Privacy notice for job applicants

Last updated 31 October 2026

This notice explains what personal information GSM Ardent collects when you apply for a job with us through CareChecker, why we need it, who we share it with, how long we keep it and what your rights are.

Who we are

GSM Ardent is the "data controller" for your information: we decide how and why it is used. CareChecker is the secure website we use to manage applications.

• Address: [to be added]
• Email: [to be added]
• ICO registration number: [to be added]

What information we collect

• Your account: name, email address, phone number and password (stored scrambled; we can't see it).
• Your application: title, name, address, phone numbers, National Insurance number, education and qualifications, professional memberships, employment history and gaps, days absent through illness in the last 12 months, driving licence details, your personal statement, and your answers about warnings, disciplinary issues and safeguarding allegations.
• Referees: the names and contact details of the people you give as referees.
• Criminal record information: your answers about convictions, cautions, barring and suspensions, and your DBS consents.
• Health information: any special requirements you tell us about for an interview.
• Documents: photos or scans of your photo ID, proof of address and any certificates you upload.
• Equality monitoring (optional): ethnicity, nationality, age group, disability and religion or belief, only if you choose to answer.
• Security records: when you log in and from which internet (IP) address, and a record of which of our staff viewed or changed your information.

Why we use it, and our legal reasons

Data protection law says we must have a lawful reason for each use of your information:

• To consider your application and, if successful, to employ you. This is necessary to take steps at your request before entering into an employment contract (UK GDPR Article 6(1)(b)).
• To meet our legal duties as a children's home, including safer recruitment checks on everyone who works with children, and checking your right to work in the UK (Article 6(1)(c), legal obligation).
• To keep the website and your information secure, for example the login and activity records (Article 6(1)(f), our legitimate interest in protecting your information and the children in our care).
• Criminal record and health information are given extra protection by law. We use them only where necessary for our obligations in employment and for safeguarding children (UK GDPR Articles 9(2)(b) and 10, and the Data Protection Act 2018, Schedule 1).
• Equality monitoring answers are optional and used only to produce anonymous statistics about equality of opportunity (Data Protection Act 2018, Schedule 1). They are kept separate from your application and are never seen by the people deciding on it.

We do not make decisions about you by computer alone: a person reviews every application and document.

Who we share it with

• Your referees, to ask for a reference, and only if you are invited to interview.
• The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS), to carry out an enhanced DBS check if your application is successful.
• Ofsted, the local authority or the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO), only where the law requires it or to protect children.
• Companies that run our systems for us, who may only use your information on our instructions: our hosting provider (Hostinger), which stores the website and its data, and our email provider for messages the website sends you.

We never sell your information or use it for marketing.

How we keep it safe

Your information is only sent over an encrypted (https) connection. Uploaded documents are stored privately and can only be opened by you and by authorised GSM Ardent staff, who must use two-step login. Every time a member of staff views, downloads or changes your information, it is recorded. Backups are encrypted.

How long we keep it

• If your application is unsuccessful or you withdraw: we delete your account, application and documents six months after our decision, unless you have agreed that we may keep your application on file.
• If you are employed: your application and documents become part of your staff record and are kept for as long as the law requires for staff records in children's homes.
• Equality monitoring answers are deleted together with your application.
• Security records are kept for up to two years.
• Encrypted backups are overwritten on a rolling basis, so deleted information disappears from them within a few weeks.

Your rights

You have the right to:

• ask for a copy of the information we hold about you;
• ask us to correct information that is wrong;
• ask us to delete your information or limit how we use it, where the law allows;
• object to how we use your information in some circumstances.

To use any of these rights, contact us at [to be added]. We will reply within one month.

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your information, please tell us first. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO): ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint, phone 0303 123 1113.

Changes to this notice

We may update this notice. The date at the top shows when it last changed.