Recruitment Privacy Notice

RECRUITMENT PRIVACY NOTICE

1. Purpose of this Notice

This notice explains how we collect and use personal data about you when you apply for a job with us, in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

2. Who We Are

We are The Sainsbury Laboratory, the data controller for the information you provide during the recruitment process.
If you have any questions about this notice or how we handle your information, please contact: Data Protection Officer: Simon Foster (simon.foster@tsl.ac.uk)

3. What Information We Collect About You

When you apply for a vacancy with The Sainsbury Laboratory (TSL) we collect a range of sensitive and non-sensitive data about you:

Your name, address, contact details, and date of birth
Education, qualifications, and employment history
Details of referees
Information provided in your CV, application form, or cover letter
Interview notes and assessment results
Evidence of your right to work in the UK
Equal opportunities information (e.g. gender, ethnicity, disability status) if you choose to provide it

Children’s Data
Our recruitment processes are intended for individuals aged 18 and over. We do not knowingly collect or process personal data relating to children.

4. Why We Collect This Information and Our Lawful Bases

We collect and process your personal data to manage the recruitment process and assess your suitability for employment.

Purpose	Lawful Basis (UK GDPR, Article 6)	Additional Basis (if special category data)
Managing your application, communication, shortlisting, and interviews	Contract – Art. 6(1)(b): necessary to take steps prior to entering into a contract	N/A
Verifying your identity and right to work	Legal obligation – Art. 6(1)(c)	N/A
Equal opportunities monitoring	Legitimate interests or legal obligation – Art. 6(1)(f)/(c)	Art. 9(2)(b) or (g): employment and equality law
Keeping records of recruitment decisions	Legitimate interests – Art. 6(1)(f): to demonstrate fair and lawful recruitment	Art. 9(2)(b)/(g) if equality data is involved
Carrying out background or reference checks (where applicable)	Legitimate interests – Art. 6(1)(f)	Depends on the nature of the data collected

We do not rely on consent as a lawful basis for processing your data during recruitment.

We do not collect or process data relating to children.

5. How we use your information

Non-sensitive data collected from your application form or CV is used to assess your suitability for the role and, as appropriate, make arrangements for selection activities.

Any sensitive data collected as part of our equality monitoring procedures is used to provide anonymised data and reports to ensure we maintain and promote equality of opportunity across our recruitment practices. As appropriate, it may also be used to ensure reasonable adjustments are made to recruitment processes in relation to any disability, in accordance with the Equality Act 2010.

6. How do we store and share your information?

Your information is mainly stored in secure electronic systems. Electronic or paper copies of your application form or CV will be provided to the TSL shortlisting/interview panels. For some posts, the recruitment panel will include external representatives, for example, from the funding body or collaborators. While external panel members will be provided with a copy of your application form or CV, no paperwork will be retained by them once the recruitment process has been concluded.

Equality monitoring data is stored electronically and not shared outside of TSL Human Resources, other than in the form of anonymised data for equality monitoring purposes.

If we wish to take up references following short-listing or a conditional offer of employment, we may provide non-sensitive personal information to any referee you have included in your application form or CV. If you indicate on your application form that you do not wish us to contact referees before interview or without referring to you first, we will respect your wishes.

If you require a Visa for any employment with TSL we may be required to share your personal information with UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) to support your Visa application.

Finally, we may share details regarding your application and recruitment decisions when requested by auditors employed by external funding agencies.

We will retain your data for six months after the recruitment process ends, unless you are successful and become an employee (in which case your data will form part of your employment record).

7. Your Rights

Which lawful basis we rely on may affect your data protection rights which are set out in brief below. You can find out more about your data protection rights and the exemptions which may apply on the ICO’s website:

Your right of access - You have the right to ask us for copies of your personal information. You can request other information such as details about where we get personal information from and who we share personal information with. There are some exemptions which means you may not receive all the information you ask for. You can read more about this right on the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) website.
Your right to rectification - You have the right to ask us to correct or delete personal information you think is inaccurate or incomplete. You can read more about this right on the ICO website.
Your right to erasure (right to be forgotten) - You have the right to ask us to delete your personal information . You can read more about this right on the ICO website.
Your right to restriction of processing - You have the right to ask us to limit how we can use your personal information. You can read more about this right on the ICO website.
Your right to object to processing - You have the right to object to the processing of your personal data. You can read more about this right on the ICO website.
Your right to data portability - You have the right to ask that we transfer the personal information you gave us to another organisation, or to you. You can read more about this right on the ICO website.
Your right to withdraw consent – If we use consent as our lawful basis you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. You can read more about this right on the ICO website.

Please note that some rights may not apply in all situations. If we cannot comply with your request, we will explain why and inform you of your right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office if you are not satisfied with our response.

For more information about your rights, visit the ICO’s website.

If you make a request, we must respond to you without undue delay and in any event within one month.

To make a data protection rights request, please contact us using the contact details at the bottom of this privacy notice.

8. Disposal of your data

We retain all information we collect during the recruitment process for a period of six months after the post has been filled. This is to ensure that we can provide feedback to unsuccessful candidates and deal with any queries about the recruitment process. After this period, for all unsuccessful candidates, all information is deleted or securely disposed of. For successful candidates, personal information collected during the recruitment process will form part of the employee’s HR file. As appropriate, a Privacy Notice for Employees will be made available at that time.

9. Who can I contact?

If you have any questions about how your personal information is used, or wish to exercise any of your rights, you can contact the Human Resources team (please email hr@tsl.ac.uk) or the Information Commissioner (please see details above).

10. Compliance with data protection legislation

For TSL the person with responsibility for advising on compliance with data protection legislation is Simon Foster, contact: simon.foster@tsl.ac.uk.

This notice will be reviewed on a regular basis and may be amended and updated at any time. We may also notify you in other ways from time to time about the processing of your personal information.

Last reviewed: 4^th November 2025