Privacy policy

The UNITE Group Plc is committed to protecting your privacy.

The Unite Group Plc (Unite Students) is committed to protecting your privacy. We treat your privacy seriously and this Privacy Policy explains how we use and share your personal information and how you can exercise your rights in relation to your personal information.

As part of any recruitment process, We collect and process personal data relating to job applicants. We are committed to being transparent about how it collects and uses that data and to meeting its data protection obligations.

We are registered with the Information Commissioner's Office.

Who we are

Unite Integrated Solutions plc is a subsidiary of The Unite Group Plc known as Unite Students. You can write to us at Talent Acquisition, Unite Students, South Quay House, Temple Back, Bristol, BS1 6FL or can call 0117 302 7000.

When this Privacy Policy applies

This Privacy Policy applies to personal information collected by us. The Privacy Policy does not apply to any collection of personal information by third party companies, individuals, organisations or via other websites which our website may link to. Where third parties collect your personal information their own privacy policies will apply. We urge you to read these carefully.

What we mean by personal information

When we refer to personal information in this Privacy Policy, we mean information that can identify you as an individual or is capable of doing so. By personal information we don't mean general, statistical, aggregated or anonymous information (the types of personal information we will collect will be information that is used for the purposes of recruitment).

What information does Unite Students collect?

We collect a range of information about you. This includes:

  • your name, address and contact details, including e-mail address and telephone number;
  • details of your education, qualifications, skills, experience, employment and history;
  • information about your current and expected level of remuneration, and current notice period;
  • whether you hold a full driving licence valid in the UK and details of any endorsements;
  • whether you have any unspent criminal convictions and, if so, details of these;
  • information about your entitlement to work in the UK;
  • equal opportunities monitoring data such as gender, ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability and sexual orientation;
  • further information if you have a disability so that we can make reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process; and
  • for certain roles, information from psychometric testing and/or about your preferred ways of working.

How we collect information about you

We may collect this information in a variety of ways. For example, data might be contained in application forms, CVs, obtained from your passport or other identity documents, or collected through face-to-face, telephone and video interviews or other forms of assessment, including online tests.

We may collect personal data about you from third parties during the recruitment process. This could include obtaining or verifying application and personal details via a recruitment agency, social networking site or job board. It is up to individuals what information they provide to the third parties and make publicly available. Whilst we may have access to information in excess of that listed above, only information applicable to the recruitment process will be used.

We may seek information from third parties once a job offer has been made to you and will inform you that it is doing so. This includes requesting references from former employers, information from driving licence checking services and criminal records checks from the Disclosure and Barring Service or Disclosure Scotland.

Data will be stored in a range of different places, including in the applicant tracking system, on paper forms, in Human Resources management systems and on other information systems (including on e-mail).

Why does Unite Students process personal data?

We need to process data to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract with you. We may also need to process your data to enter into a contract with you.

In some cases, we need to process data to ensure that we are complying with our legal obligations. For example, we are required to check a successful applicant's eligibility to work in the UK before employment starts in order to demonstrate that it is preventing illegal working.

We have a legitimate interest in processing personal data during the recruitment process and for keeping records of the process. Processing data from job applicants allows us to manage the recruitment process, assess and confirm a candidate's suitability for employment and decide to whom to offer a job. We may also need to process data from job applicants to respond to and defend against legal claims.

We may process special categories of data, such as information about ethnic origin, sexual orientation or religion or belief, to monitor recruitment statistics. We may also collect information about whether or not applicants are disabled to make reasonable adjustments for candidates who have a disability. We process such information to carry out our obligations and exercise specific rights in relation to employment.

For some roles, we seek information about criminal convictions and offences. Where we seek this information, we do so because it is necessary for us to carry out our obligations and exercise specific rights in relation to employment.

We will not use your data for any purpose other than the recruitment exercise for which you have applied unless there are alternative employment opportunities for which you may be suited. We will ask for your consent before we keep your data for this purpose and you are free to withdraw your consent at any time.

Who has access to data?

Your information may be shared internally for the purposes of the recruitment exercise. This includes members of the Human Resources/People team, interviewers involved in the recruitment process, managers in the business area with a vacancy and Information Technology staff if access to the data is necessary for the performance of their roles.

During the recruitment process, we may share your data with selected third parties in order to conduct psychometric or personality testing or to facilitate the holding of video interviews.

If your application for employment is successful and we make you an offer of employment, your data may be shared with former employers to obtain references for you, driving licence check providers to obtain necessary driving licence checks and the Disclosure and Barring Service or Disclosure Scotland to obtain necessary criminal records checks.

