Privacy policy
Unite Integrated Solutions (Unite Students) is committed to protecting your privacy and meeting its data protection obligations. This privacy notice has been set out with prospective candidates and job applicants in mind to ensure that you understand how we use and share your personal information during our recruitment process and within the careers services we offer, and how you can exercise your rights in relation to this.
We are registered with the Information Commissioner's Office.
Who we are
Unite Students (registered as Unite Integrated Solutions) is a subsidiary of The UNITE Group Plc and is the data controller responsible for your data. We are the UK’s largest provider of student accommodation. You can contact us about this notice or about the way we process your data.
Write to us at: Data Protection Team, Unite Students, 1st Floor, Welcome Building, Avon Street, Bristol BS2 0PS.
Email us at: dataprotection@unitestudents.com
About this notice
This privacy notice applies to personal information collected by Unite Students during our recruitment process, or as part of careers information engagement activity, and the different ways this may be used.
This notice covers:
- Personal data processed by Unite Students that can identify you as an individual or is capable of doing so.
- Our use of cookies on this website.
This notice does not cover:
General, statistical, aggregated or anonymous information
Personal data collected by third party organisations outside of our instruction, or individuals or other websites which the Unite Students website may link to. Where this is the case, we encourage you to read their privacy notice to understand how they are processing your data.
If you have applied for a Unite Foundation scholarship, see the Unite Foundation Privacy Notice.
If you have a booking or are looking to stay with Unite, see the Unite Students Privacy Notice.
If you require information around the personal information collected by Unite Students, see the Unite Group Privacy Notice.
The personal data we process during the recruitment process
When you apply for a job, personal data is collected through your CV(s) and application form(s). During the selection process, information is also collected through face-to-face, telephone and video interviews or other forms of assessment, including online tests. If successful, further information will be collected. Dependent on where you are in the recruitment process and the role applied for, the information collected about you includes:
- your name, address and contact details, including e-mail address and telephone number
- your preferred pronouns
- your passport or other identity documents
- details of your education, qualifications, skills, experience, employment and history
- information about your current and expected level of remuneration, and current notice period
- whether you hold a full driving licence valid in the UK and details of any endorsements
- whether you have any unspent criminal convictions and, if so, details of these in the form of a criminal records check
- information about your entitlement to work in the UK
- equal opportunities monitoring data such as gender, ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability and sexual orientation
- further information if you have a disability so that we can make reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process and,
- for certain roles, information from psychometric testing and/or about your preferred ways of working.
References from former employers
We obtain this information directly from you or from third parties, such as a recruitment agency, social networking site job board, government agency or former employer(s) depending on where you are in the recruitment process.
It is up to individuals what information they provide to the third parties and make publicly available. Whilst we may have access to information in excess of that listed above, only information applicable to the recruitment process will be used.
What we do with your data
This data is collected for the following purposes
- To verify your identity and application
- To comply with our legal obligations under UK employment law and exercise specific rights in relation to employment. For example, checking a successful applicant's eligibility to work in the UK before employment starts to demonstrate that the business is preventing illegal working.
- To manage the recruitment process, assess and confirm a candidate's suitability for employment and decide whom to offer a job to.
- To take steps at your request prior to and in order to enter into a contract with you.
- To monitor recruitment statistics.
- For equal opportunities monitoring
- To respond to and defend against legal claims.
- To make reasonable adjustments for candidates who have a disability.
We will not use your data for any purpose other than the recruitment exercise for which you have applied unless there are alternative employment opportunities for which you may be suited. We will ask for your consent before we keep your data for this purpose and you are free to withdraw your consent at any time.
Depending on why we are using your data, we will share it with our information systems providers, selected third party recruitment service providers who conduct psychometric or personality testing or to facilitate the holding of video interviews, driving licence check providers, the Disclosure and Barring Service or Disclosure Scotland, and former employees. Where we need to obtain information from third parties once a job offer has been made we will inform you of this.
Your data may be transferred outside the European Economic Area (EEA) to one of the third parties listed previously. Data is transferred outside the EEA on the basis of either a declaration of adequacy, binding corporate rules or suitable contractual arrangements with the third party.
The personal data we process during careers information engagement activity
Unite Students is committed to recruiting and supporting a diverse workforce and creating work opportunities for young adults. Personal information is collected directly from you when you visit our stand at a careers fairs and complete our contact form. This includes:
- your name, e-mail address and telephone number
- your preferred pronouns
- marketing preferences
- equal opportunities monitoring data such as gender, ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability and sexual orientation.
This data is collected for the following purposes:
- To contact you about careers information you have opted in to receive
- For equal opportunities monitoring
Your rights in relation to your personal data
You have various rights relating to your personal data, which we have summarised below. To exercise any of these rights, please contact dataprotection@unitestudents.com. We process and respond to all requests regarding personal data within one calendar month, but if the request is going to take longer to process we will advise you of this.
We may ask for additional information to verify your identity to ensure we are sharing personal data with the correct person or that we believe is necessary to comply with a request. Please note that whilst we will carefully assess every request we receive, we may not always have to comply. When this happens, we will explain why.
Your right to be informed
You have the right to be provided with clear, transparent and easily understandable information about how we use your personal data and your rights. Therefore, we are providing you with the information in this privacy notice.
Your right of access
You have the right to access the personal data we hold about you. Your right to correct the personal data we hold on you. You have the right to correct, amend or update your personal data if it becomes inaccurate or incomplete.
Your right to erase your personal data
You have the right to ask us to erase your personal data although, for legal reasons, we might not always be able to do it.
Your right to restrict the processing of your personal data
You have the right to restrict, ‘block’ or suppress further use of your information if:
- the accuracy of your personal data is contested;
- your personal data has been processed unlawfully by us but you do not want to request erasure; or
- we no longer need your personal data for our original purpose but it is required to establish, exercise or defend legal rights.
When processing is restricted, we can still store your information but may not use it further. We keep records of people who have asked for further use of their information to be ‘blocked’ to make sure the restriction is respected in the future.
Your right to consent and/or withdraw consent
If you have given your consent to allow us to process your personal data, you also have the right to withdraw your consent at any time.
Your rights in relation to automated decision making including profiling
Automated decision making is a decision made by automated means, without any human involvement, which has legal consequences or something to a similar effect (e.g. credit checking). We don’t typically carry out automated decision making, but if we were to, we would make it clear where decisions are being made.
Your right to data portability
You have rights to obtain and reuse your personal data for your own purposes in a commonly used machine-readable format, and to have your personal data transferred to another data controller on your request.
Your right to object to processing
You have the right to object, on grounds relating to your situation at any time, to the processing of your personal data that is based on us exercising our legitimate interests. If we can show compelling legitimate grounds for processing your personal data which we consider override your interests, rights and freedoms, or we need your personal data to establish, exercise or defend legal claims, we can continue to process it. Otherwise, we must stop using the relevant information. You have the absolute right to object at any time to the use of your personal data for direct marketing purposes.
Your right to make a complaint
If you are unhappy about the way in which we have used your personal data, please let us know by contacting us as detailed below and we will try to resolve your complaint. If we are unable to resolve your complaint to your satisfaction, you have the right to lodge a complaint about the way we handle or process your personal data with the Information Commissioner’s Office.
Updates to this privacy policy
This notice was last updated on: 29th July 2024.