Candidate Privacy Policy

This privacy notice applies to individuals applying for roles at Student Roost and engaging in our recruitment process.

Student Roost is committed to protecting your privacy. We need to collect, process and store certain personal information about individuals who apply for roles with us (whether as an employee, worker or contractor) in connection with our recruitment process. Student Roost is a “data controller” of the personal data that candidates provide to us. This means that we are responsible for deciding how we hold and use their personal information.

Please read this privacy notice carefully as it describes how we collect, use, store and transfer your personal information. It also sets out the rights you have in relation to such data.

Student Roost is a leading provider of student accommodation in the UK. We are made up of different legal companies, including PBSA Portfolio Advisor Limited (a company incorporated in England with company number 08721957 and whose registered office is at Charles House, 8th Floor, 148 Great Charles Street, Birmingham B3 3HT) and the companies listed on our website under ‘Company Registration’.

Any reference in this privacy notice to Student Roost, ‘we’ or ‘us’ includes PBSA Portfolio Advisor Limited and all other companies within the Student Roost group of companies.

Personal data, or personal information, means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include data where the identity has been removed (anonymous data).

What information do we collect?

We collect, use, store and transfer a range of personal information about you. This includes:

  • Name
  • Title
  • Preferred name (e.g. known as)
  • Address
  • Email address
  • Telephone number
  • Date of birth
  • Gender
  • Nationality
  • Qualifications, skills and experience
  • Professional memberships
  • Employment history
  • Information included in your CV and covering letter
  • Information provided during an interview
  • Information about criminal convictions and offences (only applicable to operational roles)
  • Information about your credit status (only applicable to some roles)
  • References
  • Information about your current level of remuneration, including benefit entitlements
  • Information about your entitlement to work in the UK

We may also collect, use and store special categories of personal data about you, including your ethnic origin, information about your health and any disabilities.

How do we collect your data?

We use different methods to collect personal information about candidates, including from:

  • You, the candidate. For example, data contained in your CV, application form, or obtained from your passport or other identity documents or collected through interviews or other forms of assessment.
  • Recruitment agencies. For example, candidate CVs.
  • References supplied by former employers.
  • References supplied by your named referees.
  • Background check providers.
  • Credit reference agencies.
  • DBS/Disclosure Scotland/AccessNI in respect of criminal record checks.
  • Access Personal Checking Services Ltd (APCS), who we use to carry out criminal record checks.

What do we use your information for?

We will use your personal information to:

  • Assess your skills, qualifications, experience and suitability for the role.
  • Carry out background, credit status, criminal record and reference checks, where applicable.
  • Communicate with you about the recruitment process.
  • Keep records relating to our hiring processes.
  • Comply with legal requirements. For example, it is a requirement to check a successful applicant’s eligibility to work in the UK before employment starts.

It is in our legitimate interests to decide whether to appoint you to a role since it would be beneficial to our business to appoint someone to that vacancy. We also need to process your personal information to decide whether to enter into a contract of employment with you.

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

We will use your sensitive personal information in the following ways:

  • We will use information about your health and disability status to consider whether we need to make reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process. For example, whether adjustments need to be made for you to attend an interview or assessment centre.
  • We will use information about your ethnic origin, sexual orientation, health, and religion or belief, for the purposes of equal opportunities monitoring and reporting. Any data that we use for these purposes is anonymised and is collected with the express consent of candidates, which can be withdrawn at any time.
  • Where it is needed in relation to legal claims.

We will collect information about your criminal convictions history if we would like to offer you a role in our operational team (in addition to other conditions, such as references, being satisfactory) before confirming your appointment. We may carry out a criminal record check in order to satisfy ourselves that there is nothing in your criminal convictions history which makes you unsuitable for the role as the roles of our operational team members require a high degree of trust and integrity since they involve dealing with and safeguarding young adults who are living away from home for the first time and are vulnerable.

