This privacy notice tells you what to expect us to do with your personal information.
Contact details for our Data Protection Officer
Data Protection Officer
Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service (DWFRS)
Five Rivers Health and Wellbeing Centre
Salisbury
Wiltshire
SP1 3NR
01722 691000
What information we collect, use, and why
When our application process opens, and if you choose to apply, you will initially complete an online registration by clicking on a link in our advert. This will take you to a host website, Talogy, who act as a data processor on our behalf, where you will be asked to complete the registration process. Their privacy policy is available on their website (https://talogy.com/en/legal/privacy-policy/).
Talogy will collect or use the following personal information for the purposes of administering a behavioural styles questionnaire and situational judgement tests to support the wholetime recruitment process:
- Name
- Email address
- Telephone number
- Address
- National Insurance Number
- Fire Service employment history (if applicable)
- Gender
- Age
- Eligibility to work in the UK
- Activity and behavioural information (this would be the results of the tests you complete )
In addition to the above, Talogy will also collect the following special category information to monitor the diversity of the candidates throughout the recruitment process:
- Sexual orientation
- Partnership status
- Religion or belief
- Ethnic origin
- Special/reasonable adjustment requirements
Talogy will also collect “yes” or “no” responses to the following questions:
- Whether or not you are over 17 years and six months old
- Whether or not you are eligible to work in the UK
- Whether or not you have any unspent criminal convictions
- Whether or not you have a full, valid UK manual driving licence
- Whether or not you are confident in water
Decisions regarding your eligibility to continue in the recruitment process are made via automatic processing of your ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ responses to these questions, which are based on established eligibility requirements for the role of a firefighter. Everyone must meet these eligibility requirements and there are no exceptions to these. If you wish to have the decision about your eligibility reviewed, you must contact [email protected] within 5 days of receiving your outcome.
Candidates’ results will be accessed by HR Solutions Hub, who act as a data processor on our behalf and who are the licence holders for Talogy. Their privacy policy is available on their website (https://www.hrsolutionshub.co.uk/). HR Solutions Hub will provide the information to us in a readable format and, based on the outcomes of the tests, we will tell HR Solutions Hub which candidates are successful and unsuccessful and ask them to send invites to the next stage or regrets.
The next stage of the process will ask you to complete a series of verbal, numerical and mechanical reasoning tests, which are hosted by Test Partnership, who act as a data processor on our behalf. Their privacy policy is available on their website (https://www.testpartnership.com/data-protection.html).
Test Partnership will collect or use the following personal information for the purposes of administering these tests to support the wholetime recruitment process:
- Contact details
- Technical identifiers
- Performance in maths, English and mechanical reasoning tests
Candidates’ results will be accessed by HR Solutions Hub, who act as a data processor on our behalf and who are the licence holders for Test Partnership. Their privacy policy is available on their website (https://www.hrsolutionshub.co.uk/).HR Solutions Hub will provide the information to us in a readable format and, based on the outcomes of the tests, we will tell HR Solutions Hub which candidates are successful and unsuccessful. Those who are successful at this stage will be sent a link to complete a Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service (DWFRS) application form through our e-recruitment system.
All data provided will be used by DWFRS for the purposes of you undertaking the wholetime recruitment process and for evaluation purposes.
For further information about how we process your personal information please see our privacy policy (https://www.dwfire.org.uk/about-us/accessing-information/data-protection/privacy-policy/).
Lawful bases and data protection rights
Under UK data protection law, we must have a “lawful basis” for collecting and using your personal information. There is a list of possible lawful bases in the UK GDPR. You can find out more about lawful bases on the ICO’s website.
Which lawful basis we rely on may affect your data protection rights which are set out in brief in our overarching privacy notice. You can find out more about your data protection rights and the exemptions which may apply on the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) website.
Our lawful basis for the collection and use of your personal information
Our lawful basis for collecting or using personal information collected during registration and psychometric testing as part of the wholetime recruitment process:
(b) Contract – we have to collect or use the information so we can enter into or carry out a contract.
Our lawful basis for the collection and use of your special category information
Our lawful basis for collecting or using special category information for [purpose] is:
(b) Employment, social security and social protection law (if authorised by law) – processing is necessary for the purposes of carrying out the obligations and exercising specific rights of the controller or of the data subject in the field of employment and social security and social protection law in so far as it is authorised by Domestic Law or a collective agreement pursuant to Member State law providing for appropriate safeguards for the fundamental rights and the interests of the data subject.
The requisite basis in law for the (b) employment, social security and social protection law condition comes from:
- Our compliance with the Equality Act 2010. Under the Equality Act 2010, as a public authority we have a public sector equality duty, collecting this data allows us to understand the characteristics of applicants which, in turn, supports our efforts to remove barriers to entry.
The associated condition in UK law, set out in Part 1 of Schedule 1 of the Data Protection Act 2018 is:
- Employment, social security and social protection. This condition is met if the processing is necessary for the purposes of performing or exercising obligations or rights which are imposed or conferred by law on the controller or the data subject in connection with employment, social security or social protection, and, when the processing is carried out, the controller has an appropriate policy document in place.
Where we get your personal information from
All personal information used is collected from you (the data subject).
How we store your information
We keep your information within a secure SharePoint site, which is subject to strict security controls to ensure that access is limited to those who need to see it. Talogy, HR Solutions Hub and Test Partnership will store your information in accordance with their respective privacy notices.
Information sent to us from HR Solutions Hub will be sent using password protection.
How long we keep your personal information for
If your application for employment is unsuccessful, we will hold your data for 12 months after the end of the recruitment process so we can respond to any queries and for statistical and evaluation purposes; and to produce the annual equalities data report. Anonymised data will be kept thereafter for monitoring purposes.
If your application for employment is successful, personal data gathered during the recruitment process will be transferred to your personnel file and retained for the duration of your employment plus 6 years thereafter.
If your application for employment is successful, and you are held in a recruitment pool for possible future employment opportunities, we will retain your data for the period of time that you remain in the pool and the pool remains open. After that period has elapsed, and if you have not received an offer of employment, your data will be held for 12 months so we can respond to any queries and for statistical and evaluation purposes; and to produce the annual equalities data report. Anonymised data will be kept thereafter for monitoring purposes.
Talogy, HR Solutions Hub and Test Partnership will keep your information for the duration of the recruitment process plus an additional 12 months from the close of the process, after which time it will be securely destroyed or anonymised.
How to complain
If you have any concerns about our use of your personal information, you can make a complaint to us using the contact details at the top of this privacy notice.
If you remain unhappy with how we’ve used your data after raising a complaint with us, you can also complain to the ICO.
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
0303 123 1113
https://www.ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint
Last updated
September 2024