Candidate Privacy Statement

1. Who are we?

Kearns Legal Services Limited trading as Kearns Solicitors (referred to as “we”, “us” or “our” in this privacy statement) is committed to protecting the privacy and security of your personal information and we are open and transparent about how we handle it and about our obligations under applicable data protection laws and regulations, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the GDPR as it forms part of the law of England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland by virtue of section 3 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (including as further amended or modified by the laws of the United Kingdom or a part of the United Kingdom from time to time). We are a Data Controller for the purposes of the GDPR. This means we are responsible for deciding how we hold and use personal information about you.

This Candidate Privacy Statement (Statement) explains the basis on which we will control and process any personal information we collect from you or that you may provide to us through our website or otherwise.

Our contact details are as follows:

Kearns Solicitors, Brecon House, 3 Caerphilly Business Park, Caerphilly CF83 3GQ

Telephone number: 02920 808 666

Email address: [email protected]

2. Do we have a Data Protection Officer?

We have appointed a Data Protection Officer (DPO) to oversee compliance with this Statement and our obligations under the GDPR more generally. You can contact our Data Protection Officer (currently Timothy Johnson, Operations Manager) at the following email address [email protected] or write to the Data Protection Officer at the address listed above.

General Data Protection Principles: 

In collecting and processing your personal information, we will comply with the data protection law in force at the time. This
requires that the personal information we hold about you must be:
1. Used lawfully, fairly and in a transparent way
2. Collected only for valid purposes that we have clearly explained to you and not used in any way that is incompatible with
those purposes
3. Relevant to the purposes we have told you about and limited only to those purposes
4. Accurate and kept up to date
5. Kept only as long as necessary for the purposes we have told you about
6. Kept securely

What information do we collect?

We may process the following categories of personal data about you (this list is not exhaustive):
• Name, address, email, telephone number, date of birth, gender, nationality
• CV (if applicable) and previous job and education information
• Answers to application/interview questions
• Information about your remuneration
• Any other information you wish to provide in support of your application

How do we collect your data?

We collect information that is specifically provided by you as part of an application process or sometimes from an employment agency or background check provider.

What do we do with your information?

We may use your information on any of the following lawful grounds:

a. For compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject; or
b. For the purposes of our legitimate interests, except where such interests are overridden by your interests or fundamental
rights and freedoms.

Our legitimate interests include the following:

• To deal with your application
• To communicate with you regarding the vacancy
• To satisfy legal requirements
• To protect our legal rights and interests including screening for fraud prevention and anti-money laundering purposes
• For record keeping
• To generate reports
• For statistical analysis
• To contact you about other vacancies
• For the establishment, pursuance or defence of complaints, investigations and legal claims
• To grow our businessAll applications are viewed by a member of our Recruitment Team and no automated decisions are made in relation to your
  application.

How long do we keep your information for?

We will store your application data for up to 6 months after the vacancy has closed. After this period, it will be destroyed.

How we may collect more data from you

Should you be successful in being offered a role, you will be asked to provide further information as part of our Pre-Employment Screening Process. We may collect the following (this list is not exhaustive):

• Passport/Identification Documents
• Proof of Legal Right to Work in the UK
• Proof of Address
• Proof of Activity
• Information to conduct a Credit Check
• Information to conduct a Criminal Records Check
• Names and address of references who will be contactedOnly if you are successfully recruited, will we upload your details to our Employee filing systems, and as a member of our team,
  you will sign a contract of employment and agree to additional terms on how your data is handled and stored as per our Employee
  Privacy Statement.

Who do we share your information with?

We may share your information with our affiliates, accountants, lawyers, auditors, insurers, professional advisors, or third party service providers who provide services to us. We may also disclose information we have a legal or regulatory right or obligation to report. Further, we may share your information with third parties to whom we sell, transfer or merge parts of our business or
our assets. It is our commitment that prior to disclosing any personal information about you to another organisation we have taken all reasonable steps to ensure that that organisation will hold and protect your information with adequate security measures and in accordance with relevant regulation.

How do we keep your information safe? 

We protect your information with appropriate security measures under the laws and regulations that apply to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used, altered, disclosed or accessed without authorisation. We confirm our security measures are subject to regular testing and updated as appropriate to the level of data that we hold.
We have procedures in place to deal with suspected personal data breaches and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach if we are legally required to do so.

What are your rights regarding your information?

You have explicit rights concerning your personal information and we will ensure that your rights are protected while your data is in our possession. Your rights include the following:

• Right of Access – you may request a copy of all the personal information we hold about you and we will respond within one month. If your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests, we may extend this period by a further two calendar months and we shall explain our reasons.
• Right of Deletion – You may wish to have certain data we hold deleted and we will comply with this right where, for example, it is no longer necessary for us to hold the data or if there is no lawful ground for processing.
• Right of Rectification – You have a right to request that any incorrect, inaccurate or incomplete data is updated, corrected and/or completed.
• Right of Restriction – You may wish to restrict us from using your data where, for example, you contest the accuracy of the data.
• Right to Object – You have a right to object to us using your data where processing is carried out for direct marketing or for our legitimate interest. We will no longer process your data unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds.
• Right to Data Portability – You have a right to request we share your data with another organisation and we will assist with that process where possible.

Complaints

If you wish to make a complaint then you may do so in person, by telephone, in writing and/or by email. Please note that all complaints are dealt with according to our complaints policy and will be fully logged and investigated.

You can also contact the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), which is the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues (www.ico.org.uk).

General

We will not transfer your data to a country outside of the European Economic Area unless that country ensures an adequate level of data protection, has appropriate safeguards in place or relies on one of the derogations provided for under applicable law and regulation.

This Statement may be updated by us at any time.

This privacy statement was published in May 2018 and last updated on 15 January 2024.  This may be updated by us at any time. When we make any material changes to this statement, we will communicate these to you appropriately.

Kearns Solicitors, January 2024