What is the Purpose of this Privacy Notice?
SGS Energy is committed to protecting the privacy and security of your personal information.
This privacy notice describes how we collect and use personal information about you during
and after your working relationship with us, in accordance with the General Data Protection
Regulation (GDPR).
It applies to all prospective employees, employees, workers and contractors.
SGS Energy is a “data controller”. This means that we are responsible for deciding how we
hold and use personal information about you. We are required under data protection
legislation to notify you of the information contained in this privacy notice.
This notice applies to current and former employees, workers and contractors. This notice
does not form part of any contract of employment or other contract to provide services. We
may update this notice at any time.
It is important that you read this notice, together with any other privacy notice we may
provide on specific occasions when we are collecting or processing personal information
about you, so that you are aware of how and why we are using such information.
Data Protection Principles
We are committed to complying with Data Protection legislation. This says that the personal
information we hold about you must be:
1. Used lawfully, fairly and in a transparent way.
2. Collected only for valid purposes that we have clearly explained to you and not used
in any way that is incompatible with those purposes.
3. Relevant to the purposes we have told you about and limited only to those purposes.
4. Accurate and kept up to date.
5. Kept only as long as necessary for the purposes we have told you about.
6. Kept securely.
The Type of Information We Hold About You
Personal data, or personal information, means any information about an individual from
which that person can be identified. It does not include data where the identity has been
removed (anonymous data).
There are “special categories” of more sensitive personal data which require a higher level of
protection.
We may collect, store, and use the following categories of personal information about you:
• Personal contact details such as title, name, addresses, telephone numbers, and
personal email addresses
• Date of birth
• Gender
• Marital status and dependants
• Next of kin and emergency contact information
• National insurance number
• Bank account details, payroll records and tax status information
• Salary, annual leave, pension and benefits information
• Employment start date
• Location of employment or workplace
• Copy of driving licence
• Recruitment information (including copies of right to work documentation, references
and other information included in a CV or cover letter or as part of the application
process
• Selection information (including interview notes and copies of any aptitude tests
completed)
• Employment records (including job titles, work history, working hours, training
records and professional memberships)
• Compensation history
• Performance information
• Disciplinary and grievance information
• CCTV footage and other information obtained through electronic means such as
swipe card records
• Information about your use of our information and communications systems
• Photographs
We may also collect, store and use the following “special categories” of more sensitive
personal information:
• Information about your race or ethnicity, religious beliefs, sexual orientation and
political opinions
• Information about your health, including any medical condition, health and sickness
records
• Genetic information and biometric data
• Information about criminal convictions and offences
How is Your Personal Information Collected?
We typically collect personal information about employees, workers and contractors through
the application and recruitment process, either directly from candidates or sometimes from
an employment agency or background check provider. We may sometimes collect additional
information from third parties including former employers, credit reference agencies or other
background check agencies.
We will collect additional personal information in the course of job-related activities
throughout the period of you working for us.
How We Will Use Information About You
We will only use your personal information when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we
will use your personal information in the following circumstances:
1. Where we need to perform the contract, we have entered into with you.
2. Where we need to comply with a legal obligation.
3. Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and your
interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests.
We may also use your personal information in the following situations, which are likely to be
rare:
1. Where we need to protect your interests (or someone else’s interests).
2. Where it is needed in the public interest or for official purposes.
Situations in which we will use your personal information
We need all the categories of information in the list above primarily to allow us to perform our
contract with you and to enable us to comply with legal obligations. In some cases, we may
use your personal information to pursue legitimate interests of our own or those of third
parties, provided your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests. The
situations in which we will process your personal information are listed below:
• Making a decision about your recruitment or appointment
• Determining the terms on which you work for us
• Checking you are legally entitled to work in the UK
• Paying you and, if you are an employee, deducting tax and national insurance
contributions
• Liaising with your pension provider
• Administering the contract, we have entered into with you
• Business management and planning, including accounting and auditing
• Conducting performance reviews, managing performance and determining
performance requirements
• Making decisions about salary reviews and compensation
• Assessing qualifications for a job or task, including decisions about promotions
• Gathering evidence for possible grievance or disciplinary hearings
• Making decisions about your continued employment or engagement
• Making arrangements for the termination of our working relationship
• Education, training and development requirements
• Dealing with legal disputes involving you, or other employees, workers and
contractors, including accidents at work
• Ascertaining your fitness to work
• Managing sickness or any other absence
• Complying with health and safety obligations
• To prevent fraud
• To monitor your use of our information and communication systems to ensure
compliance with our IT policy
• To ensure network and information security, including preventing unauthorised
access to our computer and electronic communications systems and preventing
malicious software distribution
• To conduct data analytics studies to review and better understand employee
retention and attrition rates
• Equal opportunities monitoring
Some of the above grounds for processing will overlap and there may be several grounds
which justify our use of your personal information.
