Recruitment Data Privacy Notice

As part of any recruitment process, Ellel Ministries collects and processes personal data relating to job applicants and volunteers. We are committed to being transparent about how we collect and use that data and to meeting our data protection obligations.

What information do we collect?

Ellel Ministries collects a range of information about you. This includes:

Your name, address and contact details, including email address and telephone number, mobile number, and date of birth;
Details of your qualifications, skills, experience and employment history;
Whether or not you have a disability for which we need to make reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process;
Information about your nationality and entitlement to work in the UK; and
Information about how you became a Christian since an Occupational Requirement to be a Christian applies under the Equality Act 2010.

We 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 it may be collected through interviews or other forms of assessment.

We may also collect personal data about you from third parties, such as references supplied by former employers and information from criminal records checks. We will seek information from third parties only once a job offer to you has been made, unless you agree otherwise, and will inform you where we intend to do so.

Social media profiles may also be used during the process to assist in the verification and processing of your application.

Data will be stored in a range of different places, including your application record, personnel management systems and on other web-based IT systems (including email).

Why do we process personal data?

Ellel Ministries needs to process data to take steps at your request prior to entering into an employment or volunteer relationship with you. We may also need to process your data to enter into an employment or other contract with you.

We have a legitimate interest in processing personal data during the recruitment process and for keeping records of the process. Processing data from job applicants and volunteers allows us to manage recruitment and volunteering processes, assess and confirm a candidate’s suitability for employment or voluntary role with us and decide to whom to offer a job. We may also need to process data from job applicants or volunteers to respond to and defend against legal claims.

Should we be required to demonstrate that a resident labour market test has been carried out for immigration purposes, you need to be aware that some personal data may of necessity have to be shared with Home Office officials and legal advisors. As such it may need to be retained for an extended period of time. We may also legitimately process and share certain data with the Home Office to support an application for a work visa, if appropriate, and to prove your legal right to work in the UK.

We may process special categories of data, such as information about ethnic origin, sexual orientation or religion or belief, to monitor recruitment statistics. We may also collect information about whether applicants are disabled to make reasonable adjustments for candidates who have a disability. We process such information to carry out our obligations and exercise specific rights in relation to employment or volunteering activity.

In some cases, we need to process data to ensure that we are complying with our legal obligations. For example, we may need to seek information about criminal convictions and offences for safeguarding purposes. This is necessary to carry out legal obligations and exercise specific rights in relation to employment or volunteering activity. A criminal records check may be sought if the role you have applied for falls within the definition and scope of a legally regulated activity with children or vulnerable adults and thus a check is required to be made.

If your application is unsuccessful, we may ask to keep your personal data on file in case there are future opportunities for which you may be suited. We will ask for your consent before retaining your data for this purpose and you are free to withdraw your consent at any time.

Who has access to data?

Your information may be shared internally for the purposes of the recruitment exercise. This includes the personnel and recruitment team, interviewers involved in the recruitment process, managers in areas with a vacancy and IT staff if access to the data is necessary for the performance of their roles. Where the process relates to our Associate Ministry Team it will include the ministry office and members of the leadership team.

We will not share your data with third parties, unless your application for employment is successful and we make you an offer of employment. We will then share your data with former employers, or other persons you have named, to obtain references for you, and the Disclosure and Barring Service if necessary to obtain criminal records checks. We may also share data with the Home Office and other government departments should this be required to support a visa application or enable demonstration of a valid right to work in the UK, where we are required to do so. This also applies to volunteer applications.

We will not transfer your data outside the European Economic Area.

How does the organisation protect data?

Ellel Ministries takes the security of your data seriously. We have 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 authorised individuals in the proper performance of their duties.

Electronic records are held securely in restricted network folders or email accounts with access settings set to prevent access by unauthorised persons. Where data is held in paper form it is maintained in a locked filing cabinet in a secure office location.

For how long does the organisation keep data?

If your application is unsuccessful, we will hold your data on file for a maximum of 12 months after the end of the relevant recruitment process. If you agree to allow us to keep your personal data on file, we will hold your data on file for a further 6 months for consideration for future opportunities. At the end of that period, or once you withdraw your consent, your data will be deleted or destroyed.

If your application is successful, all personal data gathered during the recruitment process will be transferred to your personnel file and retained during your employment along with any further personnel – personal data that is required for the purposes of administering the employment or volunteering relationship and to meet our obligations under your employment contract or other legislation. If employed, your personal data will be retained for up to twelve years after employment ends unless an overriding legal reason applies. For volunteers the retention period will normally be six years after the volunteering relationship ends.

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 organisation to change incorrect or incomplete data;
Require the organisation to delete or stop processing your data, for example where the data is no longer necessary for the purposes of processing; and
Object to the processing of your data where the organisation is relying on its legitimate interests as the legal ground for processing.

If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please contact Robert Hay by email at personnel.emi@ellel.org. If you believe that we have not complied with your data protection rights, you can complain to the Information Commissioner.

What if you do not provide personal data?

You are under no statutory or contractual obligation to provide data to us during the recruitment process. However, if you do not provide the information, we may not be able to process your application properly or at all.