Privacy Policy
Index
Why are we collecting or processing your data?
Our legal basis for processing your personal data
With whom we will be sharing your personal data
For how long we will keep the personal data, or criteria used to determine the retention period
Data on this website
We collect certain information or data about you when you use our site. This includes your IP address, details of which version of a web browser you used and information on how you use the site. We do this by using cookies and page tagging techniques.
This helps us to improve the site by monitoring how you use it. We can not personally identify you using this data.
Where your data is stored
We do not ask for your data on this website. You may chose to get in touch to report a technical problem or to ask about one of our recruitment schemes. You do this by submitting an email. Only your email address and the contents of that message will be stored on our secure servers in order for us to reply to your query.
Keeping your data secure and disclosing your information
Transmitting information over the internet is generally not completely secure, and we can’t guarantee the security of your data.
Any data you transmit to us is at your own risk.
We have procedures and security features in place to exercise due diligence in keeping your data secure once we receive it.
We won’t share your information with any other organisations for marketing, market research or commercial purposes, and we don’t pass on your details to other websites.
Links to other websites
Our website contains links to and from other websites. This privacy policy only applies to our website.
Following a link to another website
If you go to another website from this one, including any websites (including government websites) that we link to, you should read the privacy policy on that website to find out what it does with your information. If you go to another website from this one, we may pass personal information collected about you on our website to the destination website.
Following a link to our website from another website
If you come to our website from another website, we may receive personal information about you from the other website. You should read the privacy policy of the website you came from to find out more about this.
Cookies
Small files (known as ‘cookies’) are put onto your computer to collect information about how you browse the site.
Cookies can be used to:
- measure how you use the website so it can be updated and improved based on your needs
- remember the notifications you’ve seen so that we don’t show them to you again
These cookies aren’t used to identify you personally.
Find our more about the cookies that are used on this website
You can opt out of Google Analytics cookies (opens in a new window).
Personal Data
The following is to explain your rights and to give you information you are entitled to under the Data Protection Act 2018.
Please note this refers to your personal data (your name; address and anything that could be used to identify you personally).
The identity and contact details of Ministry of Defence (MOD) Data Controller and Data Protection Officer.
The Ministry of Defence is the data controller. The contact detail is MOD Main Building, Whitehall, London SW1A 2HB
The Data Protection Officer can be contacted at:
MOD Data Protection Officer
Ground floor, zone D
Main Building
Whitehall
London
SW1A 2HB
Email address: cio-dpa@mod.gov.uk
Why are we collecting or processing your data?
This notice sets out how we will use your personal data, and your rights.
We will need all the categories of information to enable us to carry out recruitment and selection functions. We will process the following personal data:
we may automatically collect, store and process:
- your referral source – the website where you saw the job advert
- information about your use of our information and communications systems’
- your approximate geographic location based on your IP address
- personal contact for example: name, title, addresses, telephone numbers, and personal email addresses
- eligibility – nationality and immigration status
- employment history including whether or not you are a veteran of His Majesty’s Armed Forces
- qualifications, licences and professional memberships
- CV and personal statement
- National Insurance number
During interview and selection, we may ask you to provide:
- a completed non-taxable travel and expenses form for an HR supported costs interview scheme if offered by a participating organisation. This will require bank details, travel details and a copy of any receipts related to interview travel, to allow verification and reimbursement of appropriate travel costs
- contact details for your referees
- date of birth
- evidence of current Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) certificate
- bankruptcy details
- addresses for the last 10 years
- passport, driving licence details
- previous names you have been known by
- workplace discipline information
- criminal history
If you are already working for the Civil Service and moving to another government department, we may also ask for:
- two most recent consecutive payslips
- current National Security Vetting clearance
- current Person number
We may also collect, store and use the following special catagories of sensitive personal data
- Diversity and inclusion information
- Disability Confident Scheme and reasonable adjustment requirements
- Health declaration
In order to help test the effectiveness and fairness of new questions for our online tests, you may be presented with a few trial questions as part of your online test and/or you may be contacted to complete a separate trial test.
The list above only applies for applications made through ORC system.