If you fail to provide personal information
If you fail to provide certain information when requested, we may not be able to perform the
contract we have entered into with you (such as paying you or providing a benefit), or we
may be prevented from complying with our legal obligations (such as to ensure the health
and safety of our workers).
Change of purpose
We will only use your personal information for the purposes for which we collected it, unless
we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is
compatible with the original purpose. If we need to use your personal information for an
unrelated purpose, we will notify you and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to
do so.
Please note that we may process your personal information without your knowledge or
consent, in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law.
How We Use Particularly Sensitive Personal Information
“Special categories” of particularly sensitive personal information require higher levels of
protection. We need to have further justification for collecting, storing and using this type of
personal information. We may process special categories of personal information in the
following circumstances:
1. In limited circumstances, with your explicit written consent.
2. Where we need to carry out our legal obligations and in line with our data protection
policy.
3. Where it is needed in the public interest, such as for equal opportunities monitoring
or in relation to our pension scheme, and in line with our data protection policy.
4. Where it is needed to assess your working capacity on health grounds, subject to
appropriate confidentiality safeguards.
Less commonly, we may process this type of information where it is needed in relation to
legal claims or where it is needed to protect your interests (or someone else’s interests) and
you are not capable of giving your consent, or where you have already made the information
public.
Our obligations as your Employer
We will use your particularly sensitive personal information in the following ways if you are
employed by us:
• We will use information relating to leaves of absence, which may include sickness
absence or family related leaves, to comply with employment laws and other
legislation.
• We will use information about your physical or mental health, or disability status, to
ensure your health and safety in the workplace and to assess your fitness to work, to
provide appropriate workplace adjustments, to monitor and manage sickness
absence and to administer benefits.
• We will use information about your race or national or ethnic origin, religious,
philosophical or moral beliefs, or your sexual life or sexual orientation, to ensure
meaningful equal opportunity monitoring and reporting.
Do we need your consent?
We do not need your consent if we use special categories of your personal information in
accordance with our written policy to carry out our legal obligations or exercise specific rights
in the field of employment law. In limited circumstances, we may approach you for your
written consent to allow us to process certain particularly sensitive data. If we do so, we will
provide you with full details of the information that we would like and the reason we need it,
so that you can carefully consider whether you wish to consent. You should be aware that it
is not a condition of your contract with us that you agree to any request for consent from us.
Information About Criminal Convictions
We may only use information relating to criminal convictions where the law allows us to do
so. This will usually be where such processing is necessary to carry out our obligations and
provided we do so in line with our data protection policy.
Less commonly, we may use information relating to criminal convictions where it is
necessary in relation to legal claims, where it is necessary to protect your interests (or
someone else’s interests) and you are not capable of giving your consent, or where you
have already made the information public.
We do not envisage that we will hold information about criminal convictions.
We will only collect information about criminal convictions if it is appropriate given the nature
of the role and where we are legally able to do so. Where appropriate, we will collect
information about criminal convictions as part of the recruitment process or we may be
notified of such information directly by you during your employment with us. We may use
information about criminal convictions and offenses as a consideration for your suitable for
the role during the recruitment and selection process but also in respect of your ongoing
employment.
We are allowed to use your personal information in this way to carry out our obligations.
Automated Decision-Making
Automated decision-making takes place when an electronic system uses personal
information to make a decision without human intervention. We are allowed to use
automated decision-making in the following circumstances:
1. Where we have notified you of the decision and given you 21 days to request a
reconsideration.
2. Where it is necessary to perform the contract with you and appropriate measures are
in place to safeguard your rights.
3. In limited circumstances, with your explicit written consent and where appropriate
measures are in place to safeguard your rights.
If we make an automated decision on the basis of any particularly sensitive personal
information, we must have either your explicit written consent or it must be justified in the
public interest, and we must also put in place appropriate measures to safeguard your rights.
You will not be subject to decisions that will have a significant impact on you based solely on
automated decision-making unless we have a lawful basis for doing so and we have notified
you.
We do not envisage that any decisions will be taken about you using automated means,
however we will notify you in writing if this position changes.
Data Sharing
We may have to share your data with third parties, including third-party service providers
and other entities.
We require third parties to respect the security of your data and to treat it in accordance with
the law.
It is unlikely that we will transfer your personal information outside the EU. However, if we do
we will notify you in writing of this and can assure that you will receive a similar degree of
protection in respect of your personal information.
Why might you share my personal information with third parties?
We may share your personal information with third parties where required by law, where it is
necessary to administer the working relationship with you or where we have another
legitimate interest in doing so.
