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At the RAF Benevolent Fund, we respect your privacy and take great care with personal information we hold about you. This privacy notice sets out how we collect and handle information about you. The terms of this policy may change, so please check it from time to time. This version published on 9 February 2021, supersedes all previous versions.

Please read this notice carefully as it contains important information on who we are and how and why we collect, store, use and share your Personal Data. It also explains your rights and how to contact us or our supervisory authority, the Information Commissioner's Office, in the event you have any concerns we are unable to address.

Our use of personal information is governed by law. The RAF Benevolent Fund is committed to complying with the principles set out in the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR).

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Candidate privacy notice

At the RAF Benevolent Fund, we respect your privacy and take great care with personal information we hold about you. This privacy notice sets out how we collect and handle your personal data. It also explains your rights and how to contact us or the Information Commissioner's Office, in the event you have any concerns we are unable to address.

If you have any questions about this privacy notice, please speak to a member of the RAF Benevolent Fund's HR Team or Data Protection Officer. Their contact details can be found at the end of this notice.

Who we are

The RAF Benevolent Fund is the leading welfare charity supporting current and former members of the RAF, their partners and families, providing practical, emotional and financial support.

What personal data do we use

The RAF Benevolent Fund only stores the minimum data required for the purpose of assessing your suitability for the role you have applied for or are interested in.

When you apply for a job or inform us you are interested in applying for a vacancy, we ask for:

  • Your name and contact details ( address, phone number and email address)
  • The type of work you are looking for
  • Relevant work history and professional qualifications (typically in your CV)
  • Your right to work in the UK
  • Driving licence details (if the role requires you to use a company car)

If we invite you for an interview, we collect the following information:

  • Details of any specific needs you want to inform us about, so we can make any reasonable adjustments for your interview
  • Responses you give at an interview , plus any observations we make through interviews, that are relevant for your application
  • Your current notice period (if applicable)
  • Details about former managers, colleagues or other people you may want us to contact to act as referees

We will sometimes collect further information as necessary for specific roles as follows:

  • Results of tasks or tests we set as part of the application process for particular roles

We'll also ask for the following data for equal opportunities monitoring separately from the interview process but it is your decision whether to provide it to us:

  • Ethnicity (which is a type of 'special category' data)
  • Disability status (which is a type of 'special category' data)
  • Age demographic
  • Gender identity (where gender reassignment is disclosed, this is 'special category' data)
  • Your age group

We also get information from outside of the RAF Benevolent Fund, including:

  • Recruitment and executive search agencies
  • Job boards
  • Your referees to ask for information in relation to the position you have applied for (if you are invited for interview or offered a position at the RAF Benevolent Fund)
  • Results from background checking agencies. This will include information about criminal convictions if you have a record, and immigration status, if you are not from the UK

Our legal basis for using your personal data

The RAF Benevolent Fund adheres to UK data protection law and this means we need to meet certain conditions before we are allowed to use your personal data in the manner described in this Privacy Notice. To use your personal data, we will rely on one or more of the following legal grounds:

  • Performance of a contract: This is when we need the data to process your application to enter into an employment contract (or other contract) with you.
  • Compliance with a legal obligation: This is when a law or regulation says we must collect the information to decide if we can enter into an employment contract (or other contract) with you.
  • Legitimate Interests: This is when we need to use your data for our legitimate interests, or those of a third party. It means using data in a way that you expect us to, for a reason which is in your and/or our (or a third party's) interest and which doesn't override your interests, rights and freedoms.
  • Public interest: This is when we need the information to perform a specific task in the public interest that is set out in law.
  • Vital interests: Where we may need to use your personal data to protect your life, or the lives of others, and have no way of asking your permission.
  • Consent: We have your consent.

In this section we explain which of the above legal grounds we rely on to use your data in a certain way.

