Recruitment
privacy notice.

Last updated: 24 September 2026

Abbeyfield Northumbria respects your privacy. This notice explains how we collect, use and protect your personal information when you enquire about working with us or apply for a role.

This notice covers initial recruitment enquiries and applications. Further privacy information will be provided before we collect additional sensitive information or undertake pre-employment checks.

Who is responsible for your information?

Abbeyfield Northumbria is responsible for deciding how your personal information is used for recruitment. For data protection purposes, we are the controller.

You can contact us about your information or this notice at:

Recruitment privacy enquiries
Abbeyfield Northumbria
40A The Grove
Gosforth
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE3 1NH

Email: privacy@abbeyfieldnorthumbria.org.uk

Information we collect

When you contact us through our careers form, we collect:

• Your name and email address.
• Your telephone number, if you provide it.
• The role or type of work you are interested in.
• Your message and any CV you choose to upload.

Our initial enquiry form requires only your name and email address. The other fields, including the CV upload, are optional.

If you proceed with an application, we may also collect information relevant to the role, such as your employment history, qualifications, availability, interview responses and references.

Where necessary for the role, we may collect information to verify your identity, right to work in the UK and relevant professional registration, and undertake appropriate safeguarding or Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks. We will explain any checks that apply at the relevant stage.

Please do not include unnecessary sensitive information in an initial enquiry or CV, such as medical details or your National Insurance number.

Where your information comes from

Most information comes directly from you.

During recruitment, we may also obtain relevant information from referees, recruitment agencies you have authorised to represent you, professional registration bodies and providers carrying out necessary pre-employment checks.

We will explain any additional sources or checks before using them.

Why we use your information

We use your information to:

• Respond to your enquiry and discuss suitable opportunities.
• Assess your application against the requirements of a role.
• Arrange interviews and communicate recruitment decisions.
• Make reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process where needed.
• Carry out relevant pre-employment checks.
• Prepare an offer and employment arrangements if you are successful.
• Meet our legal obligations and handle recruitment-related complaints or legal claims.

We do not use information submitted for recruitment to send unrelated marketing.

Our lawful bases

Depending on the activity, we rely on the following lawful bases under the UK GDPR:

Steps towards an employment contract
Where processing is necessary to assess your application and take steps at your request before entering into an employment contract.

Legitimate interests
Where necessary to respond to general recruitment enquiries, administer a fair and effective recruitment process, keep appropriate records, or establish, exercise or defend legal claims. We consider your rights and interests when relying on this basis.

Legal obligations
Where processing is necessary to comply with applicable employment, equality, immigration or other legal requirements.

If we ask for consent for a separate purpose, we will explain what you are agreeing to and how you can withdraw it. Withdrawing consent does not affect processing already carried out lawfully.

Sensitive information and recruitment checks

We do not ask for health information or criminal record details through our initial enquiry form. Please do not include these in your message or CV.

If your application progresses, our HR team will explain any further information or checks required for the role. These may include an appropriate Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check and, where necessary and legally permitted, health information or other sensitive personal information.

Before collecting this information or undertaking these checks, we will provide further privacy information explaining what we need, why we need it, the legal grounds for using it, who may receive it and how long it will be retained.

If you need an adjustment to help you take part in recruitment, please contact us. We will explain how any information needed to arrange that support will be handled.

Who may receive your information?

Access is limited to people who need the information for recruitment or related responsibilities. Depending on the circumstances, recipients may include:

• Colleagues involved in recruitment, relevant managers and authorised administrators.
• Providers supporting our website, email, IT systems and recruitment administration.
• Referees and organisations carrying out relevant pre-employment checks.
• Professional advisers, regulators or public authorities where disclosure is necessary and lawful.

We share only the information needed for the relevant purpose.

How we receive and store your information

Our website is hosted by NetHosted. Recruitment enquiries submitted through our website are processed using Contact Form 7 and sent to our organisation’s Microsoft 365 email system. Any CV you upload is included as an email attachment.

We use this information to respond to your enquiry and manage recruitment. Access within Abbeyfield Northumbria is restricted to authorised people who need it for these purposes.

Our hosting and email providers process information as part of supplying these services to us. We do not sell your recruitment information or share it with other organisations for their marketing purposes.

Our website also uses Cloudflare Turnstile to help prevent spam and automated submissions. This service processes technical information about visitors’ devices and browsers for security purposes. Further information is available in Cloudflare’s Turnstile privacy notice.

We also rely on our legitimate interests in protecting our website and enquiry forms against spam, fraud and misuse when processing technical information for these purposes.

Our website uses security measures to help prevent spam and misuse. These services may process technical information, such as your IP address and browser information.

Information submitted through our careers form is delivered to our recruitment team through our website and email services.

Where your information is processed

Our website is hosted on servers in the United Kingdom. Recruitment enquiries and CVs submitted through our website are sent to and held within Abbeyfield Northumbria’s Microsoft 365 environment.

Microsoft processes information under its Products and Services Data Protection Addendum, which sets out its contractual obligations concerning data protection, security and international transfers. Depending on the services involved, processing may take place outside the UK.

Microsoft describes safeguards for international transfers in its Products and Services Data Protection Addendum. You can contact us using the details in this notice for further information about the arrangements relevant to your recruitment information.

How long we keep your information

We keep recruitment information only for as long as necessary for the purpose for which it was collected.

• Initial enquiries that do not become applications: 28 days after your enquiry has been resolved or closed.
• Unsuccessful applications: six months after we notify you of the outcome.
• Withdrawn applications: six months after you withdraw.
• Successful applications: relevant information becomes part of your employment record and is covered by our staff privacy notice and retention arrangements.

Where specific records are needed for a legal obligation, complaint or legal claim, we may retain them longer for that purpose.

If we would like to keep your details for future opportunities beyond these periods, we will explain the proposed period and lawful basis separately.

When information is no longer required, we securely delete or destroy it in accordance with our retention arrangements.

How we protect your information

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect recruitment information against unauthorised access, loss, misuse or disclosure.

These include restricting access to those who need it and requiring service providers handling information on our behalf to protect it appropriately.

Your rights

Depending on the circumstances, you may have the right to:

• Ask for access to your personal information.
• Have inaccurate information corrected.
• Ask for information to be erased.
• Ask us to restrict how we use it.
• Object to processing based on legitimate interests.
• Receive certain information in a portable format.
• Withdraw consent where we rely on it.

These rights are subject to conditions and are not absolute. Contact us using the details above to make a request. We may need to confirm your identity before responding.

Providing information for an enquiry is voluntary. However, if you do not provide information necessary to assess an application or complete a legally required check, we may be unable to progress your application. We will explain this where it applies.

Automated decisions

We do not make recruitment decisions based solely on automated processing that produces legal or similarly significant effects.

Questions or complaints

Please contact us if you have questions or concerns about how we handle your information.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK’s data protection regulator. You do not have to complain to us first.

Website: ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint

Changes to this notice

We may update this notice to reflect changes in our recruitment processes or legal requirements. The date at the top shows when it was last updated.