Accessibility statement

Privacy notice - casual workers

This privacy notice is for individuals working at the University of York on temporary casual engagements. It sets out the ways in which the University of York gathers, uses, stores and shares your data.

It also sets out how long we keep your data and what rights you have in relation to your data under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Data Protection Act 2018.

For the purposes of this privacy notice, University of York is the Data Controller as defined in the UK GDPR. We are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office and our entry can be found here. Our registration number is: Z4855807.

Where do we get your data from?

The University collects information about you in a variety of ways. These include: 

  • data collected from you through your online registration on the Dashboard worker system;
  • through application forms and CVs;
  • from your responses to offers of work;
  • from your passport or other identity documents such as your birth certificate;
  • from forms and timesheets completed by you at the start of, during or after your engagement;
  • from correspondence with you;
  • through interviews, meetings or other assessments.

What data do we have?

Personal data including:

  • your name, address and contact details, including email address and telephone number, date of birth and gender; 
  • details of your qualifications, skills, experience and employment history, including start and end dates, with previous employers and with the University;
  • information about your remuneration, including entitlement to benefits such as pensions;
  • details of your bank account and national insurance number; 
  • information about your marital status, next of kin, dependants and emergency contacts;
  • information about your nationality and entitlement to work in the UK. 

Special category data including: 

  • information about medical or health conditions, including whether or not you have a disability for which the University needs to make reasonable adjustments; 
  • equal opportunities monitoring information, including information about your ethnic origin, sexual orientation, health and religion or belief.

Information about your criminal record. 

What is our legal basis for processing your data?

The University needs to collect and retain certain types of data, in various formats, about its current and past workers for HR purposes. Typically, data will be processed:

  • on the grounds of contractual requirement or to take steps to enter into a contract with you, eg to pay you for work done for the University;
  • because it is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest (for information on our public task see our function as set out in our charter);
  • because it is necessary for our or a third party’s legitimate interests; 
  • to allow us to comply with our legal obligations; 
  • to protect your or another person’s vital interests;
  • to monitor equality and diversity; 
  • because you have given us your consent or, in the case of special category data, your explicit consent.

How do we use your data?

The University may process your personal data (including special category data) for the following purposes:

  1. to provide you with offers of work;
  2. to pay workers and administer pensions;
  3. to maintain accurate and up-to-date employment records, contact details and records of workers’ contractual and statutory rights;
  4. to enable effective communication with you as a worker at the University;
  5. to provide you with and manage your use of University facilities and services; 
  6. to operate recruitment and selection processes; 
  7. to operate and keep a record of leave taken (including maternity, paternity, adoption, parental and shared parental leave), to allow effective workforce management, to ensure that the organisation complies with duties in relation to leave entitlement, and to ensure that employees are receiving the pay or other benefits to which they are entitled;
  8. to obtain and provide occupational health advice, to ensure that it complies with duties in relation to individuals with disabilities and meet its obligations under health and safety law; 
  9. to check, where necessary, that staff are eligible to work with children, patients and other vulnerable adults; 
  10. to ensure effective general HR and business administration; 
  11. to maintain and promote equality in the workplace; 
  12. to provide references on request for current or former employees; 
  13. to respond to and defend against legal claims;
  14. to compile statistical and personal returns which the University may be required to publish or pass to government bodies or the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA); 
  15. to maintain the safety and security of the campus for all users. This may include the use of CCTV for crime prevention and detection purposes. 

In addition, please note

Who do we share your data with?

The University may share your data with: 

  • employees and agents of the University; 
  • third parties that process data on behalf of the University to support it in fulfilling its obligations and responsibilities to and relationship with you (eg software and system providers); 
  • the People’s Pension scheme; 
  • potential employers, to provide a reference for you when it has been sought; 
  • government departments/agencies to whom we have a statutory obligation to release information (including the Higher Education Statistics Agency, the Home Office UK Visas and Immigration, HM Revenue and Customs, Department for Work and Pensions and the Child Maintenance Service);
  • the Disclosure and Barring Service, for the purpose of making criminal record checks 
  • law enforcement agencies such as the police or relevant authorities dealing with emergency situations (only as required or appropriate and in line with data protection legislation); 
  • professional bodies. 

The University may also disclose your data to other third parties not listed above on a case-by-case basis. Disclosures will be made in full accordance with the data protection legislation and only where necessary. Consent will be sought from you where appropriate and you will be told about such disclosures unless exceptional circumstances apply.

How do we keep your data secure?

Data is stored in a range of different places, including in the Dashboard worker system, in the organisation's HR management systems and in other IT systems (including the organisation's email system).

The University takes information security extremely seriously and has implemented appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data and special category data. Access to information is restricted on a need-to-know basis and security arrangements are regularly reviewed to ensure their continued suitability. For further information see, https://www.york.ac.uk/it-services/security/.   

How do we transfer your data safely internationally?

In certain circumstances, it is necessary to transfer your Personal Data (including Special Category Data) outside the UK. In respect of such transfers, the University will comply with our obligations under UK GDPR and ensure an adequate level of protection for all transferred data.

How long will we keep your data?

The University will retain your data in line with legal requirements or where there is a business need. Retention timeframes will be determined in line with the University’s Records Retention Schedule.

What rights do you have in relation to your data?

Under the UK GDPR, you have a right of access to your data, a right to rectification, erasure (in certain circumstances), restriction, objection or portability (in certain circumstances). You also have a right to withdraw consent. To exercise these rights, please contact hr-enquiries@york.ac.uk. For all other requests, visit the individuals’ rights webpages

Questions or concerns

If you have any questions about this privacy notice or concerns about how your data is being processed, please contact the University’s Data Protection Officer at dataprotection@york.ac.uk.

Right to complain

If you are unhappy with the way in which the University has handled your personal data, you have a right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office. Information on reporting a concern to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Changes to our privacy notice

We keep our privacy notice under regular review. This notice was last updated on 8th February 2021.