We have in place an appropriate policy and safeguards which we are required by law to maintain when processing such data.

We do not envisage that any decisions will be taken about you using automated means, however we will notify you in writing if this position changes.

Data sharing - Who has access to your data?

Your information will be shared internally, including with members of the People Team, the manager recruiting the role, interviewers and other recruitment decision-makers, if access to the data is necessary for the purposes of assessing and processing your application, and for onboarding and background checks if your application is successful.

Student Roost will only share your information with third parties if your application is successful and it makes you an offer of employment. We may share your data with former employers to obtain references for you, academic institutions to validate information you’ve provided and, where appropriate, background check providers to carry out credit status or criminal record checks (for example, Access Personal Checking Services Ltd (APCS) to carry out criminal record checks - we provide APCS with your name, address and email address and they will then contact you direct in advance of carrying out the criminal record check).

All our third party service providers are required to take appropriate security measures to protect your personal information. They are only permitted to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.

Data security

We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal information from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. In addition, we limit access to those team members and third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal information on our instructions, and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected data security breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected breach where we are legally required to do so.

How long does Student Roost keep personal data?

We will only retain your personal information for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting or reporting requirements.

To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data we consider the amount, nature and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements.

If your application is unsuccessful we will retain your personal information for a period of 6 months after we have communicated to you our decision. We retain your personal information for that period so that we can show, in the event of a legal claim, that we have not discriminated against candidates on prohibited grounds and that we have conducted the recruitment exercise in a fair and transparent way. After this period, we will securely destroy your personal information in accordance with our records management policy and applicable laws.

If we wish to retain your personal information on file, on the basis that a further opportunity may arise in future and we may wish to consider you for that, we will write to you separately, seeking your explicit consent to retain your personal information for a fixed period on that basis.

If your application is successful, personal information 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 set out and available to you in our People Privacy Policy and Records Management Policy.

In some circumstances we may anonymise your personal information so that it can no longer be associated with you, in which case we may use such information without further notice to you.

What if you fail to provide personal information?

If you fail to provide information during the recruitment process which is necessary for us to consider your application (such as evidence of qualifications or work history), when requested, we will not be able to process your application properly or at all. For example, if we require a credit check or references for the role and you fail to provide us with relevant details, we will not be able to take your application further.

Your rights

You have various rights under data protection laws (some of which are highlighted below). If you would like to exercise any of your rights, please email us on [email protected] or write to us at Student Roost, Legal Department, Charles House, 8th Floor, 148 Great Charles Street, Birmingham B3 3HT.

If you exercise any of your rights, we may ask for proof of identity. This is a security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. We may also ask you for further information in relation to your request to help identify your personal information and speed up our response.

You will not have to pay a fee to exercise your rights, although we reserve the right to charge a reasonable fee if your request for access is unfounded or excessive. We may refuse to comply with the request in these circumstances.

Your rights include:

  • Right of access/obtaining copies of your information

You have the right to ask us for details of the personal information we hold about you.

  • Amending your information

It is important that the personal information we hold about you is accurate and current. If your details change, or if you think any information we have about you is wrong or incomplete, please contact us using the details given above.

  • Right to object

You have the right to object to the processing of your personal information where we are relying on a legitimate interest as the legal ground for processing. Should you wish to object, please set out the specific reasons why you are objecting. These reasons should be based upon your particular situation.

  • Right to be forgotten

You have the right to have your personal information erased in certain circumstances.

More information about your rights is available on the ICO website at www.ico.org.uk.

Further information

If you have any questions about this privacy notice or how we treat your personal information, please email us on [email protected] or write to us at Student Roost, Legal Department, Charles House, 8th Floor, 148 Great Charles Street, Birmingham B3 3HT.

If you are not satisfied with how we respond to any request or query you raise then you can refer the matter to the Information Commissioner’s Office. Information about how to do this is available on the ICO website at www.ico.org.uk.