1. Introduction

1.1 The charity is committed to being transparent about how it collects and uses the personal data of its workforce, and to meeting its data protection obligations. This policy sets out the charity's commitment to data protection, and individual rights and obligations in relation to personal data. 

2. Scope

2.1 This policy applies to the personal data of job applicants, employees, workers, contractors, volunteers, service users, interns, apprentices and former employees, referred to as HR-related personal data.

2.2 The charity has appointed Ginny Cullen, CEO as the person with responsibility for data protection compliance within the charity. They can be contacted at ginny.cullen@casba.org.uk  Questions about this policy, or requests for further information, should be directed to them.

Definitions 

• "Personal data" is any information that relates to a living individual who can be identified from that information. Processing is any use that is made of data, including collecting, storing, amending, disclosing or destroying it. 
  
• "Special categories of personal data" means information about an individual's racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, health, sex life or sexual orientation and genetic and biometric data. 
  
• "Criminal records data" means information about an individual's criminal convictions and offences, and information relating to criminal allegations and proceedings.

3. Data protection principles 

3.1 The charity processes HR-related personal data in accordance with the following data protection principles:

• The charity processes personal data lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner.
• The charity collects personal data only for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes.
• The charity processes personal data only where it is adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary for the purposes of processing.
• The charity keeps accurate personal data and takes all reasonable steps to ensure that inaccurate personal data is rectified or deleted without delay.
• The charity keeps personal data only for the period necessary for processing.
• The charity adopts appropriate measures to make sure that personal data is secure, and protected against unauthorised or unlawful processing, and accidental loss, destruction or damage.

3.2 The charity tells individuals the reasons for processing their personal data, how it uses such data and the legal basis for processing in its privacy notices. It will not process personal data of individuals for other reasons. If the charity wants to start processing HR-related data for other reasons, individuals will be informed of this before any processing begins.

3.3 HR-related data will not be shared with third parties, except as set out in privacy notices. Where the charity relies on its legitimate interests as the basis for processing data, it will carry out an assessment to ensure that those interests are not overridden by the rights and freedoms of individuals.

3.4 Where the charity processes special categories of personal data or criminal records data to perform obligations, to exercise rights in employment law, or for reasons of substantial public interest, this is done in accordance with a policy on processing special categories of data and criminal records data.

3.5 The charity will update HR-related personal data promptly if an individual advises that their information has changed or is inaccurate.

3.6 Personal data gathered during the employment, worker, contractor or volunteer relationship, or apprenticeship or internship is held in the individual's personnel file (in hard copy or electronic format, or both), and on HR systems. The periods for which the charity holds HR-related personal data are contained in its privacy notices to individuals.

3.7 The charity keeps a record of its processing activities in respect of HR-related personal data in accordance with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR).

4. Special categories of data

4.1 The charity will only process special categories of your personal data (see above) on the following basis in accordance with legislation:

• where it is necessary for carrying out rights and obligations under employment law or a collective agreement;
• where it is necessary to protect your vital interests or those of another person where you are physically or legally incapable of giving consent;
• where you have made the data public;
• where it is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims;
• where it is necessary for the purposes of occupational medicine or for the assessment of your working capacity;
• where it is carried out by a not-for-profit body with a political, philosophical, religious or trade union aim provided the processing relates to only members or former members provided there is no disclosure to a third party without consent;
• where it is necessary for reasons for substantial public interest on the basis of law which is proportionate to the aim pursued and which contains appropriate safeguards;
• where is it necessary for reasons of public interest in the area of public health; and
• where is it necessary for archiving purposes in the public interest or scientific and historical research purposes.

4.2 If the charity processes special categories of your personal data in line with one of the above basis, it does not require your consent. In other cases, the charity is required to gain your consent to process your special categories of personal data. If the charity asks for your consent to process a special category of personal data, then we will explain the reason for the request. You do not have to consent or can withdraw consent later.

4.3 Where the charity processes special categories of your personal data such as criminal records data to perform obligations or to exercise rights in employment law, this is done in accordance with legal conditions e.g., DBS requirements (government’s Disclosure and Barring Service check)

5. Individual rights 

5.1 As a data subject, individuals have a number of rights in relation to their personal data. 
Subject access requests 
5.2 Individuals have the right to make a subject access request. If an individual makes a subject access request, the charity will tell them:

• whether their data is processed and if so why, the categories of personal data concerned and the source of the data if it is not collected from the individual;
• to whom their data is or may be disclosed, including to recipients located outside the UK and the safeguards that apply to such transfers;
• for how long their personal data is stored (or how that period is decided);
• their rights to rectification or erasure of data, or to restrict or object to processing;
• their right to complain to the Information Commissioner if they think the charity has failed to comply with their data protection rights; and
• whether the charity carries out automated decision-making and the logic involved in any such decision-making.