When you contact us with feedback or an enquiry we will process:
- your email address
- the details of your request
Purpose
The purposes for which we are processing your personal data are:
- to manage recruitment for Civil Service organisations and non-departmental public bodies. This includes a job board, online application service, sift tests, interview scheduling, and pre-employment checking service
- to assess your suitability for a role
- to enable the creation of user accounts
- to provide updates on the recruitment process
- for civil servant candidate accounts, to allow users to view and apply for internal and across-government vacancies
- to offer a job alert email service
- to offer a priority mover service to help civil servants find new roles when they are at risk of redundancy
- to provide technical support to candidates and recruiters
- to send your contract of employment to your email address, if the employing department chooses this as an option
- to monitor the effectiveness of recruitment processes – this could include statistical analysis of system usage, or research into the experience of applicants and other system users, or analysing referral sources to see which provide the most diverse applicants
- to undertake pre-employment checking and onboarding activity before you start in a role in the Civil Service (including health, pension questionnaire, character declaration)
- to complete a ‘fit-for-work’ disclaimer in regards to the COVID-19 pandemic
- to comply with the Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) which consists of:
- verification of identity
- verification of nationality and immigration status – including entitlement to undertake the work in question
- verification of employment history – through cross-referencing information against the HMRC PAYE system or through references
- verification of criminal record (unspent convictions) – for HMRC vacancies this check will also include spent convictions
- additional verification – only applies where additional verification or assurance is required
Our legal basis for processing your personal data
The legal basis for processing your personal data is:
- Contractual: it is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are a party – an employment contract. This relates to information that we need to recruit and employ you.
- Contractual: it is necessary in order to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract for employment. This relates to information that we collect as part of the application and selection process.
- Legal obligation: it is necessary to comply with a legal obligation placed on us as the data controller – we are required to report on equality of opportunity; and onboarding processes have specific requirements
- Public task: processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the data controller. In this case, ORC facilitates recruitment of high-quality candidates to roles across government departments, agencies and other public bodies. It provides recruitment tools and processes that support Civil Service recruitment strategy, and we also monitor the effectiveness of recruitment processes.
Sensitive personal data is personal data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, or trade union membership, and the processing of genetic data, biometric data for the purpose of uniquely identifying a natural person, data concerning health or data concerning a natural person’s sex life or sexual orientation.
The legal basis for processing your sensitive personal data is:
- it is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest for the exercise of a function of the Crown, a Minister of the Crown, or a government department; the exercise of a function conferred on a person by an enactment; the exercise of a function of either House of Parliament; or the administration of justice; and an appropriate policy document is in place. ORC facilitates recruitment of high-quality candidates to roles across government departments, agencies and other public bodies. It provides recruitment tools and processes that support Civil Service recruitment strategy.
- it is necessary for the purposes of performing or exercising our obligations or rights as the controller, or your obligations or rights as the data subject, under employment law, social security law or the law relating to social protection. External recruitment is required to follow the Civil Service Commission Recruitment Principles. Personal data is processed to ensure that these requirements are met. We are required under the Equality Act 2010 to make appropriate reasonable adjustments for candidates with a disability.
- processing is of a specific category of personal data and it is necessary for the purposes of identifying or keeping under review the existence or absence of equality of opportunity or treatment between groups of people specified (in paragraph 8(2) of Part 2 of Schedule 1 to the Data Protection Act 2018) in relation to that category with a view to enabling such equality to be promoted or maintained; and it is not carried out for the purposes of measures or decisions with respect to a particular data subject; and you have not declined consent; and you have not given notice that you do not wish your data to be processed for these purposes; and the processing is not likely to cause substantial damage or substantial distress to an individual. Diversity and inclusion data is used anonymously: ethnicity, religion, community background (Northern Ireland vacancies only), and sexual orientation.
- it is necessary for archiving purposes, scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes, and it is in the public interest. Analysis of applications and recruitment outcomes (including online tests), impact on protected groups, timescales for recruitment, and other research may be carried out.
The processing by us of personal data relating to criminal convictions and offences or related security measures is not carried out under official authority, but is authorised because it meets the following condition:
- it is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest. This is ensuring that individuals with access to official information and assets will meet the required standards of propriety.
With whom we will be sharing your personal data
Your personal data will be shared by us with:
Account data:
- our technical supplier and their approved staff
- our technical supplier’s hosting provider
- profiles may be shared with departments who have vacancies available for priority movers
Once you have made an application, your information may be shared with:
- approved staff managing vacancies (including recruiters and interview panel members)
- the recruiting departments or profession
- our technical supplier and their hosting provider
- Government Recruitment Information Database (GRID)
- Customer relationship management system
- Email survey tools
- Providers of individual leadership assessments, psychometric tests and staff engagement exercises
- Civil Service Commission, Advisory Committee on Business Appointments, Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments – to ensure that recruitment processes are correctly followed
- JSST Team/ JPA System
If you meet the required standard but the recruiting department is unable to offer you the job, you may be given the option of being added to a reserve list. Reserve lists may be shared with other Civil Service departments who are recruiting for similar roles.
