Staff Privacy Notice

Staff Privacy Notice

Introduction

You have a legal right to be informed about how an organisation uses any personal information that they hold about you. To comply with this, we provide a ‘privacy notice’ to you where we are processing your personal data. 

This privacy notice explains how Rotherham Opportunities College (the College) will collect, store and use personal data about the college workforce. 

We, Rotherham Opportunities College are the ‘data controller’ for the purposes of data protection law. Our Data Protection Officer (DPO) is Louise Smith 

We only collect and use your personal data when the law allows us to (article 6).

The categories of this information that we collect, process, hold and share include: 

We process data relating to those we employ, or otherwise engage, to work at our college. Personal data that we may collect, use, store and share (when appropriate) about you includes, but is not restricted to: 

  • Contact details 
  • Personal information (such as DoB, employee or teacher number, national insurance number) 
  • Special categories of data including characteristics information such as gender, age, ethnic group marital status, trade union membership, health and medical condition data 
  • Next of Kin and Emergency Contact numbers 
  • Contract information (such as start dates, hours worked, post, roles and salary information) 
  • Bank Account Details, Payroll Records, National Insurance number and Tax information 
  • Work absence information (such as number of absences and reasons/ fit notes/return to work documents/ doctors’ notes/ OH reports) 
  • Recruitment information, including copies of right to work documentation, references and other information included in a CV or cover letter or as part of the application process 
  • Qualifications and employment records, including work history, job titles, working hours, training records and professional memberships 
  • Performance information 
  • Outcomes of any disciplinary and/or grievance procedures 
  • Copy of driving licence 
  • Photographs 
  • Data about your use of the college’s information and communications system 

We collect and use this personal data to: 

  • enable the development of a comprehensive picture of the workforce and how it is deployed 
  • inform the development of recruitment and retention policies 
  • Enable you to be paid 
  • Facilitate safer recruitment, as part of our safeguarding obligations
  • Support effective performance management 
  • Allow better financial modelling and planning 
  • Enable equalities monitoring 
  • Improve the management of workforce data across the sector 

We process it for:

  • Contracts: the processing is necessary for a contract we have with you as the individual, or because we have asked you to take specific steps before entering into a contract. 
  • Legal obligation: the processing is necessary for you to comply with the law (not including contractual obligations).

Collecting this information 

While the majority of information we collect about you is mandatory, there are some occasions when you can choose whether or not to provide the data. 

In order to comply with the law, we will always tell you whether you if it is optional. 

Storing this information 

Personal data is stored in line with our data retention policy. We create and maintain an employment file for each staff member. The information contained in this file is kept secure and is only used for purposes directly relevant to your employment. 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

Once your employment with us has ended, we will retain this file and delete the information in it in accordance with our data retention policy. 

Who we share this information with 

We do not share personal information about you with any third party without your consent unless the law and our policies allow us to do so. 

Where it is legally required or necessary (and it complies with data protection law), we may share personal information about you with: 

  • Our local authority
  • The Department for Education (DfE)
  • Education & Skills Funding Agency (ESFA)
  • Your family or representatives 
  • Educators and examining bodies
  • Our regulator Ofsted 
  • Suppliers and service providers
  • Financial organisations 
  • Central and local government 
  • Our auditors 
  • Survey and research organisations 
  • Trade unions and associations 
  • Health authorities 
  • Security organisations 
  • Health and social welfare organisations 
  • Professional advisers and consultants 
  • Charities and voluntary organisations 
  • Police forces, courts, tribunals 
  • Professional bodies 
  • Employment and recruitment agencies 

Data collection requirements 

The DfE collects and processes personal data relating to those employed by colleges and local authorities that work in state funded schools (including all maintained schools, all academies and free schools and all special schools including Pupil Referral Units and Alternative Provision). All state funded schools are required to make a census submission because it is a statutory return under sections 113 and 114 of the Education Act 2005 

To find out more about the data collection requirements placed on us by the Department for Education including the data that we share with them, go to https://www.gov.uk/education/data-collection-and-censuses-for-schools. 

The department may share information about employees with third parties who promote the education or well-being of students’ or the effective deployment of staff in England by: 

  • Conducting research or analysis 
  • Producing statistics 
  • Providing information, advice or guidance 

The DfE has robust processes in place to ensure that the confidentiality of personal data is maintained and there are stringent controls in place regarding access to it and its use. Decisions on whether DfE releases personal data to third parties are subject to a strict approval process and based on a detailed assessment of: 

  • Who is requesting the data 
  • The purpose for which it is required 
  • The level and sensitivity of data requested; and 
  • The arrangements in place to securely store and handle the data 

To be granted access to school workforce information, organisations must comply with its strict terms and conditions covering the confidentiality and handling of the data, security arrangements and retention and use of the data. 

Transferring data internationally 

Where we transfer personal data to a country or territory outside the European Economic Area, we will do so in accordance with data protection law. 

Requesting access to your personal data 

Under data protection legislation, parents, carers and students’ have the right to request access to information about them that we hold. 

To make a request for your personal information contact Rotherham Opportunities College’s DPO: Louise Smith in writing.

You also have the right to: 

  • Have your personal information to be transmitted electronically to another organisation in certain circumstances. 
  • Object to processing of personal data that is likely to cause, or is causing, damage or distress 
  • Prevent processing for the purpose of direct marketing 
  • Object to decisions being taken by automated means 
  • In certain circumstances, have inaccurate personal data rectified, blocked, erased or destroyed; and claim compensation for damages caused by a breach of the Data Protection regulations 

Contact: 

If you have a concern about the way we are collecting or using your personal data, you should raise your concern with us in the first instance or directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office at https://ico.org.uk/concerns/  

If you would like to discuss anything in this privacy notice, please contact the College on 

info@theroc.co.uk