Privacy Notice

Real Technical Solutions Limited of 1 Paper Mews, 330 High Street, Dorking, Surrey, RH4 2TU is a “data controller” in relation to data we hold and process relating to our employees and contractors.

As a Data Controller, we are responsible for deciding how we hold and use personal information about you. We are required under data protection legislation to notify you of the information contained in this Privacy Notice.

This notice applies to any prospective, current and former ‘members’ of the entity referenced above. This notice does not form part of any contract for the provision of services. We may update this notice at any 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 using such information.

DATA PROTECTION PRINCIPLES

We will comply with data protection law. This says that the personal information we hold about you must be:

1. Used lawfully, fairly and in a transparent way.
2. Collected only for the valid purposes that we have clearly explained to you and not used in any way that is incompatible with those purposes.
3. Relevant to the purposes we have told you about and limited only to those purposes.
4. Accurate and kept up to date.
5. Kept for a period that is only as long as necessary for the purposes we have told you about.
6. Kept securely.

THE KIND OF INFORMATION WE HOLD ABOUT YOU

Personal data, or personal information, means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include data where the identity has been removed (anonymous data).

Where we do hold any “special categories” of more sensitive personal data about you, we will ensure it receives a higher level of protection.

We will collect, store, and use the following categories of personal information about you identify you and facilitate the provision of our services to you:

• Name
• Home address
• Residential address
• Work location
• Date of birth
• Title
• Bank details
• Unique tax reference number
• Nationality
• National Insurance Number
• Tax codes
• Email address
• Home, mobile and work/business telephone numbers
• Personal income and employment details

We may also collect, store and use the following “special categories” of more sensitive personal information:

• Information about criminal convictions and offences which you may inform us about from time to time which may be used to provide advice your duties as a director, or your eligibility to act as a director of a business.

HOW IS YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION COLLECTED?

We collect personal information about you through LinkedIn, from online Job Boards, directly from you over the telephone or from your CV which has been provided to us by you. We may also collect additional personal information in the course our engagement relating to the services which we provide.

HOW WE WILL USE INFORMATION ABOUT YOU

We will only use your personal information when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your personal information in the following circumstances:

1. Where we need to perform the contract we have entered into with you.
2. Where we need to comply with a legal obligation.
3. Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests.

We may also use your personal information in the following situations, which are likely to be rare:

1. Where we need to protect your interests (or someone else’s interests).
2. Where it is needed in the public interest or for official purposes.

We will use information about you for the following purposes:

• Making decisions about salary, remuneration and compensation (based on the terms of our engagement with you, your personal services company or your payroll provider).
• Providing recruitment support and work finding services to you and/or your business (in accordance with the terms of our engagement with you, your personal services company or your payroll provider).
• Making decisions about your continued engagement with us (in accordance with the terms of our engagement with you, your personal services company or your payroll provider).
• Making arrangements for the termination of our working relationship (in accordance with the terms of our engagement with you, your personal services company or your payroll provider).
• Dealing with disputes involving you (in accordance with us performing our terms of our engagement with you, your personal services company or your payroll provider).
• Understanding and analysing working patterns to ensure compliance with legal obligations (in accordance with the terms of our engagement with you, your personal services company or your payroll provider).
• To prevent fraud (in accordance with our legal obligations).
• Processing payroll and making payments to your chosen bank account(s) in accordance with the terms of our engagement with you, your personal services company or your payroll provider.
• Informing HMRC of necessary information in order to comply with obligations imposed by s44 Income Tax Earnings and Protection Act 2003 (in accordance with the terms of our engagement with you).
• Equal opportunities monitoring in relation to providing access to our services to comply with our legal obligations.

Some of the above grounds for processing will overlap and there may be several grounds which justify our use of your personal information.

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 providing our services to you or your business), or we may be prevented from complying with our legal or regulatory obligations (such as to report financial impropriety in relation to anti-money laundering), 

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

Please note that we may process your personal information without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law.

HOW WE USE PARTICULARLY SENSITIVE PERSONAL INFORMATION

”Special categories” of particularly 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 may process special categories of personal information in the following circumstances

1. In limited circumstances, with your explicit written consent 
2. Where we need to carry out our legal obligations 
3. In line with our data protection policy, and Engagement Letter and terms of business and/or
4. 4. Where it is needed in the public interest, such as for equal opportunities monitoring and in line with our data protection policy.

