We are Gearing Recruitment Solutions Ltd (Registered in England & Wales No. 13584008) of Office 2-5, Unit 2, Ashford Road, Hollingbourne, Kent, ME17 1XH

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This Privacy Notice sets out the basis on which we use personal data in the course of our business activities.

As a business which relies upon having access to information about Candidates to meet our Clients’ requirements, data is essential to our business. Our systems and processes are designed to ensure that we can provide the best possible service to our clients while operating within the law at all times and protecting individuals’ data privacy rights.

We reserve the right to update this Privacy Notice from time to time. Where appropriate, we shall contact you to notify you of any material changes to the Privacy Notice. You should also refer to our website periodically so that you may access and view our updated Privacy Notice. This will ensure that you understand (i) how we are using your personal data and (ii) your legal rights around our usage of such personal data.

This Privacy Notice applies to any living, identifiable individuals about whom we may process personal data in the course of our business activities.

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You should read this Privacy Notice if you are a:

• Candidate

• Client Contact

• Referee

• Supplier Contact

Please note that, in some cases, you will fall into more than one of the above categories.

WHERE WE OBTAIN YOUR PERSONAL DATA

We will obtain personal data relating to you directly if you have:

• Applied for a Client vacancy through us

• Uploaded your CV through our website

• Asked us to provide any work-finding services to you

• Provided any such data on our posts or pages on social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

• Engaged with us through any networking activities or events

• Had any discussions with us about finding alternative employment

We may also obtain personal data indirectly from:

• Online professional networking sites such as LinkedIn

• Social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter

• Job boards such as CV Library and Career Structure

• Clients who provide feedback about applications for employment or engagement which you have made, interviews which you have attended and assignments which you have carried out

• Referees who provide information about your employment experience and their opinion as to your skills and aptitude

• Your employer’s website and other industry-related websites

• Business information directories

• Online industry databases such as the Construction Industry Training Board

• Where appropriate, third-party background checking services such as the Disclosure & Barring Service

TYPES OF PERSONAL DATA WE HOLD

We will collect, store and process the following types of personal data about you:

• Personal contact details such as name, title, addresses, telephone numbers, and email addresses;

• Your gender, date of birth, nationality and place of residence;

• Your professional skills and experience;

• Your qualifications, training and certifications;

• Proof of your right to work in the United Kingdom such as copies of your passport and, where applicable, visa, residence permit or similar government documents;

• Proof of your identity and address, such as copies of your driving licence, utility bills or similar documents;

• Information about your current or most recent role, including your job title, department, reporting line, responsibilities, salary, benefits and notice period;

• Your motivation and reasons for seeking new employment;

• Any information within your CV or any application document which a Client may require you to complete;

• Any background information which you provide to us during the course of your dealings with us;

• Details of any Clients to whom you have been introduced by us;

• Details of any interviews which you have attended and our Clients’ feedback on those interviews;

• Details of any position which you take up with a Client, including your role, duties, remuneration, department and location;

• If you provide any services on a freelance basis:

• Details of any limited company through which you contract and the nature of your relationship with that company;

• Information about the days and times which you have worked;

• Your bank details, tax code and National Insurance Number; and

• Information about any services which you have carried out, including any comments, feedback and issues relating to such services.

We will also collect, store and use the following “special categories” of more sensitive personal data:

• Information about your race or ethnicity;

• Information about your health, including any medical condition, health and sickness records; and

• Information about criminal convictions and offences.

HOW WE USE YOUR PERSONAL DATA

We use your personal data to:

• Assess and verify your potential suitability for employment with a Client;

• Contact you in relation to any potential employment opportunities with a Client;

• Introduce you to our Clients and potentially arrange for you to fill a Client vacancy;

• Stay in regular contact with you to understand your current position, career aspirations and motivation for finding new employment;

• Where applicable, make payments to you or arrange for any third-party company through which you may contract to make payments to you;

• Contact you to ask for a referral;

• Produce anonymised statistical data;

• Carry out compliance checks to ensure that we have complied with our legal and contractual obligations;

• Comply with our legal obligations, defend or bring any legal proceedings and prevent fraud or any other crime;

• Conduct equal opportunities monitoring.

OUR LAWFUL BASIS FOR PROCESSING YOUR PERSONAL DATA

We have a legitimate interest to process your personal data where you are aCandidate, on the basis that it is necessary for us to maintain a database of individuals who are (i) actively seeking new employment with a Client or (ii) potentially suitable for employment with a Client. By processing your personal data and contacting you from time to time, we are able to gain an understanding of your current role (where applicable), your skills and experience, and your career aspirations. Our processing of your personal data is therefore of benefit to:

• You, as it assists us to identify new employment opportunities about which you might not otherwise been aware and to give general advice and guidance in support of your career development;

• Our Clients, who rely on us to have access to suitable, pre-qualified candidates who can fill their requirements; and

• Us, as we are a business which relies upon being able to introduce Candidates to our Clients

If you are a Candidate, we may also need to process sensitive (special) personal data relating to you. The type of sensitive personal data which we might process includes (i) information about any medical conditions or disability insofar as they are relevant to the type of work which you are proposing to carry out (ii) information about any unspent criminal convictions and, where relevant to the type of role which you are carrying out, spent convictions, police warnings etc and (iii) information about any trade union of which you are a member (but only insofar as it relates to an employment claim or pay and working conditions on a client site).

