Privacy Notice for Staff

1. WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THIS DOCUMENT?

Cochrane is committed to protecting the privacy and security of your personal information. This Privacy Notice

describes how we collect and use personal information about you during and after your working relationship

with us, in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018, EU General Data Protection Regulations 2016/679 ("GDPR"), UK GDPR by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, the Data Protection Act 2018and any other applicable law in the country of your residence (together, the "Applicable Data Protection Law").

This Privacy Notice applies to all Cochrane current and former employees and consultants (whether managed by an employer of record or engaged directly by Cochrane). Cochrane acts as a "data controller" in relation to the personal data it collects from its employees and consultants. This means that we are responsible for deciding the type of information we collect, the retention period and the purposes for which we collect and use personal information about you.

We are required under the Applicable Data Protection Law to notify you of the information contained in this Privacy Notice. This Privacy Notice does not form part of your contract of employment or other contract to provide services. We may update this Privacy Notice from time to time.

It is important that you read this notice, together with any other privacy notice we may provide on specific occasions when we are collecting or processing personal information about you, so that you are aware of how and why we are collecting and using such information.

2. DATA PROTECTION PRINCIPLES

We collect and use your personal data in accordance with the Applicable Data Protection Law, which 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 and limited to the purposes we have told you about
  4. Accurate and kept up to date
  5. Kept only for as long as necessary for the purposes we have told you about
  6. Kept securely

3. WHAT PERSONAL INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT AND HOLD ABOUT YOU?

We collect, store, and use the following categories of information from you:

  • Personal contact details such as name, title, addresses, telephone numbers and personal email addresses
  • Date of birth
  • Gender
  • Marital status and dependants
  • Next of kin and emergency contact information
  • National Insurance number
  • Bank account details, payroll records and tax status information
  • Salary, annual leave, pension and benefits information (employees only)
  • Start date and end date
  • Evidence of your right to work or immigration status , such as, copies of your ID, passport or indefinite leave to remain
  • Details of the referees and information collected from them, such as, your name, job title, the start and end date of your appointment and other information included in your CV or cover letter or as part of the application process
  • Employment records (including job titles, work history, working hours, training records)
  • Salary/compensation history
  • Performance information such as copies of your annual reviews and appraisals
  • Disciplinary and grievance information
  • Information about your use of our information and communications systems
  • Photographs and videos of you, where applicable.

We may also collect, store and use the following "special categories" of more sensitive personal information about you:

  • Information about your race or ethnicity, religious beliefs and sexual orientation for the purpose of equality monitoring,
  • Information about your health, including any medical condition, disabilities and health and
  • sickness records to administer health and sickness benefits, and
  • information that allows us to verify your identity and your right to work status to perform ‘right to work’ checks.

Where the personal information that we collect about you is held by a third party, we will obtain your permission before we seek out this information from such sources unless we are permitted or required to do so without your consent under the Applicable Data Protection Law or other regulatory guidelines and requirements. An example of this would be us obtaining an employment reference or a background check.

Where we use services of third parties, such as recruitment agencies, and receive your personal information collected by those third parties in the course of the performance of their services to us, we will take reasonable steps to ensure that such third parties have represented to us that they have the right to disclose your personal information to us.

We will collect additional personal information in the course of job-related activities throughout the period of you working for us.

4. WHAT LAWFUL BASIS DO WE RELY ON TO PROCESS YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?

In collecting and processing your personal data, we rely on the following lawful bases for processing:

  • performance of contract – where such processing is necessary for us to fulfil our obligations under the employment contract with you, for example, when we process your payroll information to ensure that you are paid,
  • legal obligation – where such processing is required for us to be able to comply with our obligation or duty under the law, for example, when we process your personal data to make National Insurance contributions and income tax payment or to carry out checks in relation to your right to work,
  • legitimate business interest – where such processing is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and those interests do not override your fundamental rights and freedoms, for example, when making employment decisions, implementing and managing sickness absence, statutory leave, providing employment references or ensuring equal opportunities.

We may also use your personal information where it is necessary in those rare circumstances where we need to protect your (or someone else's) vital interests.

