Privacy notice for job applicants

We are committed to protecting your privacy and complying with data protection legislation.  This Privacy Notice contains important information about us, how and why we collect, store, use and share personal data, your rights in relation to your personal information and on how to contact us and the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the supervisory authority, in the event you have a complaint.

If you are reading this Privacy Notice on our website, www.dmhstallard.com, please also refer to the separate website privacy notice and our Cookie policy which explains the use of cookies on our website.

Introduction

This Privacy Notice (including the Appendix) details how we collect and use personal information about you during any recruitment process with us, in accordance with applicable data protection legislation). It applies to current and former job applicants and candidates. This notice does not form part of any contract of employment or other contract to provide services.

Who we are

DMH Stallard is made up of different legal entities, some of which are below:

• DMH Stallard LLP is a limited liability partnership registered in England (registered number OC338287). Its registered office is Griffin House, 135 High Street, Crawley, West Sussex, RH10 1DQ and it is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

• DMH Stallard Service Company Limited is a limited company registered in England (registered number 01832830), which is a wholly owned entity of DMH Stallard LLP with the same registered office. DMH Stallard Service Company Limited employs all the employees of DMH Stallard LLP.

DMH Stallard LLP and DMH Stallard Service Company Limited may act as single or joint data controller(s) of the data we process about you.

This Privacy Notice is issued on behalf of DMH Stallard LLP and DMH Stallard Service Company Limited so when we mention “we”, “us” or “our” in this Privacy Notice, we are referring to the relevant entity responsible for processing your personal data. We may transfer your data between the entities where we are legally obliged to do so or where it is in our legitimate interests to do so.

Further information about how we process personal data, please contact our Data Protection Officer (DPO) using the contact details below.

The kind of information we hold about you

We collect, hold and use different types of personal information about you. Personal data is information about an individual from which that person can be identified.

There are “special categories” of more sensitive personal data which require a higher level of protection. Details of the types of information classified as special category data are set out in the Appendix below and our Data Protection and Compliance Policy, which you can obtain upon request to our HR team.

We will collect personal data during the recruitment process. Where you are successful in the recruitment process we will collect personal information in the course of job-related activities throughout the period of you working for us and we will issue you with an updated privacy notice in respect of this processing.

Details of the exact types of personal data collected, stored and used are set out at the Appendix to this Privacy Notice.

How is your personal information collected?

We collect personal information about you from the following sources:

• You, the candidate.
• Recruitment agencies.
• Background check providers and credit reference agencies.
• Disclosure and Barring Service in respect of criminal convictions.
• Your named referees.
• Publicly accessible sources.

How we use your personal data

We will use personal data you provide during the recruitment process to progress your application with a view to offering you a role with us, or to fulfil legal or regulatory requirements if necessary. Further detail is set out in the Appendix.

If you fail to provide certain information when requested, we may not be able progress your application for employment.

We will use any feedback you provide about our recruitment process to develop and improve our future recruitment campaigns.

We will only use your personal data for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose. If we need to use your personal data for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to do so.

How we will use special category data?

The reasons for us using your special category data are set out in the Appendix.

We do not need your consent to use special category data in accordance with our written policy to carry out our legal obligations or exercise specific rights in the field of employment law. In limited circumstances, we may approach you for your written consent to allow us to process certain special category data. If we do so, we will provide you with full details of the information that we would like and the reason we need it, so that you can carefully consider whether you wish to consent.

Do we collect information about criminal convictions?

We may occasionally collect information relating to criminal convictions where the law allows us to do so. This will usually be where we are entitled to carry out a criminal records check in order to satisfy ourselves that there is nothing in your criminal convictions history which makes you unsuitable for the role. We have in place an appropriate policy document and safeguards which we are required by law to maintain when processing such data.

We will only collect information about criminal convictions if it is appropriate given the nature of the role and where we are legally able to do so.

Automated decision-making

You will not be subject to decisions that will have a significant impact on you based solely on automated decision-making.

How do we share your personal data?

We may share your personal data with third parties, including recruitment agencies, third-party service providers and other entities in the DMH Stallard group.

We may need to share your personal data with a regulator or to otherwise comply with the law, such as where there is litigation and we are required to disclose personal information to a court or tribunal.

We require third parties to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law.

Transfer of your information out of the UK

We may transfer or store your personal data outside the United Kingdom (UK). This may include countries which do not provide the same level of protection as the data protection laws governing the UK. We will ensure that any such international transfers are made subject to appropriate or suitable safeguards as required by applicable data protection legislation or other relevant laws.

We will require all agents, consultants and sub-contractors and others who are outside the UK and to whom we transfer your personal data to ensure a similar level of data protection. When doing so we will comply with applicable data protection requirements and take appropriate safeguards to ensure the security and integrity of your personal data.

You may contact us anytime using the contact details below, if you would like further information on such safeguards.

Data security

We have put in place measures to protect the security of your information and procedures to deal with any suspected data security breach. Details of these measures are available upon request. We will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected breach where we are legally required to do so.

How long will you use my information for?

Where you are unsuccessful in your application we will retain any personal data we process in connection with the formal application process for a period of 12 months after we have communicated to you our decision about whether to appoint you to the specific role. We retain your personal data for that period so that we can show, in the event of a legal claim, that we have not discriminated against candidates on prohibited grounds and that we have conducted the recruitment exercise in a fair and transparent way. After this period, we will securely destroy your personal data in accordance with our data retention. Where you are successful in your application, we will retain such information for the period detailed in our employee privacy notice.

If we wish to retain your personal data on file, on the basis that a further opportunity may arise in future and we may wish to consider you for that, we will write to you separately, seeking your explicit consent to retain your personal data for a fixed period on that basis.

Where our HR team receive speculative CVs, unless we notify you of our intention to delete this, we will hold your CV for a period of 12 months. If we wish to hold it for a period longer than 12 months, we will contact you to seek your express consent.

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 information without further notice to you.

What are your responsibilities?

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 the recruitment process.

What are your rights?

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. 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.
• Request correction of the personal data that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate information 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). We will not be required to delete or remove personal data if your objection is not upheld.
• Object to processing of your personal data where we are relying on a legitimate interest as the reason for processing (as identified in the Appendix) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground. We are not obliged to uphold your objection where the legitimate interest relied on outweighs the reason for your objection.
• Request the restriction of processing of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of personal information about you, for example if you want us to establish its accuracy or the reason for processing it or while we are considering your objection to processing.
• Request the transfer of your personal data to another party.

If you would like to exercise any of those rights, please contact, our DPO using the details below:

Address:
DMH Stallard LLP (DPO)
1 Jubilee Street
Brighton
East Sussex
BN1 1GE

Email: dataprotection.officer@dmhstallard.com

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 information is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it.

Complaints

You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the ICO the UK regulator for data protection issues (www.ico.org.uk). We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO so please contact us in the first instance.

Changes to this privacy notice

We reserve the right to update this privacy notice at any time. This Privacy Notice was last updated in April 2024. We may also notify you in other ways from time to time about the processing of your personal information.

Appendix to Privacy Notice for Job Applicants