Working for Bassetlaw District Council
Employee Benefits
Find out more about the Employee Benefits at Bassetlaw District Council.
Privacy notice
As part of any recruitment process, Bassetlaw District Council collects and processes personal data relating to job applicants. The Council is committed to being transparent about how it collects and uses that data and to meeting its data protection obligations.
According to the General Data Protection Regulation 2016 (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA), we must have a reason to collect and use your information. This document explains how your information will be held about you and processed by HR. You can also find out about the General Data Protection Regulation 2016 and Data Protection Act 2018 and your rights on the Council’s website.
This document contains information about:
- Who we are
- What information does the Council collect
- Why does the Council process personal data
- Who has access to data
- How does the Council protect data
- For how long does the Council keep data
- Your rights
- What if you do not provide personal data
- Further information and Data Protection Officer
Who we are?
Bassetlaw District Council will be the Data Controller for the personal information you provide. Personal information can be anything that identifies and relates to a living person. This could be your name and contact details. As the Data Controller Bassetlaw District Council will use your information to provide you with our services.
What information does the Council collect?
The organisation collects a range of information about you. This includes:
- Your name, address and contact details, including email address and telephone number;
- Details of your qualifications, skills, experience and employment history;
- Information about your current level of remuneration, including benefit entitlements;
- Whether you have a disability for which the organisation needs to make reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process; and
- Information about your entitlement to work in the UK
The Council may collect this information in a variety of ways. For example, data might be contained in application forms, obtained from your passport or other identity documents, or collected through interviews or other forms of assessment including recruitment related tests.
The Council may also collect personal data about you from third parties, such as references supplied by former employers, information from employment background check providers and information from criminal records checks. The Council will seek information from third parties once a job offer to you has been made and will inform you that it is doing so.
Data will be stored in a range of different places, including on your application record, in HR management systems and on other IT systems (including email).
Why does the Council process personal data?
The Council needs to process data to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract with you. It may also need to process your data to enter into a contract with you.
In some cases, the Council needs to process data to ensure that it is complying with its legal obligations. For example, it is required to check a successful applicant’s eligibility to work in the UK before employment starts.
The Council has a legitimate interest in processing personal data during the recruitment process and for keeping records of the process. Processing data from job applicants allows the organisation to manage the recruitment process, assess and confirm a candidate’s suitability for employment and decide to whom to offer a job. The Council may also need to process data from job applicants to respond to and defend against legal claims.
The Council may process special categories of data, such as information about ethnic origin, sexual orientation or religion or belief, to monitor recruitment statistics. It may also collect information about whether applicants are disabled to make reasonable adjustments for candidates who have a disability. The Council processes such information to carry out its obligations and exercise specific rights in relation to employment.
For some roles, the Council is obliged to seek information about criminal convictions and offences. Where the Council seeks this information, it does so because it is necessary for it to carry out its obligations and exercise specific rights in relation to employment.
Who has access to data?
Your information may be shared internally for the purposes of the recruitment exercise. This includes members of the HR and recruitment team, interviewers involved in the recruitment process, managers in the business area with a vacancy and IT staff if access to the data is necessary for the performance of their roles.
We will not share your data with third parties, unless your application for employment is successful and it makes you an offer of employment. The Council will then share your data with former employers to obtain references for you, employment background check providers to obtain necessary background checks and the Disclosure and Barring Service to obtain necessary criminal record checks.
Your information will not be disclosed to any other organisations, except where we are required and allowed to by law.
The Council will not transfer your data outside the European Economic Area.
How does the Council protect data?
The Council takes the security of your data seriously. It has internal policies and controls in place to ensure that your data is not lost, accidentally destroyed, misused or disclosed, and is not accessed except by our employees in the proper performance of their duties. Further details can be obtained from the Council’s website.
For how long does the Council keep data?
If your application for employment is unsuccessful, the Council will hold your data on file for six months after the end of the relevant recruitment process. At the end of that period or once you withdraw your consent, your data is deleted or destroyed.
If your application for employment is successful, personal data gathered during the recruitment process will be transferred to your personnel file and retained during your employment. The periods for which your data will be held will be provided to you in a new privacy notice
Your rights
As a data subject, you have a number of rights. You can:
- Access and obtain a copy of your data on request;
- Require the Council to change incorrect or incomplete data;
- Require the Council to delete or stop processing your data, for example where the data is no longer necessary for the purposes of processing; and
- Object to the processing of your data where the organisation is relying on its legitimate interests as the legal ground for processing.
Please see our webpage for further information about how to make a subject access request.
If you believe that the Council has not complied with your data protection rights, you can complain to the Information Commissioner.
What if you do not provide personal data?
You are under no statutory or contractual obligation to provide data to the organisation during the recruitment process. However, if you do not provide the information, the organisation may not be able to process your application properly or at all.
