Workforce Privacy Notice

This privacy notice is intended to be read by our current and prospective workforce. The term workforce refers to all staff, including those on permanent, full and part time, temporary, variable hours and bank contracts. We also include all IR35 workers, contractors, agency workers, volunteers and Governors who while not employed by us, do work with us.

This privacy notice describes how we, Chichester College Group (the Group), collect, use and protect your information. In this context we are called a Data Controller.

You should refer to this document for the full details of our privacy notice. If you prefer, this information is also summarised in our visual workforce and candidate privacy notices. To access this privacy notice in an alternative format please contact the data protection team.

About the Group

Chichester College Group is a General Further Education College consisting of Brighton Metropolitan College, Brinsbury College, Chichester College, Crawley College, Haywards Heath College, Northbrook College and Worthing College.

Name: Chichester College Group
Address: Westgate Fields, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 1SB
Phone Number: (+44) (0)1243 768 321
E-mail: dp@chichester.ac.uk
Data Protection Officer: Benjamin Phillips

How we collect your information

The information we hold about you comes from the way you engage with the college. This includes information you provide in a job application, new starter paperwork and by engaging with HR and the services provided by the college.

Some information is provided by other sources such as employment agencies, referees or former employers.

To offer you work with us, and support you while you do so, we require your personal data. Where data is collected based on your consent, or you have the ability to decide how we use the data, we will inform you of this at the point of collection.

How we use workforce data

We use workforce data to achieve the following:

• Recruit new members of our workforce or to offer promotion opportunities to existing staff.
• To carry out employment checks including the right to work in the UK and DBS checks.
• To provide and administer contracts of employment, meet other contractual obligations and to conduct day to day business including making your contact information available on the staff intranet and to provide an ID badge.
• To pay our staff and ensure they receive other benefits (including pensions and reimbursement of travel and subsistence expenses) to which they are entitled and that the necessary deductions are being made i.e. tax, student loans etc.
• To meet the health and wellbeing needs of our workforce, including providing any reasonable adjustments.
• To maintain accurate absence records, including sickness, parental leave and jury service.
• To record and monitor staff performance (including appraisals), training and development.
• To operate and keep a record of disciplinary, grievance and other employee relations processes including employment tribunals.
• To produce statistical returns.
• To provide references on request for current and former employees

Storing workforce data

We hold workplace data securely for the set amount of time shown in our data retention policy. Different types of data and documents are kept for different lengths of time. Information in your personnel file is kept for the duration of your employment plus six years. Where data is linked to a benefit package including pension schemes, we may have to hold this data for a longer time period.

If you apply for a position with the Group but are either unsuccessful or choose not to accept, data associated with the recruitment process is kept for 6 months.  With your permission we may keep your contact details to inform you of similar vacancies which may be of interest to you over the next year.

Your data is stored in the UK and EEA. If there is a need to process personal data in another territory, the Group will ensure that relevant security measures are in place to protect your personal data. This will be achieved by placing contractual obligations on those receiving your personal data or by ensuring that the recipients have subscribed to relevant international frameworks that aim to ensure adequate protection.

Who we share workforce information with and why we share it

We do not share information about our workforce with anyone without consent unless the law and our policies allow us to do so.

We routinely share student information with:

• Other educational providers involved in the joint delivery of a course
• Local authorities
• Pension scheme providers
• Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC)
• The Department for Education (DfE)
• The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA)
• The Office for Students (OfS)
• The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA)
• The awarding body for the qualification the staff member delivers
• Agencies who are required to audit our staff and financial records
• National Health Service and local NHS Trusts
• Law enforcement agencies
• The Home Office and Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS checks and right to work checks)
• UK Visas and Immigration
• UK Enforcement Organisations (e.g. The HSE, Home Office)
• Occupational health service providers
• Chichester College Group subsidiaries
• Trade Unions

As an employer, we are required to carry out a DBS check on all members of our workforce. This is a legal obligations on us, as an employer, because we work with children and vulnerable adults. A criminal record will not necessarily bar an individual from obtaining a position within the Group.

The Group collects information related to protected characteristics as defined within the Equality Act. This information is used for monitoring and institutional reporting, including in our Annual Equality Report, Equal Pay and Gender Pay Gap Report.

Staff information available under the Freedom of Information Act

The Group also has obligations under the Freedom of Information Act. It is the Group’s policy to make information as public as possible. Full details of what information is made available to the public for inspection can be found in our publication scheme published on our website. The following staff information will be made public:

• Names and photographs of the members of the Corporation
• Organisational structure charts

Any individual who has reason for wishing that any of these details should remain confidential should contact the Data Protection Officer.

Your data protection rights

Under data protection law, you have rights including:

• Your right of access – You have the right to ask us for copies of your personal information. The majority of your employment data is readily available to you through HR Self Service. If you want to see the personal data held about you by the Group, you should make a ‘subject access request’.
• Your right to rectification – You have the right to ask us to rectify personal information you think is inaccurate. You also have the right to ask us to complete information you think is incomplete. You have the ability to amend many of your personal details through HR Self Service.
• Your right to erasure – You have the right to ask us to erase your personal information in certain circumstances. Where information is processed as part of our legal obligations or under public task this right does not apply. This includes information we are required to hold to maintain you employment, for payroll records and to meet our safeguarding obligations.
• Your right to restriction of processing – You have the right to ask us to restrict the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.
• Your right to object to processing – You have the the right to object to the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.
• Your right to data portability – You have the right to ask that we transfer the personal information you gave us to another organisation, or to you, in certain circumstances.

You are not required to pay any fee to use any of your data protection rights. The Group will respond to your request within one calendar month from the date we receive your request.

Requests can be received in any format however, the easiest way to make a request is to email dp@chichester.ac.uk. You can also make your request in person. Your request should include your details, for example your name and staff number. When making a ‘subject access request’, the request should also specify what information you would like to receive. We are required to verify your identity and therefore ask, where possible, you include a copy of official identification with your request.

How to complain

If you have any concerns about how the Group collects or processes your personal information, you can make a complaint to the Group by emailing dp@chichester.ac.uk.

We ask that in the first instance you give us the chance to put things right. However, you can also raise any complaint with the ICO if you are unhappy with how we have used your data.

The ICO’s address:           

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Helpline number: 0303 123 1113

ICO website: https://www.ico.org.uk

Privacy notice revisions

This privacy notice will be kept under review and changes will be published to our website. This document was last updated in August 2022.