We need to use your data prior to entering into a contract with you, so we can:

  • Contact you during the hiring process;
  • Consider your suitability for a role you are applying for; and,
  • Gain references and check any relevant information you give us in your CV

We need to use your data to comply with the law, so we can:

  • Make sure you have the right to work within the UK.
  • Run DBS checks (criminal background checks) if you are applying for a role working with vulnerable people in the Welfare Directorate, Legacy and 'In Memory' Fundraising, Major Donor Fundraising and Legacy Administration Management, or any other role working with vulnerable people; or the role you are applying for is based at, or requires regular visiting to a Ministry of Defence site; or you are applying for a senior role.

We need to use your data when it’s in our legitimate interest, so we can:

  • Complete our recruitment and promotion processes.
  • Keep a copy of your application data if you let us know you want to be considered for other roles.

We need your consent to use your data, so we may ask:

  • If you want to share details about yourself on a voluntary basis to help us with our equal opportunities monitoring.

How we use your 'special category' data:

We may need to process sensitive information about job applicants that data protection laws call 'special category' data. This is information that can reveal a person's racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs or trade union membership, as well as genetic or biometric data (if used for identification purposes) and data concerning a person's health, sex life or sexual orientation.

Data protection laws say we need a second lawful basis to process ‘special category’ data in addition to the bases above. This second lawful bases we use are explicit consent, exercising legal rights in the field of employment, reasons of substantial public interest and to establish, exercise or defend a legal claim.

For equal opportunities monitoring, we collect ethnicity, disability status, age demographic and sometimes health data (for example, if you inform us of gender reassignment) with your explicit consent and for reasons of substantial public interest. We need to use this information to make sure we give job applicants equal opportunity and treatment regardless of their demographic. Providing this information is voluntary and won’t affect your application in any way.

We store this data in an anonymised format separately to your application.

Who we share your data with

Companies that help us recruit, and need to process your details:

  • Companies which specialise in aptitude testing and IT related testing, if these tests are required for the role you are applying for.
  • Our IT managed services provider, ITRM and cloud services provider, Microsoft Azure

References if your application is successful:

  • We contact the referees using the contact details you have given us to learn more about you. We only tell them your name and where we are calling from.

Public bodies:

  • We ask the Disclosure and Barring Service to check your criminal record, if this is necessary for the role
  • In some circumstances, we may share your details with other parties. This is to comply with the law or to protect our rights, property or safety.

How long do we keep your data

If your application is unsuccessful, we delete some of your information, for example, the results of criminal record checks, immediately. If you're unsuccessful and agree that we can keep your information for other job openings, we keep relevant information for up to 6- months after we close the hiring process. We need to keep a copy of all applications for at least 6 months in case we face a legal challenge about our decision.

Who has access to your data at the RAF Benevolent Fund

Aside from the external organisations and people who we share your data (as defined in this notice) , your data will only be available to RAF Benevolent Fund staff who are authorised to process your data for the purpose of your application or role you are interested in. Typically, this means HR staff, the hiring manager, and in some circumstances, a Director and the Controller of the RAF Benevolent Fund. Data collected for the purpose of equal opportunity monitoring is available to HR staff only.

Data transfer outside of the UK

The RAF Benevolent Fund does not routinely share candidate’s personal data outside of the UK. However, if it is necessary to share data in this way, we make sure your data is protected by ensuring the country is listed as having adequate data protection laws according to the the United Kingdom Government. For countries that do not have adequate data protection laws, we use other safeguarding mechanisms including standard contractual clauses, to provide the necessary safeguards.

Your rights

You have a right to:

  • Access the personal data we hold about you (make a data subject access request)
  • Ask for a copy of your personal data in a portable (machine-readable) format or request the Fund to send it to someone else
  • Ensure any inaccurate data is corrected
  • Ask us to delete, block or suppress your data. For legal reasons, we might not always be able to do so. There may be times when we continue to use your data when we say it's in our 'legitimate interest'
  • Withdraw any consent you have given us, or object to us processing your data
  • Ask a member of staff to review an automated decision

To exercise your rights, please speak to the HR department or the Data Protection Officer.

Contacts

For any questions or queries in relation to this privacy notice, please contact either HR or the Data Protection Officer.