We may also share your personal information with third parties in the following ways:

  • where we have a legal or regulatory obligation to do so;
  • where we use third party suppliers to provide services to us (for example, our information systems providers) and they need access to your personal information in order to deliver that service; and
  • where it is necessary to do so to protect or defend our legal rights or the legal rights of others.

Your data may be transferred outside the European Economic Area (EEA) to one of the third parties listed previously. Data is transferred outside the EEA on the basis of either a declaration of adequacy, binding corporate rules or suitable contractual arrangements with the third party.

How we protect your information

We take the security of your data seriously. We have internal policies and controls in place to ensure that your data is not lost, accidentally destroyed, misused or disclosed, and is not accessed except by our workforce in the proper performance of their duties.

Data governance is overseen by our Information Security Committee to ensure a robust approach is taken across the organisation. As well as the overarching Data Protection Policy, a specific Data Protection Policy applies to employment records due to their particularly confidential nature. Suitable training and instruction is provided to all of our workforce in relation to data protection to ensure policies are adhered to in practice.

Appropriate technical and administrative processes are in place to ensure personal data are kept secure, whether in a physical or electronic form. This includes information systems being password-protected and access controlled and paper documents being kept in a secure location when not in use.

How long do we keep your information

If your application for employment is unsuccessful, we will hold your data on file for 1 year after the end of the relevant recruitment process. At the end of that period, your data is deleted or destroyed.

If your application for employment is successful, personal data gathered during the recruitment process will be transferred to your personnel file and retained during your employment. The periods for which your data will be held will be as detailed in a separate Privacy Policy.

Your rights in relation to your personal information

As a data subject, you have a number of rights. You can:

  • access and obtain a copy of your data on request;
  • require us to change incorrect or incomplete data;
  • require us to delete or stop processing your data, for example where the data is no longer necessary for the purposes of processing; and
  • object to the processing of your data where we are relying on our legitimate interests as the legal ground for processing.

If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please contact the Talent Acquisition team by e-mailing Recruitment@unitestudents.com or by calling 0117 302 7000.

If you feel that the Talent Acquisition team have not complied with your data protection rights, in the first instance please contact our Legal team by e-mailing dataprotection@unitestudents.com or calling 0117 302 7000. If you are still disatisfied, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office via their website https://ico.org.uk/.

What happens if you do not provide personal data

You are under no statutory or contractual obligation to provide data to us during the recruitment process. However, if you do not provide the information, we may not be able to process your application properly or at all.

Automated decision-making

Our recruitment processes include some automated decision-making. All applicants are asked if they are entitled to work in the UK (which may include whether an individual requires  work permit), where this is not the case then applicants cannot proceed.

For roles where a criminal record check or driving licence check is required, if the applicant is not willing to undergo such a check then the applicant cannot proceed.

For roles where there is a fixed hourly rate or specific working pattern required, if the applicant is not willing to accept the hourly rate or working pattern on offer then the applicant cannot proceed.

For further information on automated decision-making, please contact the Talent Acquisition team by e-mailing Recruitment@unitestudents.com or by calling 0117 302 7000.

Cookies explained

A cookie is a piece of information that is stored on your computer's hard drive by your web browser, or stored as a temporary object in your web browser for the time of that connection.

When we use cookies

During the online registration process we allocate cookies during the registration process for our services. These cookies will hold information collected during your registration and will allow us to recognise you as a web visitor and provide you with the services you require. The type of cookie that we use is known as a 'session-based' cookie and is allocated to your computer only for the duration of your visit to our web site. The second type of cookie is known as a 'persistent' cookie. These cookies will remain on your computer for a period of time set for each cookie.

How they work

  • Limit how often you see a particular advertisement or announcement on our web site;
  • Identify your preferences when customising content for you;
  • Provide you with relevant self-help information;
  • Record how many times you visit a page or advertisement;
  • Confirm you are a registered user and save your login details when accessing certain services on our website;
  • Collect statistics on the use of our services; and
  • We may also use cookies and web beacons to ensure that our mailing tools are working properly.

How you can refuse or opt out of cookies

Most browsers are set by default to accept cookies automatically, but usually you can alter the settings of your browser to prevent automatic acceptance and prompt you every time a cookie is sent to you or to allow you to choose not to receive cookies at all. For further information on cookies and how to manage them you can go to www.allaboutcookies.org.

Updates to this Privacy Policy

If we change the way in which we use or share your personal information we will update this Privacy Policy. We will notify you of any significant changes and where necessary we will obtain your consent before using your personal information for any new purpose.