Winston Oak

Privacy Notice

23rd Nov 2023

This privacy notice explains how Winston Oak will collect and process your personal data if you are a candidate, client, supplier, use our website, are a referee/emergency contact of a candidate or apply for a job to work at Winston Oak.

We comply with the latest data protection legislation, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Please note that we may amend this Privacy Notice from time to time and will post any changes here.

About us

Winston Oak is a specialist recruitment business which provides work-finding services to its clients and work-seekers. In providing these services we process personal data (including some sensitive personal data at times) and in doing so, we act as a data controller.

Who to contact regarding your personal data

Your privacy is important to us, and we are committed to protecting and safeguarding your data privacy rights. Our Data Protection Manager looks after data protection and would be happy to answer any of your questions about this privacy notice and how Winston Oak uses your data.

Contact our Data Protection Manager by writing to Winston Oak at 18 Garsdale Crescent, Blurton, ST3 3JP

How we collect and process personal data

You may give personal details to Winston Oak directly, such as on an application or registration form or via our website, or we may collect them from another source such as a job board. Winston Oak will only use your personal data when legally permitted to do so. For the purposes of providing you with work-finding services and/or information relating to roles relevant to you.

We collect the minimal personal data necessary for the provision of our recruitment services. We endeavour to keep this information accurate and up to date, only use it for the purpose for which it was provided and not keep it longer than is necessary.

If you are a candidate

Winston Oak processes candidate and prospective candidate data so that it can connect the best candidates with the best jobs. We only ask for and collect the information we genuinely need, which is necessary for our legitimate interests to be able to provide our work-finding services.

We keep this data whilst we have meaningful contact with you, this includes written and verbal communication, and where you click through from our marketing communications. If there has been no meaningful contact for two years we will securely delete your information.

Where we have a contract with you e.g. you are a contractor, by law, for tax purposes, we have to keep basic information about our contractors for six years after they cease being contractors. This includes contact, identity, financial and transaction data.

The main ways we may process your personal data:

So that you can apply for a vacancy that we are or a client is listing. This may be direct through our website, email or phone, via a job board, LinkedIn or by visiting our offices in person.
If you are referred to us by a 3rd party e.g. a colleague at work. We will always inform prospective candidates that we have received their data and will provide them with an option to object to their data being added to our database.
If we have identified you as a prospective candidate. This may be from a job board listing, LinkedIn, other social media and website research. We will always inform candidates that we have collected their data and will provide them with an option to object to their data being added to our database.

The personal data we collect and process

If you have not applied to us directly but you have been referred to us or we have identified you as a prospective candidate (items 2 and 3 above) we will process information such as name, age, gender, contact details, education details, employment history and social media profile. We do process other personal data about you, but only if you have chosen to share that information with us.

So that we can send you related marketing communications. We may send marketing communications to you about similar products and services. We do this under our legitimate interests where you engage our services by applying for a job directly or you agree to be put forward for a vacancy. It is important to note that you can opt-out at any time by clicking the ‘Unsubscribe’ link in any marketing communications email.
Sharing your personal data with prospective employers. We will only do this with explicit consent and we do not normally share contact information until a job offer is made and accepted. Winston Oak takes the protection of personal data very seriously.
If you are a contractor and we provide a managed service. Contractors provide us with further information under the obligation to fulfil a contract so that we can manage their payment as a service to our clients. As part of this arrangement we will share this data with the client and the HMRC under a legal obligation.

If you are a client

Winston Oak processes client and prospective client data so that it can introduce and match the best candidates to the best clients. We only ask for and collect the information we genuinely need, which is necessary for our legitimate interests to be able to provide our work-finding services.

Where we have a contract with you, by law, for tax purposes, we have to keep basic information about our clients for six years after they cease being clients. This includes contact, identity, financial and transaction data.

Where there is no contract in place, we keep your data whilst we have meaningful contact with you, this includes written and verbal communication, and where you click through from our marketing communications. If there has been no meaningful contact for two years we will securely delete your information.

The main ways we may process your personal data:

So that you can engage our services. This may be direct through our website, email or phone, LinkedIn or by visiting our offices in person.
If you are referred to us by a 3rd party e.g. a connection or colleague at work. We will always inform prospective clients that we have received their data and will provide them with an option to object to their data being added to our database.
If we have identified you as a prospective client. This may be from an event we have held, LinkedIn, other social media or website research. We will always inform prospective clients that we have collected their data and will provide them with an option to object to their data being added to our database.

The personal data we collect and process

If you have not engaged us directly but have been referred to us or we have identified you as a prospective client (items 2 and 3 above) we will process information such as name, company history, position, contact details and LinkedIn profile. We do process other personal data about you, but only when you have chosen to share that information with us.

So that we can send you related marketing communications. We may send marketing communications to you about similar products and services. We do this under our legitimate interests where you have engaged our services. It is important to note that you can opt-out at any time by clicking the ‘Unsubscribe’ link in any marketing communications email.
Sharing your personal data with candidates. We will only do this when a client has engaged our services. Winston Oak takes the protection of personal data very seriously.

If you are a referee or emergency contact

We will only process your personal data to provide our core service in connecting the best candidates with the best clients and to support our candidates in an emergency. We only ask for and collect the information we genuinely need, which is necessary for our legitimate interests to be able to provide our work-finding services and provide care and safety for our candidates.