5. WHAT WILL WE USE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION FOR?

The purposes for which we process your personal information are listed below:

  • to make a decision about your recruitment or appointment
  • to determine the terms on which you work for us
  • to check that you are legally entitled to work in the country you are employed in
  • to pay you and, if you are an employee, deduct the applicable income tax and make National Insurance (or equivalent social security) contributions
  • to provide benefits to you, such as, pension
  • to administer the contract we have entered into with you
  • for business management and planning purposes, including accounting and auditing
  • to conduct performance reviews, manage performance and determine performance requirements
  • to make decisions about salary reviews and compensation
  • to assess your qualifications for a particular job or task and make decisions about promotions
  • to gather evidence in relation to grievance or disciplinary hearings
  • to make decisions about your continued employment or engagement
  • to make arrangements for termination or expiry of our working relationship
  • for education, training and development requirements purposes
  • to deal with legal disputes involving you including accidents at work
  • to ascertain your fitness to work
  • to manage sickness absence
  • to comply with our health and safety obligations
  • to prevent fraud
  • to monitor your use of our information and communication systems (eg. technical and access logs) to ensure compliance with our IT policies
  • to ensure network and information security, including to prevent unauthorized access to our computer and electronic communications systems and malicious software distribution
  • to conduct data analytics studies to review and better understand employee retention and attrition rates
  • for equal opportunities monitoring.

6. IF YOU FAIL TO PROVIDE PERSONAL INFORMATION

If you fail to provide certain information when requested, we may not be able to perform the contract we have entered into with you (such as paying you or providing a benefit), or we may be prevented from complying with our legal obligations (such as to ensure the health and safety of our workers).

7. CHANGE OF PURPOSE

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 unrelated purposes, we will notify you and explain the legal basis which allows us to do so.

8. HOW WE USE SENSITIVE PERSONAL INFORMATION

Special categories of sensitive personal information require higher levels of protection. We need to have further justification for collecting, storing and using this type of personal information. We process special categories of personal information based on the following lawful bases:

  • In limited circumstances, with your explicit written consent,
  • Where we need to carry out our legal obligations in the field of employment and social security law and in line with our data protection policy. For example, we will use information relating to leave of absence, which may include sickness absence or family related leaves to monitor and manage sickness absence and to administer benefits for employees. We will also use information about your physical or mental health or disability status to ensure your health and safety in the workplace, to assess your fitness to work and to provide appropriate workplace adjustments,
  • Where it is needed in the public interest or for equal opportunities monitoring and reporting or in relation to our occupational pension scheme or health scheme and in line with our data protection policy, and
  • Where it is needed to verify your identity or your right to work status.

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. We may also process such information about employees or former employees in the course of our legitimate business activities with the appropriate safeguards being in place.

9. DO WE NEED YOUR CONSENT?

We do not need your consent if we 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 and social security law. 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 employment contract with us that you agree to any request for consent from us.

10. INFORMATION ABOUT CRIMINAL CONVICTIONS

We will only collect and use information about criminal convictions if it is appropriate given the nature of the role and where we are legally allowed to do so. This will usually be where such processing is necessary to carry out our legal obligations and provided we do so in line with our data protection policy. Where appropriate, we may also collect information about criminal convictions as part of the recruitment process or we may be notified of such information directly by you in the course of your employment. We will also use information about criminal convictions and offences to safeguard the company, the general public, our clients and other staff. Less commonly, we may use information relating to criminal convictions where it is necessary in relation to legal claims, where it is necessary 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.

11. AUTOMATED DECISION MAKING

Automated decision-making takes place when an electronic system uses your personal information to make a decision about you without any human intervention.

You will not be subject to decisions that will have a significant impact on you based solely on automated decision­ making, including profiling, unless such decision-making or profiling is allowed under applicable laws and we have notified you.

12. DISCLOSURE OF YOUR DATA TO THIRD PARTIES

In the course of performance and administration of your employment contract, we may have to disclose your data to third parties, including third-party service providers. However, we always require such third parties to comply with the Applicable Data Protection Law and to have in place and maintain appropriate technical and organizational security measures to protect your personal data in accordance with the Applicable Data Protection Law. We use data processors that are predominantly based in the UK, however, in some cases, they may be located outside the UK and, as a result, we may need to transfer your personal information outside the UK and EU. If we do, we ensure that the transfer is subject to an adequacy decision or our contracts include appropriate safeguards similar to those required by the Applicable Data Protection Law.

