|Stafford Lawrence Ltd – Privacy Notice & Data Protection

Stafford Lawrence Ltd is known as the ‘Controller’ of the personal data you provide to us. We are committed to protecting your privacy. This privacy notice sets out the basis on which we will process personal data we collect from you, or that you provide.

Who we are and what we do

A recruitment agency and recruitment business as defined in the Employment Agencies and Employment Business Regulations. We collect personal information from the following people to allow us to undertake our business:

Prospective / placed candidates for permanent roles
Live and prospective client contacts
Supplier contacts to support our services
Employees, consultants

Types of Data We Collect

In order to provide the best opportunities, we process certain information. This will be Name, contact details, education details, employment history, and immigration status.

Under local laws and requirements, we may also collect information related to diversity, security clearance status, or details of any criminal convictions.

Clients: We collect and use information about you, or individuals at your company, while providing you with our recruitment services. This can include finding candidates to fill your roles, and notifying you of content published by us which may apply to you.

Stafford Lawrence Ltd will store information relating to job applications, email and telephone communications, interviews, and placements.

In addition, we collect a limited amount of data from the users of our website. This helps us to improve your experience when using our website. This includes information such as how you use our website, and website speed.

Where we obtain your information

We may obtain information from candidates from many locations:

When you register with our website
Corresponding with us by phone, email, or otherwise
Website visits
When you register your CV on a job board and it matches the skills we’re looking for
Applying for our jobs via a job board
If a friend/colleague refers you
Your online profiles

There are two ways in which we collect client data:

From you directly
From third parties such as candidates, online job boards, LinkedIn, and networking

Data Protection Statement

Should you provide your CV to us, we will use the information that you provide to assist you with work-finding services. In providing this service to you: You agree to your personal data being included on a database. In addition, you also consent to us transferring your personal details to our clients.

We pass information from time to time to certain third parties to prevent or detect crime, protect public funds, or in other ways required by law.

The supervisory authority in the U.K. for Data Protection is the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). We process personal data in relation to work-seekers and client contacts. We are a data controller for the Data Protection Laws. Stafford Lawrence Ltd is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), registration number ZA305642.

Data Retention

If we have had no meaningful contact with you for 12 months, we delete your personal data from our systems. After this period, it is likely your data will no longer be relevant.

Meaningful contact will include: submitting your updated CV to our website, applying for jobs with us, or an updated CV sourced from a job board. We will also consider it meaningful contact if you communicate with us about potential roles via verbal or written communication, or engage with any of our marketing communications.

Under data protection regulations (GDPR), the ICO requires us to keep the data we hold accurate and up to date. We will make every effort to communicate with you to ensure your data is up to date and accurate. Stafford Lawrence Ltd will erase your personal data permanently once it reaches the end of its retention period, or when we receive a valid request from you to do so.

Legal Basis for Processing

Our legal basis for the processing of personal data is our legitimate business interests, described in more detail below. We will also rely on contract, legal obligation, and consent for specific uses of data.

Contract: We will rely on a contract if we are negotiating or have entered into a placement agreement with you.
Legal Obligation: We rely on legal obligation if required to hold information on you to fulfil our legal obligations.
Consent: In some circumstances, we rely on consent for particular uses of your data. We will also ask for express consent if legally required. Examples of when consent may be the lawful basis for processing include permission to introduce you to a client (if you are a candidate).

Legitimate Interests

Stafford Lawrence Ltd takes your privacy seriously. Your personal information is only used to administer your account and provide you with recruitment services.

It is reasonable to expect, if you are looking for employment and have posted your professional CV information on a job board or professional networking site, you are also happy for us to collect and otherwise use your personal data. This will be to provide our recruitment services, share that information with prospective employers (with your consent), as well as to assess your skills against live vacancies. During the offer process, your potential employer may also want to confirm your references, qualifications, and criminal record, if appropriate and in accordance with the law. We need to do these things so that we can help you find the job you deserve.

To provide you with tailored job alerts to help you on your job hunt, it is reasonable for us to process your data to make sure that we send you the most appropriate jobs.

In addition, we may also use data for our internal administrative activities, like payroll and invoicing where relevant.

Data Storage and Processing

Our staff in the U.K. will process all the personal data we hold about you. We will take all reasonable steps to ensure that we process securely your personal data and prevent unauthorised access to, and misuse of, your personal data.

As required under GDPR guidelines, we will only share your information with prospective employers with your express consent.

Data Subject Access Requests (DSAR)

In addition, you may ask us to confirm what information we hold about you, as well as request us to modify, update, or delete such information. If you wish to access your data, there is no administration charge (unless the request is excessive). We will fulfil the request within 30 days. To make such a request, please email info@staffordlawrence.com.

Data Protection Complaints Procedure

If you believe Stafford Lawrence Ltd has mishandled your personal data or infringed upon data protection legislation, you have a statutory right to lodge a formal complaint directly with us. In compliance with the UK Data (Use and Access) Act, we operate an internal complaints-handling framework designed to resolve issues effectively:

How to File a Complaint: You can submit a data protection complaint electronically by emailing us at admin@staffordlawrence.com or by using the form on our Contact Us webpage.
Acknowledgement: We will officially acknowledge receipt of your complaint within 30 days of receiving it.
Investigation: We will take immediate steps to investigate your concerns without undue delay, making all necessary internal enquiries and keeping you informed of our progress.
Outcome: We will notify you of the formal outcome of our investigation without undue delay, clearly explaining any remedial actions taken.
Escalation: If you remain unsatisfied with our internal resolution, you retain the statutory right to escalate your complaint directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). Under the latest regulations, individuals are expected to use our internal complaints procedure to attempt to resolve the matter directly before escalation.

Contact us about our Privacy notice

We welcome questions, comments, or requests regarding this privacy notice. Please address these to: admin@staffordlawrence.com or use our Contact form on our Contact Us webpage.