About Part 1 of the Code
Data protection in recruitment and selection
The recruitment and selection process necessarily involves an employer in collecting and using information about workers. Much of this information is personal in nature and can affect a worker’s privacy. The Act does not prevent an employer from carrying out an effective recruitment exercise but helps to strike a balance between the employer’s needs and the applicant’s right to respect for his or her private life.
What does this part of the Code cover?
This part of the Code covers all aspects of the recruitment and selection process from the advertising of vacancies through to the deletion of information on unsuccessful applicants. It does not though deal in detail with the collection and use of health information on job applicants. This is covered in Part 4. Nor does it deal in detail with the right of applicants to access to the information that an employer keeps about them. This is essentially no different from the right of access that a worker has once employed or engaged. This is covered in Part 2.
Some recommendations in the Code are only likely to be of relevance to those using sophisticated
selection methods such as psychometric testing or to those employing workers with responsibilities that mean that special checks are justified, for example, criminal record checks on those working with children. For this reason some sub sections are likely to be of relevance mainly to larger or specialist organisations.
Verification and vetting
The terms “verification” and “vetting” are both used in this part of the Code. Verification covers the process of checking that details supplied by applicants (eg qualifications) are accurate and complete. Verification, therefore, is limited to checking of information that is sought in the application or supplied later in the recruitment process. As used here the term also includes the taking up of references provided by the applicant. Where an employer is justified in asking an applicant about any criminal convictions the Criminal Records Bureau provides a verification service covering certain, high risk areas of employment.
Vetting covers the employer actively making its own enquiries from third parties about an applicant’s background and circumstances. It goes beyond the verification of details addressed above. As such it is particularly intrusive and should be confined to areas of special risk. It is for example used for some government workers who have regular access to highly classified information.
In some sectors vetting may be a necessary and accepted practice. Limited vetting may be a legal
requirement for some jobs, for example, child care jobs under the Protection of Children Act 1999.
The Department of Health has developed a Protection of Vulnerable Adults list which employers
intending to recruit certain types of care workers are required to consult. Such vetting usually takes
place through the Criminal Records Bureau.