In this privacy policy we explain how we collect and use your personal information. ‘We’ means Dobson Welch Limited of Hanover Buildings, 11-13 Hanover Street, Liverpool L1 3DN. We are the data controller for the purposes of the Data Protection Act 1998, the Data Protection Act 2018 and the EU General Data Protection Regulation.

You can use our Contact Form, or the contact details on our website, to contact us with any questions you may have about privacy or data protection.

Please note that links from our website may take you to external websites not covered by this policy. We recommend that you check their privacy policies yourself before submitting any personal information. We will not be responsible for the content, function or information collection policies of these external websites.

What information do we collect about you and how do we collect it?

You are not required (by law or by any contract with us) to provide personal information to us via this website. We will only require you to provide personal information to us where it is necessary for us to provide you with our services.

Information you provide to us

We may receive personal information about you whenever you contact us. For example, by doing the following:

• Completing our Contact Form or subscribing to our mailing list
• Enquiring about, and applying for, jobs on our website
• Completing our candidate application form
• Working with us (you or your business)
• Engaging with us on social media
• Using and browsing our website
• Telephoning, texting, writing by post or emailing us

This information may include the following:

• Normal identification information, such as your full name, job title and employment status, date of birth, age, gender, marital status
• Contact information, such as your postal address, email address and telephone number
• Additional information relevant to your use of our site and services, such as your marketing and other preferences, survey responses and feedback

If you are a candidate, this may also include the following:

• Your CV
• Details of roles that we have placed you in (including salaries)
• Your preferences, including desired salaries
• Whether you drive and/or have your own transport
• Whether you require a work permit to work in the UK
• Information about your relationships with other agencies
• Information about your skills and experience
• Details of your next of kin (for emergency purposes only)

We may also collect the following, more sensitive, personal data about candidates:

• Details of any disabilities (so that we can arrange any reasonable adjustments)
• Your nationality (as part of the right to work checks we must undertake)
• Information about your health, including whether or not you smoke

Information we collect about you on our website

We collect information using Cookies and other similar technologies to help distinguish you from other users of our website. These can streamline your online experience by saving you from re-inputting some information and also allow us to make improvements to our website.

When you visit our website we may collect the following information:

• Which pages you view and which links you follow
• Your IP address and general location
• Details of the hardware and software that you are using to access the site

Our Website is not intended for children and we do not knowingly collect data relating to children.

Information we collect about you from other sources

We may collect information about you from other sources. This may include the following:

• Publicly available information, from sources such as Companies House, the Electoral Roll, County Court Judgements and repossessions this may include details about your home, household, vehicles, financial situation and debts
• Information you have shared publicly, including on social media and on other job-seeking sites, such as Reed and Indeed.
• Information from third party databases or data suppliers, such as commercial property sites, auction sites and credit reference agencies, including details about your home, belongings and creditworthiness

This list is not exhaustive and, in specific instances, we may need to collect additional data for the purposes set out in this Policy.

Information we receive about you from other sources

Sometimes you will have given your consent for other websites, services or third parties to provide information to us.

How do we use your personal information?

We take data protection law seriously, so below we have set out exactly how and why we use your information, and what our legal basis is to be able to use your information in each way.

Candidates

It is necessary for us to use personal information about you when you enquire about, or apply for, a job vacancy through Dobson Welch, or when you ask us to find you a role by completing our candidate application form. Using your information in this context is necessary so that we can:

• Provide employers with your CV and application
• Market further work opportunities to you
• Verify your identity and right to work
• Provide you with information about our services, including the job vacancies available that match criteria that you select, tips on searching and applying for vacancies and advice around interviews and other aspects of the job market

Clients

It is necessary for us to use personal information about you when you, or your business, ask Dobson Welch to help find a candidate for a role. Using your information in this context is either necessary in order for us to perform our contract with you or, where our contract is with your business, we have a legitimate interest in using your personal data. We only use your personal information in this context in order to notify you of suitable candidates, and to communicate with you generally in the course of providing our services.