13. WHICH THIRD-PARTIES PROCESS MY PERSONAL INFORMATION?

Third parties that process your personal information include third-party service providers (including contractors and designated agents) and other entities (including data processors). Third parties support us with the provision of the following functions: payroll, pension and benefits administration, HR consultancy, provision of the HR employee platform and IT services and systems.

We may also disclose your personal information to other third parties, for example in the context of the possible sale or restructuring of our business. We may also need to share your personal information with a regulator or to otherwise comply with the law.

14. HOW SECURE IS MY INFORMATION WITH THIRD-PARTY SERVICE PROVIDERS?

All our third-party service providers and other entities in the group are contractually required to take and maintain appropriate security measures to protect your personal information in line with our policies and the Applicable Data Protection Law. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes. We only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes determined by us and only in accordance with our instructions.

15. DATA SECURITY

We have put in place appropriate technical and organizational security measures to prevent your personal information from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorized way, altered or disclosed. In addition, we limit access to your personal information to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal information on our instructions and are subject to a duty of confidentiality. Details of these measures may be obtained from the People & Culture Manager.

16. DATA RETENTION

How long will you use my information for?

We will only retain your personal information for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, which will be at least for the duration of your employment with us and, in most cases, for a period of 6 years after your employment has ended for the purposes of satisfying any applicable legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. In all cases, we will retain your personal information in accordance with the retention periods set out in our Data Retention Policy. To determine the appropriate retention period for your personal data, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorized use or disclosure of your personal data, the applicable legal requirements, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means.

Upon the expiry of the relevant data retention period, we will securely destroy all your personal information in accordance with our Data Retention Policy, Applicable Data Protection Law or other applicable laws and regulations.

17. YOUR DUTY TO INFORM US OF CHANGES

To comply with the Applicable Data Protection Law, it is important that the personal information we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal information changes during your employment relationship with us.

18. RIGHTS OF ACCESS, CORRECTION, ERASURE AND RESTRICTION

You have the following rights in relation to the personal data we hold about you. You have the right to:

  • Request access to your personal information (commonly known as a "data subject access request"). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal information we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.
  • Request correction of the personal information that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate information we hold about you corrected.
  • Request erasure of your personal information. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal information where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal information where you have exercised your right to object to processing (see below).
  • Object to processing of your personal information where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground. You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal information for direct marketing purposes.
  • Request the restriction of processing of your personal information. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of personal information about you, for example if you want us to establish its accuracy or the reason for processing it.
  • Request the transfer of your personal information to another party.
  • If you want to review, verify, correct or request erasure of your personal information, object to the processing of your personal data, or request that we transfer a copy of your personal information to another party, please contact the People & Culture Manager in writing.

You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal information (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request for access is clearly unfounded or excessive. Alternatively, we may refuse to comply with the request in such circumstances.

What we may need from you

We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access the information (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is another appropriate security measure to ensure that personal information is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it.

Right to withdraw consent

In the limited circumstances where you may have provided your consent to the collection, processing and transfer of your personal information for a specific purpose, you have the right to withdraw your consent for that specific processing at any time. To withdraw your consent, please contact the People & Culture Manager. Once we have received notification that you have withdrawn your consent, we will no longer process your information for the purpose or purposes you originally agreed to.

19. CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY NOTICE

We reserve the right to update this privacy notice at any time, and we will provide you with a notice of any substantial updates. We may also notify you in other ways from time to time about the processing of your personal information.

20. CONTACT US

If you have any questions about this Privacy Notice or how we handle your personal information, please contact the People & Culture team.

21. RIGHT TO COMPLAIN

You have the right to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues (www.ico.org.uk), if you think your data protection rights have been breached. You can contact the ICO at Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF or by telephone on 0303 123 1113 (local rate) or 01625 545 745. We would, however, like the opportunity to assist you with any concerns you may have so please contact the People & Culture team in the first instance.