Data controller: Metronet (UK) Limited, Turing House, Archway 5, Manchester M15 5RL trading as M247 Limited.

As part of any recruitment process, the company collects and processes personal data relating to job applicants. The company is committed to being transparent about how it collects and uses that data and to meeting its data protection obligations.

 What information does the company collect?

The company collects a range of information about you. This includes:

• The information you have provided to us in your curriculum vitae and covering letter.
• Any information you provide to us during an interview.
• The results of any tests we may have asked you to carry out as part of the application process.
• Whether or not you have a disability for which the company needs to make reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process.
• Information about your entitlement to work in the UK.

The company collects this information in a variety of ways. For example, data might be contained in application forms, CVs, obtained from your passport or other identity documents, or collected through interviews or other forms of assessment, including online tests.

Data may be stored in a range of different places, including on your application record, in HR management systems and on other IT systems (including email and SharePoint).

 Why does the company process personal data?

The company needs to process data to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract with you. It also needs to process your data to enter into a contract with you.

In some cases, the company needs to process data to ensure that it is complying with its legal obligations. For example, it is required to check a successful applicant's eligibility to work in the UK before employment starts.

The company 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 the company to manage the recruitment process, assess and confirm a candidate's suitability for employment and decide to whom to offer a job. The company may also need to process data from job applicants to respond to and defend against legal claims.

Where the company relies on legitimate interests as a reason for processing data, it has considered whether or not those interests are overridden by the rights and freedoms of job applicants, employees or workers and has concluded that they are not.

The company processes health information if it needs to make reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process for candidates who have a disability. This is to carry out its obligations and exercise specific rights in relation to employment.

For some roles, the company is obliged to seek information about criminal convictions and offences. Where the company seeks this information, it does so because it is necessary for it to carry out its obligations and exercise specific rights in relation to employment/comply with a regulatory requirement to establish whether or not an individual has committed an unlawful act or been involved in dishonesty or other improper conduct.

If your application is unsuccessful, the company may keep your personal data on file in case there are future employment opportunities for which you may be suited. By submitting an application you agree to this retention of your data. You have the right to withdraw your consent at any time by contacting [email protected].

Who has access to data?

 Your information will be shared internally for the purposes of the recruitment exercise. This includes members of the 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.

The company will not share your data with third parties, unless your application for employment is successful and it makes you an offer of employment. The company will then 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.

The company will not transfer your data outside the European Economic Area.

How does the company protect data?

 The company takes the security of your data seriously. It has internal policies and controls in place 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.

We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected data security breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected breach where we are legally required to do so.

For how long does the company keep data?

 If your application for employment is unsuccessful, the company may hold your data on file for a further 4 month period for consideration for future employment opportunities. At the end of that period or if you withdraw your consent, your data is deleted or destroyed.

If your application for employment is successful, personal data gathered during the recruitment process will be transferred to your personnel file and retained during your employment. The periods for which your data will be held will be provided to you in a new privacy notice.

What if you do not provide personal data?

You are under no statutory or contractual obligation to provide data to the company during the recruitment process. However, if you do not provide the information, the company may not be able to process your application properly or at all. If your application is successful, it will be a condition of any job offer that you provide evidence of your right to work in the UK and satisfactory references.

Automated decision making

Recruitment processes are not based solely on automated decision-making.

Your rights

 As a data subject, you have a number of rights. You can:

• access and obtain a copy of your data on request;
• request that the company change incorrect or incomplete data;
• request that the company delete or stop processing your data, for example where the data is no longer necessary for the purposes of processing;
• object to the processing of your data where the company is relying on its legitimate interests as the legal ground for processing; and
• ask the company to stop processing data for a period if data is inaccurate or there is a dispute about whether or not your interests override the company's legitimate grounds for processing data.

If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please contact [email protected].

You can make a subject access request by contacting [email protected]

If you have any questions about this privacy notice or how we handle your personal information, please contact [email protected]. You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues.