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Privacy Policy

IPS Converters LTD Data Protection policy – 25 May 2018 onwards

This document sets out IPS Converter Ltd’s (hereafter IPS) policy on the protection of information relating to staff members, workers, contractors, volunteers and interns (referred to as staff members). Protecting the confidentiality and integrity of personal data is a critical responsibility that IPS takes seriously at all times. IPS will ensure that data is always processed in accordance with the provisions of relevant data protection legislation, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Key Definitions

Data processing

Data processing is any activity that involves the use of personal data. It includes obtaining, recording or holding the data, or carrying out any operation or set of operations on the data including organising, amending, retrieving, using, disclosing, erasing or destroying it. Processing also includes transmitting or transferring personal data to third parties.

Personal data

Personal data is any information identifying a data subject (a living person to whom the data relates). It includes information relating to a data subject that can be identified (directly or indirectly) from that data alone or in combination with other identifiers IPS possesses or can reasonably access. Personal data can be factual (for example, a name, email address, location or date of birth) or an opinion about that person’s actions or behaviour.

Sensitive personal data

Sensitive personal data is a special category of information which relates to a data subject’s racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or similar beliefs, trade union membership, physical or mental health conditions, sexual life, sexual orientation, biometric or genetic data. It also includes personal data relating to criminal offences and convictions.

Privacy Notice

This policy, together with the information contained in the table of staff member data appended to the policy, constitutes a privacy notice setting out the information IPS holds about staff members, the purpose for which this data is held and the lawful basis on which it is held. IPS may process personal information without staff members’ knowledge or consent, in compliance with this policy, where this is required or permitted by law.

If the purpose for processing any piece of data about staff members should change, IPS will update data with the new purpose and the lawful basis for processing the data and will notify staff members.

Fair Processing of Data

Fair processing principles

In processing staff members’ data, the following principles will be adhered to. Personal data will be:

  • Used lawfully, fairly and in a transparent way;
  • Collected only for valid purposes that are clearly explained and not used in any way that is incompatible with those purposes;
  • Relevant to specific purposes and limited only to those purposes;
  • Accurate and kept up to date;
  • Kept only as long as necessary for the specified purposes; and
  • Kept securely.

Lawful processing of personal data

Personal information will only be processed when there is a lawful basis for doing so. Most commonly, IPS will use personal information in the following circumstances:

  • when it is needed to perform staff members’; contracts of employment;
  • when it is needed to comply with a legal obligation; or
  • when it is necessary for IPS’s legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and staff members’ interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests.

IPS may also use personal information in the following situations, which are likely to be rare:

  • when it is necessary to protect staff members’; interests (or someone else’s interests); or
  • when it is necessary in the public interest or for official purposes.

Lawful processing of sensitive personal data

IPS may process special categories of personal information in the following circumstances:

  • In limited circumstances, with explicit written consent;
  • in order to meet legal obligations;
  • when it is needed in the public interest, such as for equal opportunities monitoring or in relation to IPS’s occupational pension scheme; or
  • when it is needed to assess working capacity on health grounds, subject to appropriate confidentiality safeguards.

Less commonly, IPS may process this type of information where it is needed in relation to legal claims or where it is needed to protect a staff member’s interests (or someone else’s interests) and the staff member is not capable of giving consent, or where a staff member has already made the information public. IPS may use particularly sensitive personal information in the following ways:

  • information relating to leaves of absence, which may include sickness absence or family related leaves, may be used to comply with employment and other laws;
  • information about staff members’ physical or mental health, or disability status, may be used to ensure health and safety in the workplace and to assess fitness to work, to provide appropriate workplace adjustments, to monitor and manage sickness absence and to administer benefits;
  • information about race or national or ethnic origin, religious, philosophical or moral beliefs, or sexual life or sexual orientation, may be used to ensure meaningful equal opportunity monitoring and reporting.

Lawful processing of information about criminal convictions

IPS envisages that it will collect and hold information about criminal convictions as part of the recruitment process and will require staff members to disclose information about criminal convictions during the course of employment. IPS will only use this information where it has a legal basis for processing the information. This will usually be where such processing is necessary to carry out IPS’s obligations. Less commonly, IPS may use information relating to criminal convictions where it is necessary in relation to legal claims, where it is necessary to protect a staff member’s interests (or someone else’s interests) and the staff member is not capable of giving consent, or where the staff member has already made the information public.

Consent to data processing

IPS does not require consent from staff members to process most types of staff member data. In addition, IPS will not usually need consent to use special categories of personal information in order to carry out legal obligations or exercise specific rights in the field of employment law. If a staff member fails to provide certain information when requested, IPS may not be able to perform the contract entered into with the staff member (such as paying the staff member or providing a benefit). IPS may also be prevented from complying with legal obligations (such as to ensure the health and safety of staff members).

In limited circumstances, for example, if a medical report is sought for the purposes of managing sickness absence, staff members may be asked for written consent to process sensitive data. In those circumstances, staff members will be provided with full details of the information sought and the reason it is needed, so that staff members can carefully consider whether to consent.

It is not a condition of staff members’ contracts that staff members agree to any request for consent. Where staff members have provided consent to the collection, processing and transfer of personal information for a specific purpose, they have the right to withdraw consent for that specific processing at any time. Once IPS has received notification of withdrawal of consent it will no longer process information for the purpose or purposes originally agreed to, unless it has another legitimate basis for doing so in law.

Collection and Retention of Data

Collection of data

IPS will collect personal information about staff members through the application and recruitment process, either directly from candidates or sometimes from an employment agency or background check provider. IPS may sometimes collect additional information from third parties including, but not limited to, former employers, credit reference agencies or other background check agencies. The table of staff member data appended to this policy relates to information which is collected at the outset of employment. From time to time, IPS may collect additional personal information in the course of job-related activities throughout the period of employment. If IPS requires to obtain additional personal information, this policy will be updated, or staff members will receive a separate privacy notice setting out the purpose and lawful basis for processing the data.

Retention of data

IPS will only retain staff members’ personal information for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes it was collected for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.

When determining the appropriate retention period for personal data, IPS will consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of personal data, the purposes for which the personal data is processed, whether IPS can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements.

In some circumstances IPS may anonymise personal information so that it can no longer be associated with individual staff members, in which case IPS may use such information without further notice to staff members. After the data retention period has expired, IPS will securely destroy staff members’ personal information.

Data Security and Sharing

Data security

IPS has put in place appropriate security measures to prevent personal information from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. Details of these measures are available upon request. Access to personal information is limited to those staff members, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a legitimate business need to know. They will only process personal information on IPS’s instructions and are subject to a duty of confidentiality. IPS expects staff members handling personal data to take steps to safeguard personal data of staff members (or any other individual) in line with this policy.

Data sharing

IPS requires third parties to respect the security of staff member data and to treat it in accordance with the law. IPS may share personal information with third parties, for example in the context of the possible sale or restructuring of the business. IPS may also need to share personal information with a regulator or to otherwise comply with the law. IPS may also share staff member data with third-party service providers where it is necessary to administer the working relationship with staff members or where IPS has a legitimate interest in doing
so. Activities carried out by third-party service providers include but are not limited to: payroll administration, pension administration, benefits provision and administration.

Staff Member Rights and Obligations

Accuracy of data

IPS will conduct regular reviews of the information held by it to ensure the relevancy of the information it holds. Staff members are under a duty to inform IPS of any changes to their current circumstances.  Where a staff member has concerns regarding the accuracy of personal data held by IPS, the staff member should seek clarification from IPS in the first instance.

Staff member rights

Under certain circumstances, staff members have the right to:

  • Request access to personal information (commonly known as a “data subject access request”).
  • Request erasure of personal information.
  • Object to processing of personal information where IPS is relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) to lawfully process it.
  • Request the restriction of processing of personal information.
  • Request the transfer of personal information to another party.

If a staff member wishes to make a request on any of the above grounds, they should contact IPS in writing. Please note that, depending on the nature of the request, IPS may have good grounds for refusing to comply. If that is the case, the staff member will be given an explanation by IPS.

Data subject access requests

Staff members will not normally have to pay a fee to access personal information (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, IPS may charge a reasonable fee if the request for access is clearly unfounded or excessive. Alternatively, IPS may refuse to comply with the request in such circumstances.

IPS may need to request specific information from the staff member to help confirm their identity and ensure the right to access the information (or to exercise any of the 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.

Compliance with this Policy

IPS’s responsibility for compliance

IPS has appointed Andy Quilty as their Privacy Controller, who is tasked with overseeing compliance
with this policy. If staff members have any questions about this policy or how IPS handles personal
information, they should contact Andy. Staff members 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.

Data security breaches

IPS has put in place procedures to deal with any data security breach and will notify staff members and any applicable regulator of a suspected breach where legally required to do so. IPS will be required to notify regulators of a data security breach within 72 hours of the breach. Therefore, if a staff member becomes aware of a data security breach it is imperative that they report it to Andy Quilty immediately.

Privacy by design

IPS will have regard to the principles of this policy and relevant legislation when designing or implementing new systems or processes (known as “privacy by design”).

Employee/Worker Procedures for Data Protection

All employees/workers have a duty to make sure that they comply with the Data Protection Policy. In particular, individuals must ensure that records are: accurate, up-to-date, kept and disposed of safely. Employees/workers must not disclose personal data to a third party under any circumstances.  The only exception will be if an individual is satisfied that the disclosure of the personal data is necessary: in the best interests of the individual, or a third person, or IPS and he or she has either informed the Data Subject of this or has been unable to do so and disclosure is urgent and necessary, i.e. in exceptional circumstances, such as a medical emergency.

The need to ensure that data is kept securely means that precautions must be taken against physical loss or damage, and that both access and disclosure must be restricted. All employees/workers should ensure that any personal data which they hold is kept securely, and
personal information is not disclosed either orally or in writing, or accidentally or otherwise, to any unauthorised third party. All personal information in the form of manual records should be kept in a locked filing cabinet or kept
in a locked drawer.

If information is computerised, it should be password protected, so that only authorised people can view or alter confidential data; or kept only on a disk which is itself kept securely in a desk or cabinet to avoid physical loss or damage. The overnight data disk taken off site should be kept securely and only by authorised staff members.

To avoid unauthorised disclosure, care must be taken to site PCs and terminals so that they are not visible except to authorised people.  PC screens should not be left unattended when personal data is being processed.

Care must be taken to ensure that manual records, e.g. employees or student files, or printouts containing personal data, are not left where they can be accessed by unauthorised persons.

When manual records, or printouts containing personal data, are no longer required, they should be shredded or bagged and disposed of securely.

Particular care must be taken of any data taken away from IPS premises, for example manual records to be used at home, or computerised data to use on portable computers or home machines; ensure that all work is kept confidential and, in the case of computerised information, that files are not exposed to risk from virus infection.