We are acting as an employment agency and/or an employment business in our dealings with you. In accordance with Article 9 (2)(b) of the GDPR, this sensitive personal data is necessary in the field of employment. i.e. it is required for performing our obligations as an employment agency or employment business and is used solely for this purpose. Any sensitive personal data shall be held strictly in accordance with our policies on data retention and sensitive personal data.

In addition to our legitimate interest, we may be required to process your data to comply with our legal obligations. For example, we are required to maintain auditable payroll records for seven years following the relevant pay period.

PARTIES WITH WHOM WE MAY SHARE YOUR PERSONAL DATA

We may share your personal data for legitimate purposes with:

• A Client where you have expressed an interest in being introduced to such Client or are being supplied to such Client on an assignment;

• Any third-party which is engaged by the Client to assist them in the recruitment process including a managed service company, Recruitment Process Outsourcing provider or IT platform provider;

• A Client-appointed auditor for the purpose of demonstrating that we have complied with our legal and contractual obligations;

• A third-party company through which you are contracting;

• A third-party company to which you have specifically asked to be introduced or referred, such as an insurance company or intermediary (umbrella) company;

• Background checking services such as the Disclosure & Barring Service;

• Industry bodies such as the Construction Industry Training Board and any similar organisations which are relevant to the market sector in which you work;

• Suppliers who in some cases may use their own subcontractors and sub-processors;

• Our bankers and recruitment finance providers;

• Governmental departments and agencies where we are permitted or required by law to do so.

We will share sensitive personal data relating to you with our Clients if there is a legitimate reason to do so. For example, we will share information about any medical condition which you have if it is relevant for health & safety purposes. We will share information about any convictions which you disclose as we are under a legal obligation to notify our Client of information which is relevant to your suitability to carry out an assignment.

WHERE WE OBTAIN YOUR PERSONAL DATA

We obtain personal data relating to you directly in the course of our dealings with you as a representative of the Supplier.

We also obtain personal data indirectly from:

• online professional networking sites such as LinkedIn

• your employer’s website and other industry-related websites

• business information directories

• other individuals within your organisation in the course of the Supplier providing services to us.

TYPES OF PERSONAL DATA WE HOLD

We will collect, store, and use the following categories of personal information about you:

• Personal contact details such as name, title, addresses, telephone numbers, and email addresses;

• Your job title and position within the Supplier organisation; and

• Any background information relating to the role which you perform within the Supplier which you may provide to us in the course of your dealings with us.

We do not collect, store or use any “special categories” of sensitive personal information if you are a Supplier Contact.

HOW WE USE YOUR PERSONAL DATA

We use your personal data to:

• Liaise with you in respect of services which are being provided by the Supplier;

• Contact you in relation to billing matters;

• Comply with our legal obligations, defend or bring any legal proceedings and prevent fraud or any other crime.

OUR LAWFUL BASIS FOR PROCESSING YOUR PERSONAL DATA

We have a legitimate interest to process your personal data where you are a Supplier Contact, on the basis that we need to be able to contact and interact with the individuals who are employed or engaged by our Suppliers. This will allow us to ensure that our Suppliers provide us with the best possible service which, in turn, is of direct benefit to both our Candidates and our Clients. We do not use your data in any way which could reasonably be considered to be prejudicial to your interests.

PARTIES WITH WHOM WE MAY SHARE YOUR PERSONAL DATA

We will share your personal data with other Suppliers who process this on our behalf.

Your personal data is held and processed by us in the United Kingdom.

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We have put in place appropriate safeguards to ensure that your data is only transferred to jurisdictions with enforceable data subject rights and effective legal remedies in respect of data privacy breaches. We will therefore only transfer your personal data to jurisdictions outside of the EEA where:

• There are binding corporate rules in place regarding the transfer of such data within the Group, in accordance with Article 47 of the GDPR.

  This means that the data transfer is between group companies and those group companies have agreed to share that data in accordance with the rules specified by the European Commission.

• The European Commission has made an adequacy decision in respect of such jurisdiction.

  This means that the European Commission has pre-approved the data privacy regime in the relevant non-EEA country. At present, the European Commission-approved jurisdictions are Andorra, Argentina, Canada (commercial organisations), Faroe Islands, Guernsey, Israel, Isle of Man, Jersey, New Zealand, Switzerland, Uruguay and the US (limited to the Privacy Shield framework).

• The transfer of data is subject to the model contractual clauses adopted by the European Commission.

  This means that we have a data-sharing agreement in place which complies with the requirements set out by the European Commission;

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• You have expressly given informed consent to the transfer of such data.

  This means that you have not only agreed to the transfer but have done so in the knowledge that your data may be transferred to a jurisdiction which does not give you the same degree of protection as you have within the EEA.

Automated decision-making takes place when an electronic system uses personal information to make a decision without human intervention.

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All decisions which are made in the course of our business processes involve human intervention. We do not make any decisions using automated means.

We will only retain your personal information 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.

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Our standard data retention period is 7 years for if we have successfully placed you or 5 years if not, from the last date on which we are in actual contact with you i.e. where we actually speak with you or exchange correspondence. After this time, we will usually delete your personal data from our records.

Where we are required to keep any information (i) for auditing or compliance purposes (ii) to comply with our contractual obligations to third parties or (iii) in respect of any potential or actual legal proceedings, we shall keep your data for as long as is strictly necessary for these purposes, which is typically for seven years in respect of audit data which we may be required to produce for HRMC and/or to prove compliance with our contractual and legal obligations.

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