Data controller: UnityMK of The Ridgeway Centre, Featherstone Road, Wolverton Mill South, Milton Keynes MK12 5TH.
As part of any recruitment process, UnityMK collects and processes personal data relating to job applicants. We are committed to being transparent about how we collect and use that data and to meeting our data protection obligations.
Data protection principles
In relation to your personal data, UnityMK will always strive to:
process it fairly, lawfully and in a clear, transparent way.
collect personal data from you that is necessary to consider your application and that is subsequently necessary to collect and process as part of your employment. We will explain to you what data we collect from you and why
only use it in the way that we have told you about.
ensure it is correct and up to date.
keep your data for only as long as we need it.
ensure that your data is kept safe and secure and access to it is limited to those who need to process it for the purposes we explain to you.
What information does UnityMK collect?
UnityMK collects a range of information about you. This may include all or some of the below:
your name, address and contact details, including email address and telephone number
your date of birth
details of your qualifications, professional memberships, education history, skills, experience, and employment history
information about your current level of remuneration, including benefit entitlements
whether or not you have a disability
information about your entitlement to work in the UK
information about your criminal record
information about your driving licence
details of periods of parental leave taken by you
equal opportunities monitoring information, including information about your ethnic origin, gender, sexual orientation, health and religion or belief
UnityMK may collect this information in a variety of ways. For example, data might be contained in application documents; obtained from your passport or other identity documents or collected through interviews or other forms of assessment. We may also collect information during the recruitment process from a third party such as an employment agency.
UnityMK may also collect personal data about you from third parties, such as references supplied by former employers, information from employment background check providers and information from criminal records checks. We will inform you that we are doing so.
Data will be stored in a range of different places, including on your application record, in HR management systems and on other IT systems (including email).
UnityMK will only collect criminal conviction data where it is appropriate given the nature of the role and where the law permits it. This data will usually be collected at the recruitment stage, however it may also be collected during any subsequent employment with us, should you be successful in obtaining employment.
UnityMK will not transfer HR-related personal data outside of the UK.
Why does UnityMK process personal data?
UnityMK needs to process data to take steps at your request to evaluate your application for employment. We may also need to process your data to enter into an employment contract with you.
In some cases, UnityMK needs to process data to ensure that we are complying with our legal obligations. For example, we are required to check a successful applicant's eligibility to work in the UK before employment starts.
UnityMK has a legitimate interest in processing personal data during the recruitment process and for keeping records of the process. Processing data from job applicants allows us to manage the recruitment process, assess and confirm a candidate's suitability for employment, decide to whom to offer a job, assess training needs and make decisions about salary and other benefits. UnityMK may also need to process data from job applicants to respond to and defend against legal claims.
UnityMK may process information about whether or not applicants are disabled in order to make reasonable adjustments for candidates who have a disability. This is to carry out our statutory obligations and exercise specific rights in relation to employment.
UnityMK may, in some cases, process heath information during the application process in order to find out whether applicants will be able to carry out an intrinsic part of the job. UnityMK also processes health information about candidates after an offer of employment has been made. In each case, this will be done in accordance with Section 60 of the Equality Act 2010 for the purpose of ensuring that the candidate is able to perform the core duties of the job being offered.
Where UnityMK processes other special categories of data, such as information about ethnic origin, sexual orientation, or religion or belief, this is for equal opportunities monitoring purposes.
For some roles, UnityMK is obliged to seek information about criminal convictions and offences. Where we seek this information, we do so because it is necessary for us to carry out our statutory obligations and exercise specific rights in relation to employment.
If you are unsuccessful in obtaining employment with UnityMK, we may keep your personal data on file in case there are future employment opportunities for which you may be suited. We will ask for your consent before we keep your data for this purpose and you are free to withdraw your consent at any time.
Who has access to data?
Your data will, of necessity, be shared internally for the purposes of assessing your application. It is likely to be shared with members of the Communications team who collate the applications and C.V.’s if required. HR and recruitment team, interviewers involved in the recruitment process, managers in the business area with a vacancy and IT staff if access to the data is necessary for the performance of their roles. UnityMK will strive to limit access to your data to those staff who have a legitimate reason for seeing it and will endeavour to keep your data always secure.