Providing our services

It may also be necessary for us to use personal information about you in order to:

• Deal with any complaints you may have
• Contact you about any changes that we make to our products or services, and other news and information from Dobson Welch
• Administer our website, including troubleshooting problems, analysing statistics, conducting research and tests and keeping the site secure

Telling you about other services that we think may be of interest to you

We may use your information to identify and tell you about our services that we think may be of interest to you. We will only do this where you have informed us that you would like to receive marketing communications.

Whether you choose to receive marketing communications is entirely up to you. Your choice will not affect any services that you have receive from us, nor will it affect any quotes for services you use in future.

You can update your preferences by getting in touch using our Contact Form.

Telling you about products or services that are similar to ones that we have already provided to you

If you have already used our services, or you have already contacted us regarding a vacancy, we may contact you with some information about services that are similar.

We will only contact you by email or text message and you can choose not to receive these messages at any time. Simply follow the instructions in the message, or get in touch using our Contact Form.

Making our business better

We always want to offer the best services and experience that we can. Sometimes this means we may use your information to find ways that we can improve what we do, or how we do it.

In this context, we will only use you information where it is necessary so that we can:

• Review and improve our existing services and develop new ones
• Review and improve the performance of our systems, processes and staff (including training)
• Improve our site to ensure that content is presented in the most effective manner for you and for your computer
• Measure and understand the effectiveness of advertising we serve to you and others, and to deliver relevant advertising to you

Contacting you

We want to stay in touch with you! Sometimes we may need to use the information that we have about you in order to respond to your questions or let you know about important changes.

We will only use your information in this respect where it is necessary so that we can:

• Interact and respond to any communications you send us, including where you use our Contact Form, and any social media posts that you tag us in
• Let you know about any important changes to our business or policies

Verifying your identity

We may use your information where it is necessary for us to do so in order to:

• Meet our legal obligations, including carrying out right-to-work checks on candidates
• Detect and prevent fraud, money-laundering and other crimes

Protecting you and others from harm

We may use your information where it is necessary to protect your interests, or the interests of others. This may include in the event of criminality such as identity theft, piracy or fraud.

Who do we share your personal information with?

Sharing your information within our company

We share the information that you provide to us with our staff so that we can provide our services to you.

Sharing your information with third parties

If you are a candidate, we will share your data with our clients and other businesses that have job vacancies for which you may be suitable or which match the preferences or skills you have told us about, or otherwise where we consider that it may assist in finding you a suitable role. Unless you instruct us otherwise, we won’t share your data in this way before speaking to you about the vacancy.

If you are (or your business is) a client or any other business for which we are assisting in finding you a suitable candidate, we may share your data with suitable candidates at the appropriate stage during the recruitment process.

There are certain other, exceptional circumstances in which we may disclose your information to third parties. This would be where we believe that the disclosure is:

• Required by the law, or in order to comply with judicial proceedings, court orders or legal or regulatory proceedings
• Necessary to protect the safety of our employees, our property or the public
• Necessary for the prevention or detection of crime, including exchanging information with other companies or organisations for the purposes of fraud protection and credit risk reduction.
• Proportionate as part of a merger, business or asset sale, in the event that this happens we will share your information with the prospective seller or buyer involved

How long do we keep your personal information?

We will only store your personal information for as long as we need it for the purposes for which it was collected. Where we provide you with any service (whether you are a candidate seeking a role, or a client seeking a candidate), including subscribing to our mailing list, we will retain any information you provide to us at least for as long as we continue to provide that service to you.

In all other circumstances, we will keep your information for a period of 3 years.

How do we protect your personal information?

We will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your data is treated securely and in accordance with this policy.

We try to ensure that all information you provide to us is transferred securely via the website (always check for the padlock symbol and “https” at the beginning of the URL). Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we will do our best to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to our site; any transmission is at your own risk. Once we have received your information, we will use strict procedures and security features to try to prevent unauthorised access.

All information you provide to us is stored on secure servers.