Which third-party service providers process my personal information?
“Third parties” includes third-party service providers (including contractors and designed
agents) and other entities within our group. The following activities are carried out by third
party service providers: recruitment and selection tests, pre-employment screening, payroll,
pension administration, benefits provision and administration, IT services, external training.
How secure is my information with third-party service providers and other entities?
All our third-party service providers and other entities are required to take appropriate
security measures to protect your personal information in line with our policies. We do not
allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes. We
only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance
with our instructions.
When might you share my personal information with other entities?
We will share your personal information with other entities as part of our regular reporting
activities on company performance, in the context of a business reorganisation or group
restructuring exercise, for system maintenance support and hosting of data.
What about other third parties?
We may share your personal information with other third parties, for example in the context
of the possible sale or restructuring of the business. We may also need to share your
personal information with a regulator or to otherwise comply with the law.
Transferring information outside the EU
We do not intend to transfer the personal information we collect about you outside of the EU.
However, if we do, it will only go to a country that holds an adequacy decision by the
European Commission in respect of that country. This means that the country to which we
may transfer your data to, is deemed to provide an adequate level of protection for your
personal information.
To ensure that your personal information does receive an adequate level of protection we
have put in place binding corporate rules to ensure that your personal information is treated
by those third parties in a way that is consistent with and which respects the EU and UK
laws on data protection. If you require further information about this protective measure, you
can request it from Jonathan Howes.
Data Security
Third parties will only process your personal information on our instructions and where they
have agreed to treat the information confidentially and to keep it secure.
We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal information
from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed.
In addition, we limit access to your personal information to those employees, agents,
contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only
process your personal information on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of
confidentiality.
We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected data security breach and will
notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected breach where we are legally required
to do so.
Data Retention
How long will you use my information for?
We will only retain your personal information for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes
we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting
requirements. To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider
the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from
unauthorised use of disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process
your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and
the applicable legal requirements.
In some circumstances we may anonymise your personal information so that it can no longer
be associated with you, in which case we may use such information without further notice to
you. Once you are no longer an employee, worker or contractor of the company we will
retain and securely destroy your personal information in accordance with applicable laws
and regulations.
Rights of Access, Correction. Erasure and Restriction
Your duty to inform us of changes
It is important that the personal information we hold about you in accurate and current.
Please keep us informed if your personal information changes during the recruitment
process and your working relationship with us.
Your rights in connection with personal information
Under certain circumstances, by law you have the right to:
• Request access to your personal information (commonly know as a “data subject
access request”). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal information we
hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.
• Request correction of the personal information that we hold about you. This enables
you to have any incomplete or inaccurate information we hold about you corrected.
• Request erasure of your personal information. This enables you to ask us to delete or
remove personal information where there is no good reason for us continuing to
process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal
information where you have exercised your right to object to processing (see below).
• Object to processing of your personal information where we are relying on a
legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your
particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground. You
also have the right to object where we are processing your personal information for
direct marketing purposes.
• Request the restriction of processing of your personal information. This enables you
to ask us to suspend the processing of personal information about you, for example if
you want us to establish its accuracy or the reason for processing it.
• Request the transfer of your personal information to another party.
If you want to review, verify, correct or request erasure of your personal information, object
to the processing of your personal data, or request that we transfer a copy of your personal
information to another party, please contact Jonathan Howes in writing.
No fee usually required
You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal information (or to exercise any of the
other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request for access is clearly
unfounded or excessive. Alternatively, we may refuse to comply with the request in such
circumstances.
What we may need from you
We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and
ensure your right to access the information (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is
another appropriate security measure to ensure that personal information is not disclosed to
any person who has no right to receive it.
Right to Withdraw Consent
In the limited circumstances where you may have provided your consent to the collection,
processing and transfer of your personal information for a specific purpose, you have the
right to withdraw your consent for that specific processing at any time. To withdraw your
consent, please contact Jonathan Howes. Once we have received notification that you have
withdrawn your consent, we will no longer process your information for that purpose or
purposes you originally agreed to, unless we have another legitimate basis for doing so in
law.
Data Protection Officer
We have appointed a data protection officer (DPO) to oversee compliance with this privacy
Notice. This is Jonathan Howes. If you have any questions about this privacy notice or
how we handle your personal information, please contact the DPO. You have the right to
make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK
supervisory authority for data protection issues.
Changes to this Privacy Notice
We reserve the right to update this privacy notice at any time, and we will provide you with a
new privacy notice when we make any substantial updates. We may also notify you in other
ways from time to time about the processing of your personal information.
If you have any questions about this privacy notice, please contact Jonathan Howes.
