It is the responsibility of all Applicants to ensure that all named referees have consented to providing a reference.  In accordance with Keeping Children Safe in Education (2018) we will obtain and scrutinise references prior to interview and referees will be contacted to provide clarification as appropriate.  All information provided by referees will also be compared, for consistency, with the information Applicants have provided on their application form with the intention that questions will be asked during interview if there are discrepancies. 

Referees will be asked to verify the contents of an Applicant’s application form (where they are relevant) and will also be asked for information about:

• All disciplinary offences (including those where the penalty is “time expired” if related to children; and
• All child protection allegations including the outcome of any child protection investigations.

We will also ask about an Applicant’s performance history including details of any capability concerns (including attendance issues).

Request for your consent

In compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), we wish to ensure you are aware of the purpose for which we are requesting your consent to collect and process the data we will be asking for when we contact your referees.

Important information regarding your consent

1. We are St Francis and St Clare Catholic Multi Academy Company. The MAC is the Data Controller.
2. Being a Catholic education provider we work closely with the school’s / academy’s Diocesan Authority, the school’s / academy’s Trustees, the Local Authority, the Department of Education, the Catholic Education Service and other relevant third party with whom we may share information provided by your referees if we consider it is necessary in order to fulfil our functions.
3. The person responsible for data protection within our organisation is Mrs. B. Raj  and you can contact them with any questions relating to our handling of your data.  You can contact them by email to enquiries@sfscmac.co.uk or telephone 01902 558250.
4. We require the information we will request from your referees in order to process your application for employment.

5. To the extent that you have shared any special categories of personal data[1] this will not be shared with any third party except as detailed in paragraph 2 above, unless a legal obligation should arise.

6. If your application is successful, the information provided by your referees will become part of your personnel file which shall be retained throughout the duration of your employment within our organisation and afterwards in accordance with our data retention policy.

7. f you are unsuccessful, your references and any documents you have submitted in support of your application will be destroyed after a period of 6 months.

8. We will keep a record of your consent as evidence that we have obtained your consent to requesting references from your referees.

9. You have the right to withdraw your consent at any time and can do so by informing our organisation’s Data Protection Officer (see paragraph 3 above) that you wish to withdraw your consent.

10. To read about your individual rights you can refer to our fair processing notice and data protection policies

11. If you wish to complain about how we have collected and processed any information relating to your application, you can make a complaint to our organisation by writing to Mrs B Raj Data Protection Officer at the registered office. C/O: Our Lady and St Chad Catholic Academy, Old Fallings Lane, Wolverhampton, WV10 8BL.  If you are unhappy with how your complaint has been handled you can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office via their website at www.ico.org.uk.

Request for your consent

Please ensure that you read paragraphs 1-11 above and raise any relevant questions before providing your consent below:

Article 9(1) GDPR sets out the special categories of personal data as follows: “personal data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, or trade union membership, and the processing of genetic data, biometric data for the purpose of uniquely identifying a natural person, data concerning health or data concerning a natural person’s sex life or sexual orientation….”