This notice describes how Lexden Contracts Limited collects and processes personal data about you during and after your working relationship with us. It applies to everyone who works for us, including employees and subcontractors. We are committed to being transparent about how we collect and use that data and to meeting our data protection obligations.

What information may we hold about you?

We may collect and processes a wide range of personal data about you. This includes:

• your name, address and contact details, including email address and telephone number, date of birth and gender;

• the terms and conditions of your employment;
• details of your qualifications, skills, experience and employment history, including start and end dates, with previous employers and with us;
• financial information including, details of your bank account , national insurance number, salary and payroll records, tax, pension and benefits information;
• information about your marital status, next of kin, dependants and emergency contacts;
• information about your nationality and entitlement to work in the UK;
• information about your criminal record;
• details of your schedule (days of work and working hours) and attendance at work;
• details of periods of leave taken by you, including holiday, sickness absence and family leave and the reasons for the leave;
• details of any disciplinary or grievance procedures in which you have been involved, including any warnings issued to you and related correspondence;
• assessments of your performance, including appraisals, performance reviews and ratings, performance improvement plans and related correspondence;
• training records;
• information about your driving licence including any penalty points on your licence;
• information about your use of our information and communications systems;
• photographs;
• information about medical or health conditions, including whether or not you have a disability for which we need to make reasonable adjustments;
• equal opportunities monitoring information including information about your ethnic origin; sexual orientation and religion or belief.

How do we collect your personal data?

We may collect information about you in a variety of ways. For example, data might be collected from:

• application forms, CVs or resumes;
• forms completed by you at the start of or during employment;
• your passport or other identity documents;
• your driving licence;
• correspondence/communication with you by text, email, phone or in writing;
• through interviews, meetings or other assessments.

In some cases, we may collect personal data about you from third parties, such as:

• references supplied by former employers;
• information from employment background check providers;
• information about your tax and national insurance from HMRC;
• information about bank details from our Bankers;
• information from criminal records checks permitted by law.

Data will be stored in a range of different places, including in your personnel file,  in our  payroll , accounts and HR management systems and in other IT systems including our email system.

Why do we  process personal data?

We need to process data to enter into an employment contract with you and to meet our obligations under your employment contract. For example, we need to process your data to provide you with an employment contract and  to pay you in accordance with your employment contract .

In some cases, we need to process data to ensure that we are complying with our legal obligations. For example, we are required to check an employee’s entitlement to work in the UK, to deduct tax, to comply with health and safety laws and to enable employees to take periods of leave to which they are entitled.

In other cases, we have a legitimate interest in processing personal data before, during and after the end of the employment relationship. Processing employee data allows us to:

• to maintain accurate and up-to-date employment records and contact details (including details of who to contact in the event of an emergency), and records of employee contractual and statutory rights;
• to operate and keep a record of disciplinary and grievance processes, to ensure acceptable conduct within the workplace;
• to operate and keep a record of employee performance and related processes, to plan for career development, and for succession planning and workforce management purposes;
• to operate and keep a record of absence and absence management procedures, to allow effective workforce management and ensure that employees are receiving the pay or other benefits to which they are entitled;
• to obtain occupational health advice, to ensure that we comply with duties in relation to individuals with disabilities, meet our obligations under health and safety law, and ensure that employees are receiving the pay or other benefits to which they are entitled;
• to operate and keep a record of other types of leave (including maternity, paternity, adoption, parental and shared parental leave), to allow effective workforce management, to ensure that we comply with duties in relation to leave entitlement, and to ensure that employees are receiving the pay or other benefits to which they are entitled;
• to ensure effective general HR and business administration;
• to provide references on request for current or former employees;
• to respond to and defend against legal claims.

Some special categories of personal data, such as information about health or medical conditions, is processed to carry out employment law obligations such as those in relation to employees with disabilities.

Where we process other special categories of personal data, such as information about ethnic origin, sexual orientation, religion or belief, this is done for the purposes of equal opportunities monitoring. This is to carry out our obligations and exercise specific rights in relation to employment. Data that we use for these purposes is collected with the express consent of employees, which can be withdrawn at any time. Employees are entirely free to decide whether or not to provide such data and there are no consequences of failing to do so.

Who has access to your personal data?