For senior civil service roles, your data may be held by the Civil Service HR team within the Cabinet Office to provide a list of potential candidates to be considered for similar future roles.
If you undergo pre-employment checks prior to appointment, your data may be shared with:
- Government Recruitment Service
- Customer relationship management system
- Capita and Verifile – to undertake recruitment on behalf of GRS during periods of high demand
- Capita Security Watchdog
- Disclosure and Barring Service
- AccessNI criminal record checks
- Disclosure Scotland criminal record checks
- occupational health providers
- APS Group Translation Services
- Civil Service Pensions
- the recruiting department
- the recruiting department’s shared service provider (if a third party supplier is used)
- the UK Security Vetting team, as well as the Security Cluster department for the relevant employer (which will be either HMRC, DWP, Home Office, MOD, or the FCO)
If you request support with your application or for a technical issue:
- approved staff from DE&S and the MOD
- approved staff from our technical supplier
- customer relationship management system
- project management tools
- technical suppliers of online tests
As your personal data will be stored on our IT infrastructure it will also be shared with our data processors who provide email and document management and storage services to us.
When AccessNI is used
As an organisation using AccessNI to help assess the suitability of applicants for positions of trust, the Government Recruitment Service complies fully with AccessNI’s Service Level Agreement regarding the correct handling, use, storage retention and disposal of Disclosure Applications and Disclosure information. We also comply fully with obligations under the Data Protection Act 2018 and other relevant legislative requirements with regards to the safe handling, storage, retention and disposal of disclosure information.
More information can be found on the AccessNI website (page opens in a new browser tab).
For how long we will keep the personal data, or criteria used to determine the retention period
Your personal data will be kept by us for the following durations:
Application records and associated files (including CVs, letters, emails, comment and feedback) will be deleted 2 years after the vacancy is closed. A vacancy becomes closed when there are no active applications or the vacancy is manually closed by a recruiter.
Selection activity data for successful candidates will be retained for 100 years from the candidate Date of Birth.
Candidate profiles – you can, at any time, choose to close your profile. This will:
- remove your ability to login/access to the profile
- withdraw any active applications
- delete partially-completed applications which haven’t been submitted
- disable the automatic sending of job alert
More information on Retention Schedules can be provided if requested.
Your rights
Under Data Protection legislation you have the following individual rights with regards to your personal data:
- The right to be informed about the collection and use of your personal data
- The right of access your personal data and supplementary information
- The right to have inaccurate personal data rectified, or completed if it is incomplete
- The right to erasure (to be forgotten) in certain circumstances
- The right to restrict processing in certain circumstances
- The right to data portability, which allows you to obtain and reuse your personal data for your own purposes across different services.
- The right to object to processing in certain circumstances
- Rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling.
- The right to withdraw consent (where relevant)
- Right to complain to the information Commissioner
Further information can be found at on the Information Commissioner Office’s website (opens in a new browser tab).
Transfer of personal data to other countries
As your personal data is stored on our IT infrastructure, and shared with our data processors who provide email, and document management and storage services, it may be transferred and stored securely outside the European Economic Area. Where that is the case it will be subject to equivalent legal protection through the use of Model Contract Clauses.
Automated decision making
Your personal data will be subject to automated decision making when online psychometric tests are used.
Some vacancies use online psychometric tests in the early stages of recruitment. Three tests are commonly used: Verbal Reasoning, Numerical Reasoning and the Civil Service Judgement Test.
Decisions are made on who to invite to later stages based on automated scoring and sifting processes. In addition, test scores and other applicant data are regularly captured for statistical and research analysis purposes.
Your score is calculated from the responses you give during the test, and no other information about you is used. We compare your score to those gained by a peer group who previously took the test, to give you a percentile. The vacancy will have a minimum percentile requirement, and if your score is lower than this, you will be rejected, and your application will not be considered further.
How we store personal data
This data will be stored in a secure government IT system.
How to complain if you are not happy
If you are unhappy with how any aspect of this privacy notice, or how your personal information is being processed, please contact:
MOD Information Rights Team
Ground floor, zone D
Main Building
Whitehall
London SW1A 2HB
Email: cio-dpa@mod.gov.uk
We will acknowledge your complaint within 5 working days and send you a full response within 20 working days. If we can’t respond fully in this time, we will write and let you know why and tell you when you should get a full response.
If you are still not happy, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO):
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113
Email: casework@ico.org.uk
Website: https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/
Page update: 22 February 2022
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