5.3 The charity will also provide the individual with a copy of the personal data undergoing processing. This will normally be in electronic form if the individual has made a request electronically, unless they agree otherwise.

5.4 If you want additional copies, the charity may charge a fee, which will be based on the administrative cost to the charity of providing the additional copies.
5.5 To make a subject access request, the individual should send the request to Ginny Cullen at ginny.cullen@casba.org.uk. In your email request to aid the timely response to the subject access request, please be specific of the date ranges of the data and the use of specific names you are seeking.  In some cases, the charity may need to ask for proof of identification before the request can be processed. The charity will inform the individual if it needs to verify their identity and the documents it requires.

5.6 The charity will normally respond to a request within a period of one month from the date it is received. In some cases, such as where the request is complex, it may respond within three months of the date the request is received. The charity will write to the individual within one month of receiving the original request to tell them if this is the case.

5.7 If a subject access request is manifestly unfounded or excessive, the charity is not obliged to comply with it. A subject access request is likely to be manifestly unfounded or excessive where it repeats a request to which the charity has already responded. If an individual submits a request that is unfounded or excessive, the charity will notify them that this is the case and whether or not the charity will respond to it.

Other rights 

5.8 Individuals have a number of other rights in relation to their personal data. They can require the charity to:

• rectify inaccurate data;
• stop processing or erase data that is no longer necessary for the purposes of processing;
• stop processing or erase data if the individual's interests override the charity's legitimate grounds for processing data (where the charity relies on its legitimate interests as a reason for processing data);
• stop processing or erase data if processing is unlawful; and
• stop processing data for a period if data is inaccurate or if there is a dispute about whether the individual's interests override the charity's legitimate grounds for processing data.

5.9 To ask the charity to take any of these steps, the individual should send the request to Ginny Cullen at ginny.cullen@casba.org.uk.

6. Data security 

6.1 The charity takes the security of HR-related personal data seriously. The charity has internal policies and controls in place to protect personal data against loss, accidental destruction, misuse or disclosure, and to ensure that data is not accessed, except by employees in the proper performance of their duties.

6.2 Where the charity engages third parties to process personal data on its behalf, such parties do so on the basis of written instructions, are under a duty of confidentiality and are obliged to implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure the security of data.

7. Impact assessments

7.1 Some of the processing that the charity carries out may result in risks to privacy. Where processing would result in a high risk to your rights and freedoms, the charity will carry out a data protection impact assessment (DPIA) to determine the necessity and proportionality of processing. This will include considering the purposes for which the activity is carried out, the risks for yourself and the measures that can be put in place to mitigate those risks.

8. Data breaches 

8.1 If the charity discovers that there has been a breach of HR-related personal data that poses a risk to the rights and freedoms of individuals, it will report it to the Information Commissioner within 72 hours of discovery. The charity will record all data breaches regardless of their effect.

8.2 If the breach is likely to result in a high risk to the rights and freedoms of individuals, it will tell affected individuals that there has been a breach and provide them with information about its likely consequences and the mitigation measures it has taken.

9. International data transfers 

9.1 The charity will not transfer HR-related personal data to countries outside the UK. 

10. Individual responsibilities 

10.1 Individuals are responsible for helping the charity keep their personal data up to date. Individuals should let the charity know if data provided to the charity changes, for example if an individual moves house or changes bank details.

10.2 Individuals may have access to the personal data of other individuals and of our users in the course of their employment, contract, volunteer period, internship or apprenticeship. Where this is the case, the charity relies on individuals to help meet its data protection obligations to employees and to service users.

10.3 Individuals who have access to personal data are required:

• to access only data that they have authority to access and only for authorised purposes;
• not to disclose data except to individuals (whether inside or outside the charity) who have appropriate authorisation;
• to keep data secure (for example by complying with rules on access to premises, computer access, including password protection, and secure file storage and destruction);
• not to remove personal data, or devices containing or that can be used to access personal data, from the charity's premises without adopting appropriate security measures (such as encryption or password protection) to secure the data and the device;
• not to store personal data on local drives or on personal devices that are used for work purposes; and
• to report data breaches of which they become aware to Ginny Cullen immediately.

10.4 Failing to observe these requirements may amount to a disciplinary offence, which will be dealt with under the charity's disciplinary procedure. Significant or deliberate breaches of this policy, such as accessing employee or customer data without authorisation or a legitimate reason to do so, may constitute gross misconduct and could lead to dismissal without notice.

11. Training 

11.1 The charity will provide training to all individuals about their data protection responsibilities as part of the induction process and at regular intervals thereafter.
11.2 If your role requires you to have regular access to personal data, or who are responsible for implementing this policy or responding to subject access requests under this policy, will receive additional training to help them understand their duties and how to comply with them.

12. Records

12.1 The Charity keeps records of its processing activities including the purpose for the processing and retention periods in its HR data record. These records will be kept up to date so that they reflect current processing activities.