1. Introduction

1.1 Hooke Highways is committed to being transparent about how it collects and uses the personal data of its workforce, and to meeting its data protection obligations. This policy sets out Hooke Highways' commitment to data protection, and individual rights and obligations in relation to personal data.

1.2 This policy applies to the personal data of job applicants, employees, workers, contractors, volunteers, apprentices and former employees, referred to as HR-related personal data. This policy does not apply to the personal data of clients or other personal data processed for business purposes.

1.3 Hooke Highways has appointed Tina Holmes, HR Business Partner as the person with responsibility for data protection compliance within Hooke Highways. She can be contacted at Tina.Holmes@hookehighways.co.uk. Questions about this policy, or requests for further information, should be directed to her.

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2. Definitions

2.1 "Personal data" is any information that relates to a living individual who can be identified from that information. Processing is any use that is made of data, including collecting, storing, amending, disclosing or destroying it.

2.2 "Special categories of personal data" means information about an individual's racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, health, sex life or sexual orientation and genetic and biometric data.

2.3 "Criminal records data" means information about an individual's criminal convictions and offences, and information relating to criminal allegations and proceedings.

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3. Data Protection Principals​

3.1 Hooke Highways processes HR-related personal data in accordance with the following data protection principles:

• Hooke Highways processes personal data lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner.

• Hooke Highways collects personal data only for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes.

• Hooke Highways processes personal data only where it is adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary for the purposes of processing.

• Hooke Highways keeps accurate personal data and takes all reasonable steps to ensure that inaccurate personal data is rectified or deleted without delay.

• Hooke Highways keeps personal data only for the period necessary for processing.

• Hooke Highways adopts appropriate measures to make sure that personal data is secure, and protected against unauthorised or unlawful processing, and accidental loss, destruction or damage.

3.2 The organisation takes the security of special category personal data and criminal records data seriously.

3.3 Hooke Highways will update HR-related personal data promptly if an individual advises that his/her information has changed or is inaccurate.

3.4 Personal data gathered during the employment, worker, contractor or volunteer relationship, or apprenticeship is held in the individual's personnel file (in hard copy or electronic format, or both). The periods for which Hooke Highways holds HR-related personal data are contained in its privacy notices to individuals.

3.5 Hooke Highways keeps a record of its processing activities in respect of HR-related personal data in accordance with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

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4. Individual Rights

4.1 As a data subject, individuals have a number of rights in relation to their personal data.

4.2 Subject Access Requests

4.3 Individuals have the right to make a subject access request. If an individual makes a subject access request, Hooke Highways will inform him/her:

• whether or not his/her data is processed and if so why, the categories of personal data concerned and the source of the data if it is not collected from the individual;

• to whom his/her data is or may be disclosed, including to recipients located outside the European Economic Area (EEA) and the safeguards that apply to such transfers;

• for how long his/her personal data is stored (in line with ICO guidelines);

• his/her rights to rectification or erasure of data, or to restrict or object to processing;

• his/her right to complain to the Information Commissioner (ICO) if he/she thinks Hooke Highways has failed to comply with his/her data protection rights; and

• whether or not Hooke Highways carries out automated decision-making and the logic involved in any such decision-making.

4.4 Hooke Highways will also provide the individual with a copy of the personal data undergoing processing. This will normally be in electronic form if the individual has made a request electronically, unless he/she agrees otherwise.

4.5 To make a subject access request, the individual should send the request to hr@hookehighways.co.uk. In some cases, Hooke Highways may need to ask for proof of identification before the request can be processed. Hooke Highways will inform the individual if it needs to verify his/her identity and the documents it requires.

4.6 Hooke Highways will normally respond to a request within a period of one month from the date it is received. In some cases, such as where Hooke Highways processes large amounts of the individual's data, it may respond within three months of the date the request is received. Hooke Highways will write to the individual within one month of receiving the original request to tell him/her if this is the case.

4.7 If a subject access request is manifestly unfounded or excessive, Hooke Highways is not obliged to comply with it. Alternatively, Hooke Highways can agree to respond but will charge a fee, which will be based on the administrative cost of responding to the request. A subject access request is likely to be manifestly unfounded or excessive where it repeats a request to which Hooke Highways has already responded. If an individual submits a request that is unfounded or excessive, Hooke Highways will notify him/her that this is the case and whether or not it will respond to it.

4.8 Other Rights

4.9 Individuals have a number of other rights in relation to their personal data. They can require Hooke Highways to:

• rectify inaccurate data;

• stop processing or erase data that is no longer necessary for the purposes of processing;

• stop processing or erase data if the individual's interests override Hooke Highways' legitimate grounds for processing data (where Hooke Highways relies on its legitimate interests as a reason for processing data);

• stop processing or erase data if processing is unlawful; and

• stop processing data for a period if data is inaccurate or if there is a dispute about whether or not the individual's interests override Hooke Highways' legitimate grounds for processing data.

4.10 To ask Hooke Highways to take any of these steps, the individual should send the request to hr@hookehighways.co.uk

 

5. Data Security

5.1 Hooke Highways takes the security of HR-related personal data seriously. Hooke Highways has controls in place to protect personal data against loss, accidental destruction, misuse or disclosure, and to ensure that data is not accessed, except by employees in the proper performance of their duties.

5.2 Where Hooke Highways engages third parties to process personal data on its behalf, such parties do so on the basis of written instructions, are under a duty of confidentiality and are obliged to implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure the security of data.

 

6. Data Breaches

6.1 If Hooke Highways discovers that there has been a breach of HR-related personal data that poses a risk to the rights and freedoms of individuals, it will report it to the Information Commissioner within 72 hours of discovery. Hooke Highways will record all data breaches regardless of their effect.

6.2 If the breach is likely to result in a high risk to the rights and freedoms of individuals, it will inform affected individuals that there has been a breach and provide them with information about its likely consequences and the mitigation measures it has taken.

 

7. International Data Transfers

7.1 Hooke Highways will not transfer HR-related personal data to countries outside the EEA.

 

8. Individual Responsibilities

8.1 Individuals are responsible for helping Hooke Highways keep their personal data up to date. Individuals should let Hooke Highways know if data provided to Hooke Highways changes, for example if an individual moves house or changes his/her bank details.

8.2 Individuals may have access to the personal data of other individuals and of our customers and clients in the course of their employment, contract, volunteer period, or apprenticeship. Where this is the case, Hooke Highways relies on individuals to help meet its data protection obligations to staff and to customers and clients.

8.3 Individuals who have access to personal data are required:

• to access only data that they have authority to access and only for authorised purposes;

• not to disclose data except to individuals (whether inside or outside Hooke Highways) who have appropriate authorisation;

• to keep data secure (for example by complying with rules on access to premises, computer access, including password protection, and secure file storage and destruction);

• not to remove personal data, or devices containing or that can be used to access personal data, from Hooke Highways' premises without adopting appropriate security measures (such as encryption or password protection) to secure the data and the device;

• not to store personal data on local drives or on personal devices that are used for work purposes; and

• to report data breaches of which they become aware to Margaret Saggers, Payroll Manager immediately.

8.4 Failing to observe these requirements may amount to a disciplinary offence, which will be dealt with under Hooke Highways' disciplinary procedure. Significant or deliberate breaches of this policy, such as accessing employee or customer data without authorisation or a legitimate reason to do so, may constitute gross misconduct and could lead to dismissal without notice.

 

Michael Montague

Managing Director

1st September 2022