Your information may be shared internally, including with members of the HR and recruitment team, payroll team, your line manager, managers in the business area in which you work and IT staff if access to the data is necessary for performance of their roles.

It will sometimes be necessary to share your personal data with third parties, for example:

• to obtain pre-employment references from other employers;

• to obtain employment background checks from third-party providers;

• to obtain necessary criminal records checks from the Disclosure and Barring Service;

• we have a legal obligation to pass on to government agencies certain information such as your pay, tax and national insurance;

• we may need to pass on information to service providers, such as payroll and HR service providers, pension providers and our accountants and legal advisers;

• we may be audited by third parties in some circumstances, which will enable them to see information about you;

• if in the future we were considering a merger or sale of our business, information might have to be disclosed to the other party to the transaction, or their advisers, as part of the due diligence process

We will not transfer your data to countries outside the European Economic Area.

We will never sell your data to anyone.

How do we protect your data?

We take the security of your data seriously.

We have internal policies and controls in place to try to ensure that your data is not lost, accidentally destroyed, misused or disclosed, and is not accessed except by our employees in the performance of their duties. Our computer systems are protected by firewall, anti-virus software and passwords. All paper copies of HR records are kept together in a secure area of the office which is only accessible to staff directly responsible for maintaining records and processing data. This area is locked when not attended. 

Where we engage third parties to process personal data on our behalf, they 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.

Despite all our precautions ,however, no data transmission over the internet can be guaranteed 100% secure, so while we strive to protect your personal information ,we cannot guarantee the security of any information  communicated  between us online.

How long do we keep your personal data?

We will hold your personal data for the duration of your employment. The periods for which your data is held after the end of employment will vary according to the type of data held but will only be for as long as necessary to comply with our legal obligations and business requirements. For example:

• Right to work in the UK paperwork will be kept for 2 years after leaving our employment
  
  
• Personnel files will normally be kept for 6 years after leaving our employment but where an employee has been exposed to asbestos or lead then the records will be kept for 40 years.
• We have a legal obligation to keep payroll records for 3 years after the end of the tax year to which they relate and accounting records for at least 6 years after the end of the financial year to which they relate.

Your rights

As a data subject you have the following  rights in relation to your information held by us:

• Right of access to obtain a copy of your data on request and free of charge;
• Right for the rectification of errors. It is important that you let us know if you believe the information we hold about you needs to be corrected or updated
• Right of erasure of personal data (also known as the right to be forgotten).This right is not an absolute right and only applies in certain circumstances, for example, it is not possible if it conflicts with our legal obligations or requirements.
• Right to restrict or object to processing. This right is not absolute  and only applies in certain circumstances for example if you contest the accuracy of your personal data which we hold.
• Right to portability of your data. This gives you the right to receive personal data which you have provided to us in a commonly used and machine readable format and to have this data transmitted directly to another data controller.

What if you do not provide personal data?

You have some obligations under your employment contract to provide us with data. In particular, you are required to report absences from work and may be required to provide information about disciplinary or other matters under the implied duty of good faith. You may also have to provide  us with personal data in order to exercise your statutory rights, such as in relation to statutory leave entitlements. Failing to provide the data may mean that you are unable to exercise your statutory rights.

Certain information, such as contact details, your right to work in the UK and payment details, have to be provided to enable us to enter into a contract of employment with you. If you do not provide other information, this will hinder our ability to administer efficiently the rights and obligations arising as a result of the employment relationship.

Automated decision-making

Employment decisions are not based solely on automated decision-making.

Data controller:

Lexden Contracts Limited          
Unit 12A, Livelands
121A London Road,
Marks Tey,
Colchester,
CO6 1EB.

Person with responsibility for data protection compliance within Lexden Contracts Limited:

If you require further information ,have any questions regarding our Privacy Notice or wish to exercise any of your rights under this Privacy Notice  then please contact  Jenny Bartholomew:

Email:  accounts@lexdencontracts.co.uk

Telephone: 01206 808025

In writing to the Company address as shown above.

If you would like to raise a concern or make a complaint about how we process your data please contact us in the first instance  and we will fully investigate the matter.

 If you believe that the we have not complied with your data protection rights you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner, visit  ico.org.uk for contact details.