Contractors and agency workers - privacy notice
This section of our privacy notice applies to all contractors and agency workers.
Applies to England
Documents
Details
It is important that you read this section of our privacy notice together with the main section of our privacy notice above, or any other privacy notice we may provide on specific occasions when we are collecting or processing personal data about you. This is so that you are fully aware of how and why we are using your data.
Information we collect
Homes England collects personal data about contractors and agency workers during the engagement process, either directly from contractors, tenderers or sometimes from an employment agency, intermediary or background check provider. We may sometimes collect additional information from third parties including former employers, former clients, credit reference agencies or other background check agencies.
We will collect additional personal information in the course of job-related activities throughout the period of your engagement.
We may collect, store, and use the following categories of personal data about you:
- Personal contact details such as name, title, addresses, telephone numbers, and personal email addresses.
- Date of birth
- Gender
- Next of kin and emergency contact information
- National insurance number
- Copy of identification (Passport/driving licence)
- Bank account details
- Tax status information
- Start date
- Location of engagement or workplace
- Right to work documentation
- References and other information included in a CV or cover letter or as part of the tendering or engagement process)
- Prior employment records (including job titles, work history, working hours, training records and professional memberships)
- CCTV footage and other information obtained through electronic means such as swipe card records
- Information about your use of our information and communications systems
- Photographs
How we process your information
We will only use your personal information when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your personal information in the following circumstances:
- Where we need to perform the contract we have entered into with you or the employment agency or intermediary through whom you are working.
- Where we need to comply with a legal obligation.
- Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests.
We may also use your personal information in the following situations, which are likely to be rare:
- Where we need to protect your interests (or someone else’s interests).
- Where it is needed in the public interest or for official purposes.
We will only use your personal information 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 information for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to do so. Please note that we may process your personal information without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law.
We may process your data for the following purposes:
- Making a decision about your engagement.
- National Security Vetting and BPSS checking.
- Determining the terms on which you are engaged to work for us.
- Checking you are legally entitled to work in the UK.
- Paying you or any agency or intermediary
- Deducting tax and National Insurance contributions and other lawful deductions where required by law (e.g. under Chapter 10 ITEPA 2003).
- To notify you of any disaster or business continuity event, and recovery action.
- Making decisions about the terms of your engagement
- Assessing your suitability or qualifications for a particular job or task
- Making decisions about your continued engagement.
- Making arrangements for the termination of the engagement.
- Dealing with legal disputes involving you, or other employees, workers and contractors, including accidents at work.
- Complying with health and safety obligations.
- To prevent and detect fraud.
- To monitor your use of our information and communication systems to ensure compliance with our IT policies.
- To ensure network and information security, including preventing unauthorised access to our computer and electronic communications systems and preventing malicious software distribution.
- Equality and diversity monitoring
- Publicising our activities (e.g., group photos of events, site visits, etc.).
- To ensure that gifts and hospitality you receive are documented in accordance with our policy
- To ensure that any potential conflicts between your work-related interests and your personal interests are identified and managed appropriately. This includes making a declaration of interest periodically or as requested and whenever a new conflict or potential conflict is identified and also in relation to investment information where required under the Market Abuse Regulation.
- To carry out relevant “people management” responsibilities, if applicable to their terms of service as agreed with Homes England.
Some of the above grounds for processing will overlap and there may be several grounds which justify our use of your personal information.
How we process “special categories” of more sensitive personal information
We may also collect, store and use the following “special categories” of more sensitive personal information:
- Information about your race or ethnicity, religious beliefs, sexual orientation and political opinions.
- Information about your health, including any medical condition, health and sickness records.
- Biometric data.
- Information about criminal convictions and offences.
These “special categories” of particularly sensitive personal information require higher levels of protection. We need to have further justification for collecting, storing and using this type of personal information. Our data protection policy contains details of the safeguards which we are required by law to maintain when processing such data.
We may process special categories of personal information in the following circumstances:
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Where we need to carry out our legal obligations or exercise rights in connection with your engagement. For example:
- We will use information personal information relating to medical conditions and disability to comply with employment and other laws (insofar as applicable to agency workers and contractors)
- We will use information about your physical or mental health, or disability status, to ensure your health and safety in the workplace and to assess your fitness to work, to provide appropriate workplace adjustments, to comply with employment law and other laws (insofar as applicable to agency workers and contractors)
- Where it is needed in the public interest: for example, we will use information about your race or national or ethnic origin, religious, philosophical or moral beliefs, or your sexual life or sexual orientation, to ensure meaningful equality and diversity monitoring and reporting.
- In limited circumstances, with your explicit written consent. We do not need your consent to use special categories of your personal information in accordance with our written policy to carry out our legal obligations or exercise specific rights in the field of employment law (insofar as applicable to agency workers and contractors). In limited circumstances, we may approach you for your written consent to allow us to process certain particularly sensitive 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. You should be aware that it is not a condition of your engagement with us that you agree to any request for consent from us.
Less commonly, we may process this type of information where it is needed in relation to legal claims or where it is needed to protect your interests (or someone else’s interests) and you are not capable of giving your consent, or where you have already made the information public.
Who is the information shared with
We may share your data with third parties, including third-party service providers and other Government departments and agencies.
We require third parties to respect the security of your data and to treat it in accordance with the law.
We may transfer your personal information outside the EU. If we do, you can expect a similar degree of protection in respect of your personal information.
Homes England shares your data with:
- A number of learning and development providers such as:
- Eukleia
- Cardinus
- Civil Service Learning
- Clear Review (performance management system)
- IAM Roadsmart (essential car users)
- Interactive Driving System
- Service providers such as:
- Concur
- Edenred
- Eventbrite
- Redfern
- Occupational Health provider
- Social Media Providers such as:
- Facebook Workplace
Retention
Homes England will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected.
Homes England has a records retention schedule that outlines how long we will retain information.
To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data collected as part of your engagement, 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.
In some circumstances we may 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. Once you are no longer engaged by us we will retain and securely destroy your personal information in accordance with our records retention schedule.
Last updated 21 May 2021 + show all updates
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Updated to add new service provider.
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First published.