Further information and Data Protection Officer
If you have a concern about how we are using your information, we would ask you to contact us in the first instance using the address below:
Human Resources
Bassetlaw District Council
Queen’s Buildings
Potter Street
Worksop
Notts
S80 2AH
Or via email hr@bassetlaw.gov.uk
If you are not satisfied with a response to your concerns from the Service, please contact our Data Protection Officer either by email dpo@bassetlaw.gov.uk or at the above address.
Guidance notes – general information
When applying for vacancies all applications must be made using the Bassetlaw District Council Application Form.
Please submit your application by 12 noon on the closing date specified in the advert, unless stated otherwise.
Job description and person specification
All jobs have a job description and person specification which provide you with details of the main duties of the job and list the knowledge, experience, skills, personal attributes and where appropriate the qualifications necessary to be able to perform the job.
It is important you read these documents carefully before you start completing your application. You may find it useful to jot down some notes and ideas to make sure you cover all elements before you start.
Interview dates
The interview date on most occasions will be shown at the bottom of the advert. If you are unable to attend this date please state this on your application and if possible we will try to offer you an alternative date.
Equal opportunities monitoring
The information you supply within Page 6 – Equal Opportunities Monitoring allows us to monitor our recruitment process to ensure no candidate is treated more or less favourably on the grounds of gender, age, disability or ethnic origin. This data helps us to know if we are doing all we can to ensure appointment is on merit and create a workforce representative of the community. Please be assured that this information is not seen by the panel shortlisting for interview and will not be used as criteria in the selection process.
Candidates with a disability
The Equality Act 2010 aims to protect disabled people and prevent disability discrimination. In the Act, a person has a disability if:
- They have a physical or mental impairment
- The impairment has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to perform normal day-to-day activities
For the purposes of the Act, these words have the following meanings:
- ‘substantial’ means more than minor or trivial
- ‘long-term’ means that the effect of the impairment has lasted or is likely to last for at least 12 months (there are special rules covering recurring or fluctuating conditions)
- ‘normal day-to-day activities’ include everyday things like eating, washing, walking and going shopping
People who have had a disability in the past that meets this definition are also protected by the Act.
Why would we like to know?
Disclosure of a disability is personal choice. Informing us of a disability allows us to make reasonable adjustments for you at all stages of the recruitment process.
Under the national “Disability Confident” Scheme, the council is committed to arranging an interview for all applicants with a disability who meet the essential criteria for a job.
Eligibility to Work in the UK
You will be asked to confirm you are entitled to work in the UK before being issued with a contract of employment. You will be asked to provide evidence of this entitlement e.g. passport, birth certificate or eligible work permit. If you require any further details about the documents which confirm eligibility to work in the UK please visit UK Visas and Immigration.
Employee Interests
The Council requires that employees declare any financial or non-financial interests they have which may conflict with the interests of the council. Examples of these are other employment, running a business or having a contract with the Council. You will be asked to make this declaration if you are successful in being appointed to a post.
Referencing Policy
You will be asked to provide contact details for two individuals who will be able to verify the details you have provided on your application, including your employment history, attendance and disciplinary record. Please provide a contact name for your referees from your present or most recent employer along with the organisation name, address, telephone number and email address (if available). Providing incomplete information may result in delays to your appointment if you are offered the post.
If you are applying for a vacancy straight from school or college or are unable to provide two work-related referees, you should nominate a professional who has known you for a minimum of two years e.g. lecturers/teachers/head teacher who can testify to how you meet the requirements list on the person specification.
Disclosure of Criminal Convictions
The Council requires all applicants to declare any criminal convictions that are unspent as defined in the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act.
For posts that involve contact with vulnerable people, the Council also requires a Disclosure & Barring Service check to be completed prior to appointment and this will involve the disclosure of spent convictions also.
Details of the checks to be carried out will be indicated in the Job Description, Person Specification or advert. For further information about the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act or for a copy of the Disclosure & Barring Service code of practice, please visit The Home Office.
Page 4 (Additional Information)- Please ensure you complete the Rehabilitation of Offenders section in all cases. If the position you are applying for requires the disclosure of spent convictions, there will be an additional question which you will need to complete.
Medical Clearance
As part of the clearance process prior to commencing employment, successful candidates will be required to have medical clearance. If you are provisionally offered a position after interview, you will be required to complete an online health check, which will ask a series of questions about your health, ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities and, your health during periods of employment. In some circumstances, you may be required to be seen by our Occupational Health Nurse, prior to confirmation of appointment.
Guidance notes – Completing an application form
Please note that as an equal opportunity employer, we do not accept CVs with this Application Form and any that are submitted will be disregarded in compliance with our policy.
We value the diversity of our people and actively encourage applications from all sections of the community. We maintain fair and well thought out recruitment processes at every stage to make sure that everyone is treated equally. Our application form has been designed to help us achieve this.
The information you provide us with will help us to decide whether you should go forward for an interview. The information will only be used for recruitment purposes and to help us monitor and analyse our recruitment process. If you are appointed, the information will be used to set up and maintain your employment with the Council. All information is confidential and held securely under our Data Protection policy.