Application assessments, pre-employment checks and references
UnityMK may share an appropriately limited amount of your data with third parties in order to obtain references for you from former employers. If references are sought before interview or before an offer of employment is made, we will do this where you have given your express consent for us to do so. If your application for employment is successful and we make you an offer of employment, we will share your data with former employers to obtain references for you, employment background check providers to obtain necessary background checks and the Disclosure and Barring Service to obtain necessary criminal records checks.
UnityMK may receive and share your data with third parties that process data on our behalf in connection with the provision of services for the purposes of the recruitment exercise, for example to source, receive and/or shortlist applications on our behalf, and/or to carry out applicant testing such as psychometric assessments.
If you are successful in your application, UnityMK may receive and share your data with a third party occupational health provider in connection with making decisions about your fitness for work.
UnityMK endeavours to ensure specific contractual agreements are in place with any third parties who undertake this processing in order to protect your data. This is explained in more detail below.
Automated decision-making
We will tell you beforehand if we use any automated forms of assessment in our decision-making processes. You have the right to request that your application is not assessed by automated processes.
How does UnityMK protect data?
UnityMK takes the security of your data seriously. We maintain internal policies and controls that are designed to ensure that your data is not lost, accidentally destroyed, misused, or disclosed, and is not accessed except by our employees in the proper performance of their duties. All laptops are password protected and data is saved to UnityMK’s Share Drive. Folders within the Share Drive are only able to be accessed by specific employees as part of their employment duties.
Where UnityMK engages third parties to process personal data on our behalf, they do so only on the basis of written instructions, are under a duty of confidentiality and are obliged to implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure the security of your data.
For how long does UnityMK keep data?
In line with data protection principles, we will only keep your data for as long as we need it. If your application for employment is unsuccessful, we will hold your data on file for 1 year after the end of the relevant recruitment process. The exception is if you have given permission for it to be kept for future employment opportunities.
If your application for employment is successful, personal data gathered during the recruitment process will be kept and transferred to your personnel file and retained during your employment. In some cases, we will keep your data for a period after your employment/engagement has ended. Retention periods can vary depending on why we need your data. This may be determined by law. The periods for which your data is held after the end of employment/engagement are set out in our data retention protocols.
What if you do not provide personal data?
One of the reasons for processing your data is to allow UnityMK to carry out an effective recruitment process. Whilst you are under no statutory or contractual obligation to provide data to UnityMK during the recruitment process, if you do not provide the information, we may not be able to process your application properly or at all.
Your rights
You have a number of rights. These are:
the right to be informed. This means that we must tell you how we use your data, and this is the purpose of this privacy notice.
the right of access. You have the right to access the data that we hold on you and to receive a copy of your data and information about where it was sourced. To do so, you should make a subject access request.
the right for any inaccuracies to be corrected. If any data that we hold about you is incomplete or inaccurate, you are able to require us to correct it.
the right to ask UnityMK for your data to be erased, for example if you believe there is no longer any need for your data to be held for its original purpose, or if you decide to withdraw any consent that you have given for your data to be processed.
the right to restrict the processing of the data. For example, if you believe the data we hold is incorrect, we will stop processing the data (whilst still holding it) until we have ensured that the data is correct
the right to portability. You may transfer the data that we hold on you to another organisation for your own purposes.
you may have the right to object to the way we use your data if you do not agree that we are using it for our legitimate interests.
the right to regulate any automated decision-making and profiling of personal data. You have a right not to be subject to automated decision making in way that adversely affects your legal rights.
Where you have provided consent to our use of your data, you also have the unrestricted right to withdraw that consent at any time. Withdrawing your consent means that we will stop processing the data that you had previously given us consent to use. There will be no consequences for withdrawing your consent. However, in some cases, we may continue to use the data where so permitted by having a legitimate reason for doing so.
If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please email:
If you believe that UnityMK has not complied with your data protection rights, you can complain to the Information Commissioner. Their contact details can be found on their website (www.ico.org.uk).
Updated: January 2024
