Candidate Privacy Policy

Candidate & Employee Privacy Notice

Specsavers are committed to protect 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 working relationship with us, in accordance with the applicable Data Protection legislation. This notice applies to candidates, current and former employees, workers and contractors.

1. About Specsavers

The members of the Specsavers group of stores, support offices and companies (hereafter referred to as “we”, “us” or “Specsavers”) are joint “data controllers” of your personal information. This means that we are responsible for deciding how we hold and use personal information about you and provide an overview of this.

2. What personal information is collected

We may collect and process the following information about you:

• 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.
• National Insurance number, national identification number, social security number or its equivalent.
• Bank account details, salary and payroll records and tax status information.
• Nationality and information relating to your immigration status.
• Annual leave, pension and benefits information.
• Trade union membership.
• Copy of driving licence.
• Information about criminal convictions and offences and information gathered when background checks are undertaken (where legally permitted and appropriate to the role).
• Recruitment information including right-to-work documentation, references and application materials.
• Employment records such as job titles, work history, working hours, holidays, training and reason for leaving.
• Performance appraisals and reviews.
• Disciplinary and grievance information.
• Health information where relevant to your work.
• Information about use of our IT and communications systems, including device, browser, IP address and usage.
• CCTV footage and access control information.
• Photographs used for identification or approved marketing purposes.

This information is primarily collected from you, but may also be obtained from other lawful sources as part of recruitment or employment.

3. Purpose and legal basis for the information collected

Information provided during recruitment is used to process your application and consider an employment offer.

During employment, information is used to manage the employment relationship and meet legal obligations.

Our legal bases for processing include:

• Performance of a contract.
• Compliance with a legal obligation.
• Legitimate business interests that do not override your rights.
• Explicit consent where required.
• Protection of vital interests.

In limited cases, processing may be required for legal claims or where consent cannot be provided.

4. Protecting personal information

We apply appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against unauthorised access, loss or misuse. Access is restricted to those with a legitimate business need.

5. Who is personal information shared with

Data may be shared within the Specsavers group and with trusted third-party service providers under contractual data protection obligations. Transfers outside the EU and UK are safeguarded appropriately.

6. How long is the information kept for

Personal information is retained only as long as necessary or as required by law.

7. Your rights regarding your personal information

Under data protection law, you have the right to:

• Request access to your personal information.
• Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data.
• Request deletion where processing is no longer lawful.
• Object to processing based on legitimate interests.
• Request restriction of processing.
• Request data portability.

You may also lodge a complaint with the relevant supervisory authority. In the UK, this is the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), telephone 0303 123 1113.

To exercise your rights, access your recruitment or employee profile or contact Dataprotection@specsavers.com.

8. Where to find this privacy notice including updates

This notice does not form part of an employment contract. The latest version is available on Specsavers’ intranet and local country websites.

9. Contact us

If you have questions regarding this notice, contact the data protection team at Dataprotection@specsavers.com or write to:

Data Protection Officer
Specsavers Optical Group
La Villiaze, St Andrews
Guernsey, GY6 8YP

Published October 2023