You must demonstrate how you meet the criteria stated for the role, which is outlined in the person specification. Please ensure that you give specific examples of any relevant situations, or tasks; the action you took and the results achieved. If your application in incomplete it is unlikely to be shortlisted for interview.
The system automatically anonymises your application and the shortlisting panel do not have access at the time of shortlisting to your name, address, contact details, any sensitive information or equal opportunities monitoring information.
Please work through each of the pages of the application form. These can be completed in any order. Please make the appropriate selection from any of the drop-down boxes, and please also ensure that all mandatory fields (identified by a blue dot) are complete.
Your Details - Please ensure that the e-mail address and mailing address you provide us with are accurate, as this is important for communication purposes.
Employment Details - Please add details of your employment history, starting with your current or most recent employer and selecting 'add' to add another entry. Please also account for any gaps in employment within this section.
Education Details - Please add details of the qualifications that you hold and select 'add' to enter details of further qualifications. Please ensure that you refer to the qualification requirements in the person specification as only candidates who meet or exceed the minimum qualification requirements will be eligible for shortlisting. Furthermore, please note that if you are successful in your application for this position, you will be required to produce the original certificates for the relevant qualifications.
Additional Information – Please note that each of these sections are mandatory and will be validated as part of our pre-employment check process.
Supporting Statement – Please use this section to tell us why you are suitable for this job opportunity. Please do NOT include personal data in this section.
- Read the job description and person specification carefully.
- Think about whether your knowledge, skills and experience match the criteria listed for the job and, if so, how you can show this on the form.
- Make full use of this section on the application form. Use this space to explain exactly how you can provide evidence against all aspects of the person specification. Where possible, give particular examples to show how you match the particular skill. Remember that we cannot make any assumptions about your skills and experience – if you don’t tell us we don’t know.
- Although the criteria on the person specification are prioritised, 1, 2 or 3 it is important that you provide evidence against all requirements as they will all be considered in determining who moves through to the next stage of the process.
- Ask yourself why you are interested in the job and what skills you will be able to offer to undertake the duties listed.
Equal Opportunities Monitoring - The information you supply within this section allows us to monitor our recruitment process to ensure no candidate is treated more or less favourably on the grounds of any protected characteristic.
Declaration - by ticking the box in this section you are declaring that you have read, understood and agreed to the organisation's Privacy Notice and that the information you have given in your application is to the best of your knowledge, true and correct and may be stored and used in accordance with Bassetlaw District Council's Data Protection Policy.
Try to complete the application form in a concise, well organised and positive way while ensuring that all requested information is provided.
Qualification requirements
Please ensure that you refer to the qualification requirements in the person specification as only candidates who meet or exceed the minimum qualification requirements will be eligible for shortlisting. Furthermore, please note that if you are successful in your application for this position, you will be required to produce the original certificates for the relevant qualifications. Therefore, please locate your original documents or obtain copies from the awarding bodies to ensure that you are eligible for this position.
If you do not have access to your original certificates you will need to contact your school or college to get a replacement certificate or request a certified statement of results. If you cannot obtain a replacement certificate and your old exam board no longer exists, you will need to contact GOV.UK
Get a replacement exam certificate: Who to contact - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) to confirm how to access this further.
Please note that obtaining copies can be a lengthy process and we advise that you start this today.
The recruitment process
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Application |
Once the closing date has lapsed for the vacancy, the application documents are forwarded to the recruiting manager for short-listing. The shortlisting panel do not have access at the time of shortlisting to your name, address, contact details, any sensitive information or equal opportunities monitoring information. |
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Short-listing |
Short-listing is carried out by comparing the application to the key criteria listed on the Person Specification. The strongest application forms from candidates who have demonstrated that they meet the requirements of the post are selected. These candidates are then invited for interview. The interview date will usually be published on the bottom of the advert. Invitations to interview will be via the email address provided on your application form. For those applications where no e-mail address has been provided, a response will be posted out to. |
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Interview & Selection |
The invitation will include details of where the interview will take place and state which documents you must take along with you. The online system will allow candidates to select a time for interview from a dropdown list. Details of any additional selection methods will also be notified at this stage, for example testing or a presentation. At the interview candidates will be asked questions that relate to the post as detailed in the Job Description and Person Specification. |
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Offer of Employment |
Following the interview, and any other selection methods, the recruiting manager will contact the successful candidate to make an offer of employment. The offer will be conditional until all pre-employment checks have been completed. This will normally be by telephone and followed up by a letter. At this stage unsuccessful candidates will be advised in writing, with feedback provided on request. |
Pre-employment Checks |
Pre-employment checks will take place which include:
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Appointment |
Once the pre-employment checks are complete, the candidate will be contacted to confirm the offer of employment and arrange a suitable starting date. |
We wish you well with your application.
Last Updated on Wednesday, May 8, 2024