Privacy Policy

Purpose

Premier Care 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 relationship with us, in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Premier Care 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, and service users.

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 will comply with data protection law. 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 kind 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, as relevant:

• Personal contact details such as name, title, addresses, telephone numbers, and personal email addresses.
• Date of birth.
• Gender
• Marital status and dependants.
• Next of kin and emergency contact information.
• Start date.
• National Insurance number.
• Bank account details
• CCTV footage and other information obtained through electronic means such as swipecard records.
• Information about your use of our information and communications systems.
• Photographs.

National Data Opt-Out

Premier Care reviews all of our data processing on an annual basis to assess if the national data opt-out applies. All new processing is assessed to see if the national data opt-out applies.

If any data processing falls within scope of the National Data Opt-Out we use MESH to check if any of our service users have opted out of their data being used for this purpose.

At this time, we do not share any data for planning or research purposes for which the national data opt-out would apply. We review all the confidential patient information we process on an annual basis to see if this is used for research and planning purposes. If it is, then individuals can decide to stop their information being shared for this purpose. You can find out more information at https://www.nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters/.

Employees/ Workers only

• Payroll records and tax status information
• Salary, annual leave, pension and benefits information
• 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).
• Employment records (including job titles, work history, working hours, training records and professional memberships).
• Compensation history.
• Performance information.
• Disciplinary and grievance information.

We may also collect, store and use the following “special categories” of more sensitive personal information, as relevant:

• Information about your race or ethnicity, religious beliefs, sexual orientation and political opinions.
• Trade union membership (employees only)
• 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 contactors 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 for employees throughout the period of working for us.

Information will be amended as required to ensure it remains accurate and valid.

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:

• Where we need to perform the contract we have entered into with you.
• Where we need to comply with a legal obligation.
• 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:

• Where we need to protect your interests (or someone else’s interests).
• Where it is needed in the public interest or for official purpose such as in a serious investigation.

Situations in which we will use your personal information

We need all the categories of information in the list above (see The kind of information we hold about you) 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.

We will use your personal information to

• Administer the contract we have entered into with you.
• Inform business management and planning, including accounting and auditing.
• Make arrangements for the termination of our working relationship.
• Deal with legal disputes including accidents
• Comply with health and safety obligations.
• Prevent fraud.
• Inform education, training and development requirements.
• Monitor information and communication systems to ensure compliance with our IT policies.
• Ensure network and information security, including preventing unauthorised access to our computer and electronic communications systems and preventing malicious software distribution.
• Conduct data analytics studies to review and better understand employee retention and attrition rates.
• Monitor equal opportunities.

Employees/ workers: we use information for

• Making decisions about recruitment or appointment.
• Determining the terms on which individuals work for us.
• Checking individuals are legally entitled to work in the UK.
• Paying and, for employees, deducting tax and National Insurance contributions.
• Liaising with an individual’s pension provider.
• Conducting performance reviews, managing performance and determining performance requirements.
• Making decisions about salary reviews and compensation.
• Assessing qualifications for a particular job or task, including decisions about promotions.
• Gathering evidence for possible grievance or disciplinary hearings.
• Making decisions about continued employment or engagement.
• Ascertaining your fitness to work.
• Managing sickness absence.
• Make decisions about your employment, including conduct and performance
• Pay you
• Train you
• Respond to any DWP/ HMRC or similar enquiries about you
• Processing any earnings arrestment, court order or any other charge or cost served against you through the appropriate channels

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 service), or we may be prevented from complying with our legal obligations (such as to ensure the health and safety requirements).

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 Safeguarding or Adult Support and Protection, and in line with our Data Protection Policy.
4. Where it is needed to assess an employee’s 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 an individual’s interests and they are not capable of giving consent, or where they have already made the information public. We may also process such information about members or former members in the course of legitimate business activities with the appropriate safeguards.

Our obligations as an employer

We will use particularly sensitive personal information in the following ways:

• We will use information relating to leaves of absence, which may include sickness absence or family related leaves, to comply with employment and other laws.
• We will use information about physical or mental health, or disability status, 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.
• We will use information about race or national or ethnic origin, religious, philosophical or moral beliefs, or sexual life or sexual orientation, to ensure meaningful equal opportunity monitoring and reporting.
• We will use trade union membership information to pay trade union premiums, register the status of a protected employee and to comply with employment law obligations.

Do we need your consent to process sensitive information?

Employees/ Workers

We do not need consent if we use special categories of 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 an individual for your written consent to allow us to process certain particularly sensitive data. If we do so, we will provide with full details of the information that we would like and the reason we need it, so that you the individual can carefully consider whether they wish to consent. It is not a condition of their contract with us that an employee agrees 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 an individual’s interests and they are not capable of giving consent, or where they have already made the information public.

We may also process such information about members or former members in the course of legitimate business activities with the appropriate safeguards.

We 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 of an employee, or relevant to the provision of care and support services, and where we are legally able to do so.

For employees involved in direct care or care planning and monitoring, we will collect information about criminal convictions as part of the recruitment process or we may be notified of such information directly by you in the course of you working for us. We will use information about criminal convictions and offences in the following ways:

• To determine fitness to work with vulnerable people
• To apply for disclosure
• To make decisions about continued employment
• To plan safe service delivery

We are allowed to use your personal information in this way to carry out our obligations to ensure the workforce are fit to practice.

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 using automated means, however we will notify individuals in writing if this position changes.

Data sharing

We may have to share data with third parties, including third-party service providers and other entities in the group.

We require third parties to respect the security of your data and to treat it in accordance with the law.

We may transfer your personal information outside the EU to enable data storage. If we do, you can expect 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, or where it is necessary to administer our relationship with Individuals, 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 designated agents) and other entities within our group.

The following activities are carried out by third-party service providers: payroll, pension administration, IT services.

How secure is my information with third-party service providers and other entities in our group?

All our third-party service providers and other entities in the group 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 in the group?

We will share your personal information with other entities in our group [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 may have to transfer the personal information we collect about you outside the EU in order to perform our contract with you.

However, to ensure that your personal information does receive an adequate level of protection we would put in place appropriate measures  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 and would inform you of the measures.