk or by writing to The Legal Dept., The Berkeley Group plc, Berkeley House, 19 Portsmouth Road, Cobham, Surrey KT11 1JG.

In the event you have a complaint relating to our handling of your personal data, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with the UK Information Commissioner. We encourage you to contact us first with a view to letting us help in resolving any query or concern you raise about our use of your information.

CHANGES TO THIS POLICY

We reserve the right to update this Policy at any time, and we will republish it when we make any substantial updates. We may also notify you in other ways from time to time about the processing of your personal data.