This Privacy Notice explains how SSAFA collects and uses the personal information of individuals who apply for volunteer roles.

If you have any questions about this Privacy Notice or the way we use your personal data, you should contact the Data Governance Team as follows:

Data Governance Manager SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity Queen Elizabeth House

4 St Dunstan’s Hill London

EC3R 8AD

Email: [email protected]

You can also contact our Data Protection Officer, Robert Bond by email at [email protected]

SSAFA is committed to being transparent about how it collects and uses that data whilst meeting its data protection obligations.

As part of any application process, SSAFA collects and processes personal data from applicants for volunteer roles. This includes:

•    To communicate with you regarding your application.

•    To establish your eligibility to volunteer in the UK.

•    To verify your suitability to volunteer for the role you have applied for.

Please note that all data collected will be used and held in accordance with the requirements of the UK GDPR as amended by the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018). We do not collect more information than we need to fulfil our stated purposes and will not retain it for longer than is necessary.

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

• Your name, address and contact details, including email address and telephone number.
• Nationality.
• Details of your qualifications, skills, experience and employment history.
• Whether or not you have a disability for which the organisation needs to make reasonable adjustments during the application process.
• Equal opportunities monitoring information, including about your ethnic origin, sexual orientation, health, and religion or belief.
• Identity documentation such as passport or driving license.
• Information in relation to your referee such as their name, address and contact details.
• In some circumstances, criminal convictions data.

We collect this information in a variety of ways. For example, data might be contained in application forms, CVs or resumes, obtained from your passport or other identity documents, or collected through interviews or other forms of assessment.

SSAFA also collects personal data about you from third parties, such as references supplied by former employers. SSAFA may also, where appropriate, collect information from employment background check providers and Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) providers.

Information About Sensitive Personal Information

As part of your application, you may be asked to provide information about your health, disability, accessibility requirements or other information that is considered sensitive personal data (also known as special category personal data) under data protection law.

We collect and use this information only where it is necessary to:

• consider any reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process;

• support you appropriately if you become a volunteer;

• fulfil our safeguarding responsibilities where applicable; and

• comply with our legal and regulatory obligations

Access to this information is restricted to authorised individuals who require it to carry out these purposes and it will be processed in accordance with this Privacy Notice.

Some applications also include optional Equality, Diversity and Inclusion questions. Information provided in response to these questions is used solely for equality monitoring and to help us improve the fairness and accessibility of our recruitment processes. It is not used to determine the outcome of your application, and choosing not to provide this information will not affect your application.

All of the information you provide during the volunteer application process will only be used for the purpose of progressing your volunteering application, or to fulfil legal or regulatory requirements if necessary. We will not share any of the information you provide during the application process with any third parties for marketing purposes.

The information you provide will be held securely by us and/or our data processors whether the information is in electronic or physical format. We will use your contact details to inform you of the progress of your application and your additional information to assess your suitability for the role you have applied for.

SSAFA needs to process data prior to engaging you as a volunteer. Under the UK GDPR, the lawful basis we rely on for processing this information are:

•    We have a legal obligation

•    We have a legitimate interest

SSAFA has a legitimate interest in processing personal data during the application process and for keeping records of the process. Processing data from applicants allows SSAFA to manage the application process, assess and confirm an individual's suitability as a volunteer. Where SSAFA relies on legitimate interests as a reason for processing data, it has considered whether or not those interests are overridden by the rights and freedoms of volunteers and has concluded that they are not. SSAFA processes health information if it needs to make reasonable adjustments to the application process for volunteers who have a disability. For some roles, SSAFA is obliged to seek information about criminal convictions and offences, so that we can carry out its obligations and exercise specific rights in relation to volunteering for the charity.

Our lawful basis for processing special category data:

"Special categories" of particularly sensitive personal information, such as information about your health, racial or ethnic origin, sexual orientation or trade union membership, require higher levels of protection. We need to have further justification for collecting, storing and using this type of personal information. We have in place an appropriate policy document and safeguards which we are required by law to maintain when processing such data. We will process special categories of personal information in the following circumstances:

• In limited circumstances, with your explicit written consent.
• Where we need to carry out our legal obligations or exercise rights in connection with employment.
• Where it is needed in the public interest, such as for equal opportunities monitoring.
• Where it is necessary to protect you or another person from harm (safeguarding).

 Less commonly, we will process this type of information where it is needed in relation to legal claims or where it is needed to protect your interests (or someone else's interests) and you are not capable of giving your consent, or where you have already made the information public.

SSAFA will not share your data with third party organisations unless your application is successful.

Your information will be shared internally for the purposes of the application process. This includes interviewers involved in the application process, volunteer and employee management in the business involved in the application process.

We may also share your data with:

• Regulatory/ Law enforcement authorities.
• Once your application is successful, SSAFA will then share your data to obtain references for you and, where appropriate, background check providers to obtain necessary background checks and the Disclosure and Barring Service to obtain any necessary criminal records checks, dependent upon the role applied for.
• Your references, if you have provided them, to verify your experience and suitability.
• Service providers such as software platforms and cloud storage providers used for volunteer management.

We do not transfer your personal data outside of the UK for the purposes of assessing and processing your application without your permission.

SSAFA uses appropriate technical and organisational safeguards to ensure we keep your personal data secure. We have security measures in place to help protect against the loss, misuse, and alteration of the data under our control. Our cyber security arrangements and framework of data protection policies, procedures and training are kept under regular review to ensure that that your data is not lost, accidentally destroyed, misused or disclosed, and is not accessed except by our employees in the proper performance of their duties.

If your application is unsuccessful, SSAFA will hold your data on file for six months after the end of the relevant application process. At the end of that period, your data is deleted or destroyed. If your application is successful, personal data gathered during the application process will be transferred to your personnel file and retained during your engagement as a volunteer. The periods for which your data will be held will be provided to you in a new privacy notice.

You have rights under data protection law over your personal data. You are entitled, to request:

• access to (i.e. ask for a copy of) your personal data
• correction of your personal data if it is incorrect
• erasure of your personal data
• that we stop using your personal data if you believe that the information, we hold is wrong, or that we don’t have a valid reason for using it
• that we stop using your personal data where you object to us using it
• that we transfer the information you gave us from one organisation to another or give it to you.

These rights are subject to eligibility and to legal exemptions, and we may need to verify your identity before we are able to respond to your request.

If you would like to exercise any of these rights or have question on how we are processing your data, please contact the Data Governance Manager by email [email protected] or write to us at Data Governance Manager, SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity, Queen Elizabeth House, 4 St Dunstan’s Hill, London, EC3R 8AD.

If you believe that SSAFA has not complied with your data protection rights, you can complain to our Data Protection Officer who will consider the matter for you. You can contact them by email at [email protected]

If you are still not satisfied, you can make a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office: Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House Water Lane Wilmslow Cheshire SK95AF Telephone: 0303 123 1113

Contact form:https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/email/

You are under no statutory or contractual obligation to provide data to SSAFA during the application process. However, if you do not provide the information requested and needed, SSAFA may not be able to process your application fully or at all.

Our volunteer application processes are not based on automated decision-making.

Where you have given us your consent, please note you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. If you wish to exercise any of your individual rights including your right to withdraw consent, you can do so by contacting us at [email protected], or writing to:

Data Governance Manager SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity Queen Elizabeth House 4 St Dunstan’s Hill London

EC3R 8AD

We will respond within one month, on receipt of your written request.

Please note that we might refuse to comply with subject access requests which would reveal sensitive information about third parties, such as those who access our services, even if they are a family member or are otherwise known to you.