The ways we will process your personal data (note that we may be processing your data as a candidate or client that is not connected to this processing):

If you are a referee. The candidate will have put the referee’s personal information forward as part of the interview process. We will make contact to see if they are prepared to provide a reference and will provide them with an option to object to their data being processed. We keep this data whilst the candidate remains on our database. The personal data processed would normally be name, contact details and company.
If you are an emergency contact. The candidate will have put the emergency contact’s personal information forward as part of the interview process. We will hold this information whilst the candidate remains on our database. The emergency contact concerned can object to their data being processed. The personal data processed would normally be name, relationship to candidate and contact details.

If you are a supplier

We process your personal data to ensure that contract arrangements between us are properly managed. This ensures that the relationship runs smoothly, and we comply with legal requirements.

By law, for tax purposes, we have to keep basic information about our suppliers for six years after they cease being suppliers. This includes contact, identity, financial and transaction data.

If you apply to work at Winston Oak

Winston Oak will process your personal data if you make an application to work with us. We only ask for and collect the information we genuinely need, which is necessary for our legitimate interests to be able to recruit the best people to join our team.

We keep all application data for 6 months and then it is destroyed unless you give consent to be added to our talent pool for future roles or you are successful and hired to work with us.

If you use our website

This applies to all users of our websites – the general public, candidates, clients, suppliers, referees and emergency contacts and applicants wanting to work at Winston Oak. We only ask for and collect the information we genuinely need, which is necessary for our legitimate interests to be able to provide a great website experience and our work-finding services.

Cookies and IP addresses

We use cookies, which are small text files that are placed on your computer when you visit. We do this to make our website work more efficiently and to promote our news, products and services on social media. You will be asked for your cookie consent when you first visit our website. You can manage your consent and visit our Cookie Notice for more information.

Winston Oak uses a third party service to help maintain the security and performance of our website. To deliver this service it processes the IP addresses (a number assigned to each of your devices connected to the internet by your broadband provider) of visitors to our websites.

Sensitive Data

We may collect some sensitive data from you if you are a candidate or apply for a job at Winston Oak, this can include details of medical conditions and disabilities, if disclosed voluntarily.

For some vacancies, we may also do a financial background check or seek details of any commission or alleged commission of any offence. We will always ask for your explicit consent to do this.

We may also collect sexual orientation, racial or ethnic origin information to ensure meaningful equal opportunity monitoring and reporting. We will require your specific consent to do this and any reporting will be anonymised.

Disclosure of personal data to 3rd parties

Other than to our own service providers, Winston Oak will not pass on your personal data to any other third parties without your consent unless the law requires us to do so or where there is immediate danger to your health.

We may pass on your personal data to service providers contracted to Winston Oak in the course of dealing with you. They act as a data processor on our behalf and are obliged under contract to keep your details securely, and only use them to fulfil the services they provide on our behalf. When they no longer need your data to fulfil this service, they dispose of the information in line with Winston Oak procedures.

In the future, if we were to sell Winston Oak, we may disclose your Information to the buyer as part of the completed sale and the new owner would become the data controller and be bound by the latest data protection legislation.

International Transfer

We do use data processors that provide our applicant tracking system, email provision, and telephone and CCTV monitoring that reside outside the European Economic Area (EEA). This means that the processing of your personal data will involve a transfer of data outside of the EEA.

Our data processors are based in the United States and we transfer data to them as they are EU-US Privacy Shield certified, which requires them to provide similar protection to personal data as it has in Europe under GDPR.

Data Security

We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed.

There are also procedures in place to deal with any suspected personal data breach and we will notify you and the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) of a breach where we are legally required to do so.

Your rights as a data subject

Right of access – you have the right to request a copy of the information that we hold about you. You can do that by contacting us by writing to Winston Oak at 18 Garsdale Crescent, Blurton, ST3 3JP.

If we do hold information about you we will:

give you a description of it
tell you why we are holding it
tell you who it could be disclosed to
let you have a copy of the information in an intelligible form

Please note that you will need to provide proof of identity – passport, driving licence or birth certificate.

Right of rectification – you have a right to correct data that we hold about you that is inaccurate or incomplete.

Right to be forgotten – in certain circumstances you can ask for the data we hold about you to be erased from our records by getting in touch with our Data Protection Manager

Right to restriction of processing – where certain conditions apply to have a right to restrict the processing.

Right of portability – you may have the right to have the data we hold about you transferred to another organisation.

Right to object – you have the right to object to certain types of processing such as direct marketing.

Right to object to automated processing, including profiling – you also have the right to be subject to the legal effects of automated processing or profiling.

Right to judicial review: in the event that Winston Oak refuses your request under rights of access, we will provide you with a reason as to why. You have the right to complain as outlined below.

Complaints

We take the processing of your personal data very seriously and are here to help with any concerns you may have. Please do contact our Data Protection Manager at Winston Oak using the by writing to Winston Oak at 18 Garsdale Crescent, Blurton, ST3 3JP.

If you are still not happy with how your personal data is being processed by Winston Oak or how your complaint has been handled, you also have the right to lodge a complaint directly with the Information Commissioners Office at https://ico.org.uk/concerns/ or by calling 0303 123 1113.

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