The University of Westminster is the data controller of the personal data collected and held in relation to prospective employees.
Confidentiality
The University of Westminster takes its data protection obligations very seriously. Access to any personal information you give us when making an application for a staff role is subject to a staff confidentiality agreement. Access to your personal information is limited by permissions to only those staff and administrators who need access to manage and respond to your application.
Your personal data
All of the information you provide us with during the recruitment process will be used to progress your application, for statistical monitoring and in order to fulfil any necessary legal requirements.
We do not collect more information than we require in order to fulfil our recruitment purpose and will not retain for any longer than necessary.
Your information will not be shared with any third parties for marketing purposes and will not be stored outside of the European Economic Area. We will hold your information securely on our HR SAP system or in electronic or physical format.
We will use the contact details provided by you in order to progress your application, equal opportunities information for monitoring purposes as above and all other biographical information to assess your suitability for the role you have applied for.
Use of personal data – application stage
The decision on the candidate to be appointed is made by the appointing panel/person(s). All information gathered throughout the process is taken into consideration.
If you are successful at the interview/assessment stage, we will then make a conditional offer of employment and we will ask you for further information in order to complete pre-employment checks as follows:
- Proof of your right to work in the UK: if you hold a British or Irish passport, you will be asked to come into the office to allow a manual right to work check to be undertaken. If you hold a Biometric Residence Card (BRC), Biometric Residence Permit (BRP), Frontier Worker (FWP) or digital proof of your immigration status (known as eVisa/electronic visa) we will carry out the check online via the Home Office online right to work checking service.
- Proof of your qualifications: you will be asked to provide copies of your original documents; you may be asked to come to the office with these documents to allow us to take copies.
- Criminal Convictions Declaration: you will be asked to complete a criminal convictions declaration to detail any unspent convictions
- Referees: we will contact your referees using the details provided in your application
- Health Questionnaire: we will ask you to complete a questionnaire about your health, which is to confirm your fitness to work. This questionnaire is completed and then submitted via Health Management, please see further details below
- Bank and Tax Details Form: confirmation of your bank and tax details will be requested, this is to enable us to process salary
- Personal Details Form: you will be asked to complete a form with personal details including address, emergency contact details and next of kin details. This is so we have a contact in case you have an emergency at work
- Equal Opportunities Monitoring Form: you will be asked to complete a form providing equal opportunities information. This is separate from information collected at the application stage. This is not mandatory and for each question, you will have the option to select ‘prefer not to disclose’. We collect this information for monitoring purposes
- HESA Starter Information: you will be requested to complete a form providing information for the annual statistical returns to the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), which is a mandatory requirement. Please see below for further information
- DBS Check: for some roles, there will be a requirement to carry out a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) Check. This will be made clear as soon as practicable and you will be required to complete an application form, which will be sent to Care Check who submit it to the Disclosure and Barring Service on our behalf. This check is a record of relevant criminal history and is required if the role involves working with vulnerable groups.
Health management
Health Management provide occupational health services for us. If we offer you a position, we will then ask you to complete a questionnaire, which will help to determine if you are fit to undertake the work you have been offered and to establish if any reasonable adjustments are needed.
You will be sent a link to questionnaire, which will lead you to Health Management’s website. Health Management will hold the information you provide and they will then provide us with a fit to work certificate or a report with recommendations. You will be given the option to view the report before it is sent to us. A possible recommendation could be an occupational health assessment and if this is the case it will be carried out by Health Management.
Please see Health Management’s Privacy Notice.
HESA
The University has a statutory requirement to disclose staff data to the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). This does not include name or contact details but does include equal opportunities information. HESA collects and is responsible for the database in which HESA staff records are stored. HESA uses that information in its own right to publish statistics about staff in higher education.
For further information about the way HESA uses staff information, please visit the HESA website where you can access the staff collection notice.
Care Check
If you require a DBS check, your completed application will be sent to Care Check who will process it on our behalf.
Please see Care Check Data Protection Policy and Procedures (PDF).
Please see DBS Privacy Policies.
Legal & General
If your contract states that you are eligible for enhanced life assurance (ie assurance which is additional to any to which you are eligible through the appropriate University pension scheme), the University will share the minimal required data with the service provider, Legal and General, in order that they can administer the insurance contract. This may also include the need to provide some data to other external suppliers who help to manage our Life Assurance scheme. Please see Legal and General’s privacy policy.
Legal basis for processing and data retention
Your personal details are necessary and used only for the purpose of processing your application, and where that involves sensitive personal data, your explicit consent will be recorded.
If you wish to withdraw from the application process at any stage, and cease the processing of your personal information, please liaise with your contact within our recruitment team or email [email protected].
If you are unsuccessful, the information you have provided us with, along with the information generated through interview/assessment, will be retained for a period of 12 months from the end of the recruitment campaign.
If you are successfully appointed, the information you have provided us with at application stage along with the information generated through interview/assessment and appointment stage will be retained in line with our colleague privacy notice.
Data transfers and sharing
None of your personal information is shared by the University with any other third party organisation, other than where this is necessary for the application process as outlined above, or where otherwise allowed by UK law.
Where services involve a third party processing your information, such services will be covered by a contract, and details of the services and the legal mechanism for any data transfers outside the EU and EEA can be initially requested from: [email protected].
Your rights
If you have any questions relating to your personal information and your information rights, including right of access, rectification and erasure, please see the University’s data protection web pages.
Or contact the University Information Compliance Team [email protected].
You can also contact the Information Commissioners’ Office in relation to any concerns or issue you may have with the processing of your personal information.
Last reviewed and updated October 2023.