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 members or former members in the course of legitimate business activities with the appropriate safeguards.

DATA SHARING

We may have to share your data with third parties, including third-party service providers and recruitment businesses.

We require third parties to respect the security of your data and to treat it in accordance with the law.

We may transfer your personal information outside the EU in some circumstances which will be explained to you ahead of data being transferred.

If we do, you can expect a similar degree of protection in respect of your personal information.

“Third parties” includes third-party service providers (including contractors and designated agents). The following activities are carried out by third-party service providers: payroll, pension administration, benefits provision and administration, IT and record management services, and financial services. The following third-party service providers process personal information about you for the following purposes:

Sterling Talent Solutions UK Ltd

To allow necessary DBS checks to take place in order to perform our obligations in accordance with our contract with you. 

Prospective employers or end clients

In order to allow us to perform our contract with you by sharing your information with prospective employers or end clients.

HMRC

For tax compliance activities.

End clients

To whom you are engaged to provide services to enable them to manage your engagement; protect your health and safety at work; process working time and comply with their legal, regulatory and contractual obligations in relation to the same.

Payroll providers and accountants

In order to allow us to pay you for your services to the end client, in accordance with our contractual obligations. 

How secure is my information with third-party service providers?

All our third-party service providers are required to take appropriate security measures to protect your personal information in line with our policies. 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 and in accordance with our instructions.

When might you share my personal information with third parties?

We may share your personal information with other third parties, for example in the context of the possible sale or restructuring of Real Technical Solutions Limited, or for the purposes of regulatory compliance activities.

We may share your information with a third party in order to facilitate necessary DBS checks. In such circumstances, the following information will be shared with Sterling Talent Solutions Limited:

• Name
• Email address 
• Role title

As part of the DBS check, we will verify your identity by checking your passport and viewing proof of your address either by way of a utility bill, bank statement or driving license.

DATA SECURITY

We have put in place measures to protect the security of your information. Details of these measures are available upon request.

Third parties will only process your personal information on our instructions and where they have agreed to treat the information confidentially and to keep it secure.

We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal information from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised 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 they are subject to a duty of confidentiality. Details of these measures may be obtained from us.

We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected data security breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected breach where we are legally required to do so.

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, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. Details of retention periods for different aspects of your personal information are available from Alan.parker@realtechnicalsolutions.com. To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements.

In some circumstances we may anonymise your personal information so that it can no longer be associated with you, in which case we may use such information without further notice to you. Once you are no longer a member of Real Technical Solutions Limited we will retain and securely destroy your personal information in accordance with our data retention policy or applicable laws and regulations (where appropriate).

RIGHTS OF ACCESS, CORRECTION, ERASURE, AND RESTRICTION

Your duty to inform us of changes

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 working relationship with us.

Your rights in connection with personal information

Under certain circumstances, by law 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 to ensure it remains accurate and up to date.
• Request erasure of some or all of your information which we hold on you, subject to us complying with our legal and regulatory obligations which may override your right to request erasure.
• Right to request that we cease processing some or all of your information, in whole or in part, subject to our legal and regulatory obligations which may override your right to request that we either pause our processing activities or cease processing your personal data entirely.
• Right to request that your data is transferred to a third party (portability) in the event that you look to use the services of a third party (such as if you chose to use another recruiter or apply for a mortgage), we will share data relating to your engagement with us with such third party (for example, your new accountant or mortgage provider), upon request.
• Right to object to some or all of your data no longer being processed by us (either temporarily or permanently). This will be subject to our legal and regulatory obligations which may override your right to request this, but we will ensure that such obligations and or/legitimate interest or ours (or others) are sufficiently compelling in order to override you rights in this regard. 
• If we use automated decision making or profiling you will be able to request manual/human intervention to ensure appropriate decisions are taken or advice provided. 

No fee usually required

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 respond to the point of contact from whom you received the last communication to which you consented to receive. 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, unless we have another legitimate basis for doing so in law.

CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY NOTICE  

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

 If you have any questions about this privacy notice, please contact Alan.parker@realtechnicalsolutions.com