PrivacyPolicy Statement

The Company collects and processes a range of information.  This comes from our employees predominately.

The Company collects this information in a variety of ways. For example, data is collected through application forms or CVs; obtained from passports or other identity documents such as driving licence; from forms completed at the start of or during employment (such as benefit nomination forms); from correspondence; or through interviews, meetings or other assessments.

In some cases, the Company collects personal data from third parties, such as references supplied by former employers and information from criminal records checks permitted by law.

Information may come from the UKVI, (UK Visas and Immigration Service) in relation to right to work in the UK.

If an employee has been subject to a TUPE transfer information will be given to us from the previous employer.

The Company needs to process data to enter into an employment contract and to meet its obligations under the employment contract. For example, it needs to process data to provide an employment contract, to pay employees in accordance with employment contracts and to administer benefit or pension entitlements.

The Company needs to process data to ensure that it is complying with its legal obligations. For example it is required to check an employee’s entitlement to work in the UK, to deduct tax, to comply with health and safety laws and to enable employees to take periods of leave to which they are entitled. For certain positions within educational or care home settings, it is necessary to carry out criminal records checks to ensure that individuals are permitted to undertake the role in question.  It is also a requirement to abide by the statutory guidance for schools and colleges, this involves obtaining information that may not be required in other businesses.

In other cases, the Company has a legitimate interest in processing personal data before, during and after the end of the employment relationship.

Some special categories of personal data, such as information about health or medical conditions, is processed to carry out employment law obligations (such as those in relation to employees with disabilities and for health and safety purposes). Information about trade union membership is only processed to allow the Company to operate payment for union subscriptions where requested by the employee.

Where the Company processes other special categories of personal data, such as information about ethnic origin, sexual orientation, health or religion or belief, this is done for the purposes of equal opportunities monitoring. Data that the Company uses for these purposes is collected with the express consent of employees, which can be withdrawn at any time. Employees are entirely free to decide whether or not to provide such data and there are no consequences of failing to do so.

Data is stored in a range of different places, including in personnel files at Head Office, in the Company’s IT system and on site.

Information will be shared internally, with members of the HR team (including payroll), managers in the business area and IT staff where access to the data is necessary for performance of their roles.

We sometimes need to share the personnel information we process with other organisations.  Where this is necessary we comply with all aspects of the Data Protection Act (DPA) and information is limited to a need to know basis only. The Company shares data with third parties in order to obtain pre-employment references from other employers and to obtain necessary criminal records checks from the Disclosure and Barring Service. The Company may also share data with third parties in the context of a TUPE transfer and with schools where this is requested as part of their single central register requirements. In those circumstances the data will be subject to confidentiality arrangements.

The Company also shares data with third parties that process data on its behalf, in connection with payroll, the provision of benefits, the provision of training and the provision of occupational health services.

The Company will not transfer data to countries outside the European Economic Area.

The Company takes the security of data seriously. The Company has internal policies and controls in place to try to ensure that data is not lost, accidentally destroyed, misused or disclosed, and is not accessed except by its employees in the performance of their duties. Any data that is kept in paper form is in locked cabinet to which only authorised personnel have access. Any data stored within the Company’s IT system can also only be accessed by authorised personnel.

Where the Company engages third parties to process personal data on its behalf, they do so on the basis of written instructions, are under a duty of confidentiality and are obliged to implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure the security of data.

The Company has a hardware firewall across the entire company network and antivirus software on all PC’s and laptops.

The Company will hold personal data for the duration of employment. The periods for which data is held after the end of employment are:-

• Personal data comprising details of next of kin, death in service, equal opportunities monitoring, trade union membership and holiday request forms – data will not be held after the end of employment.
• Payroll data (e.g. data relating to PAYE, maternity pay, SSP) – 3 years (HMRC may request payroll data for ex-employees up to 3 years following the end of employment).
• Employee records (e.g. data relating to employees’ personal records, performance appraisals, disciplinaries, contracts) – 6 years (this data could be used to defend a county court or high court claim which may occur up to 6 years later)

As a data subject, an employee has a number of rights. They can:

• access and obtain a copy of their data on request
• require the Company to change incorrect or incomplete data
• require the Company to delete or stop processing their data, for example where the data is no longer necessary for the purposes of processing
• object to the processing of their own data where the Company is relying on its legitimate interests as the legal ground for processing
• ask the Company to stop processing data for a period if data is inaccurate or there is a dispute about whether or not their interests override the Company’s legitimate grounds for processing data

If an employee would like to exercise any of these rights, please contact the Human Resources Department at HR@accentcatering.co.uk.

If an employee believes that the Company has not complied with data protection rights, they can complain to the Information Commissioner.

All employees have some obligations under their employment contract to provide the Company with data. In particular, they are required to report absences from work and may be required to provide information about disciplinary or other matters under the implied duty of good faith. They may also have to provide the Company with data in order to exercise their statutory rights, such as in relation to statutory leave entitlements. Failing to provide the data may mean that they are unable to exercise their statutory rights.

Certain information, such as contact details, right to work in the UK and payment details, have to be provided to enable the Company to enter a contract of employment. If they do not provide other information, this will hinder the Company’s ability to administer the rights and obligations arising as a result of the employment relationship efficiently.

Employment decision are not based solely on automated decision making.