What rights do you have in respect of your personal information?

You have the right to be informed

We have a legal obligation to provide you with concise, transparent, intelligible and easily accessible information about your personal information and our use of it. We have written this policy to do just that, but if you have any questions or require more specific information, you can get in touch using our Contact Form.

You have the right to access your personal data

You have the right to ask us to confirm whether or not we hold any of your personal information. If we do, you have the right to have a copy of your information and to be informed of the following:

• Why we have been using your information
• What categories of information we were using
• Who we have shared the information with
• How long we envisage holding your information

In order to maintain the security of your information, we will have to verify your identity before we provide you with a copy of the information we hold.

The first copy of your information that you request from us will be provided free of charge, if you require further copies we may charge an administrative fee to cover our costs.

You have the right to correct any inaccurate or incomplete personal data

Where you have requested a copy of the information we hold about you, you may notice that there are inaccuracies in the records, or that certain parts are incomplete. If this is the case you can contact us so that we can correct our records.

You have the right to be forgotten

There may be times where it is no longer necessary for us to hold personal information about you. This could be if:

• The information is no longer needed for the original purpose that we collected it for
• You withdraw your consent for us to use the information (and we have no other legal reason to keep using it)
• You object to us using your information and we have no overriding reason to keep using it
• We have used your information unlawfully
• We are subject to a legal requirement to delete your information

In those situations you have the right to have your personal data deleted. If you believe one of these situations applies to you, please get in touch using our Contact Form.

You have the right to have a copy of your data transferred to you or a third party in a compatible format

Also known as Data Portability, you have the right to obtain a copy of your personal data for your own purposes. This right allows you to move, copy or transfer your personal data more easily from one IT system to another, in a safe and secure way.

If you would like us to transfer a copy of your data to you or another organisation in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format, please contact us. There is no charge for you exercising this right.

You have the right to object to direct marketing

You can tell us at any time that you would prefer that we do not use your information for direct marketing purposes. If you would not like to receive any direct marketing from us, please contact us or use the links provided in any of our marketing communications, and we will stop sending direct marketing immediately.

You have the right to object to us using your information for our own legitimate interests

We use your personal information for our own legitimate interests, such as when we tell you about services that are similar to ones that you have already bought or used, when we use your information to help us make our business better, and when we contact you to interact, communicate or let you know about changes we are making. This also includes Dobson Welch providing you with services where there is no formal contract or agreement between us.

We aim to always ensure that your rights and information are properly protected. If you believe that the way we are using your data is not justified due to its impact on you or your rights, you have the right to object. Unless we have a compelling reason to continue, we must stop using your personal data for these purposes.

In order to exercise your right to object to our use of your data for the purposes above, please contact us.

You have the right to restrict how we use your personal data

You have the right to ask us to stop using your personal data in any way other than simply keeping a copy of it. This right is available where:

• You have informed us that the information we hold about you is inaccurate, and we have not yet been able to verify this
• You have objected to us using your information for our own legitimate interests and we are in the process of considering your objection
• We have used your information in an unlawful way, but you do not want us to delete your data
• We no longer need to use the information, but you need it for a legal claim

If you believe any of these situations apply, please contact us.

You have rights related to automated-decision making and profiling

We do not routinely carry out any automated decision-making, but if we do this will be solely for the purpose of tailoring the information which we provide to you. We will not use automated decision-making or profiling to make any decisions which will have a legal effect upon you or otherwise significantly affect you, and you have the right not to be subject to such decisions. If you have any concerns or questions about this right, please contact us.

Changes to our Privacy Policy

Any changes we make to our privacy policy in the future will be posted on this page and, where appropriate, notified to you by e-mail. Please check back frequently to see any updates or changes to our privacy policy.

Complaints

If you wish to make a complaint about our collection or use of your personal data, please contact us in the first instance so that we may seek to resolve your complaint.

You have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the statutory body which oversees data protection law in the UK. Please visit the ICO website if you wish to lodge a complaint with the ICO.