Privacy policy

Vetted Limited t/a Checkatrade is committed to protecting your privacy in everything we do and ensuring that you are always clear on how your personal information is used. As a company we are committed to protecting your privacy when you provide your details for our services or interact with us in any way.

This Privacy Notice explains what personal information we collect, what we do with it, our lawful basis for processing, and how we secure your information. We will also explain your rights in relation to the personal information we hold about you and how you can exercise your rights or register a complaint.

Checkatrade is the data controller and part of the HomeServe group. Our registration number with the Information Commissioner’s Office is Z6851067. The About Apprenticeships website, Try a Trade and Get In are Checkatrade initiatives.

Contact details: Vetted Limited, Building 2000, Lakeside North Harbour, Western Road, Portsmouth, Hampshire, PO6 3EN

Telephone: 03330 146 190

Email: privacy@checkatrade.com

Personal information we collect

We provide a number of services and the personal data we collect will differ depending on the service you have requested or used.

About Apprenticeships

If you register your interest to employ an apprentice with us, we may collect the following information about you and your business: Name, business name, business address, telephone number, email address, trade category, business type, company number.

After you have initially registered your interest, if your application is progressed, we may also collect the following information: Details about the size of your business, hourly pay rates expected for an apprentice and PAYE scheme information, number of positions available, timescales for start dates and details of your apprenticeship programme(s).

If you are an apprentice wishing to be matched with a company we will collect and process the following information: Name and surname, address (physical/postal), telephone number, email address, driver’s licence or passport if we require proof of identity, date of birth, CV.

Try a Trade

If you registered for Try a Trade we will collect the following information: Name, address email address, telephone number, date of birth and CV

Get In

If you are taking part in our Get In programme we will collect and process the following information: Name, address email address, telephone number, date of birth and CV.

You are under no obligation to provide any information but if you do not, it might be impossible for us to provide our services.

How we obtain and use personal information

Most of the personal information we process was provided directly by you for one of the following reasons:

• You applied for our apprenticeship matching service to request that we put you in contact with a company.
• You indicated that your business would be interested in taking on an apprentice.
• You are taking part in one of our school information programmes.
• You agreed to receive marketing communications from us.
• You are providing contracted services to us as a vendor.
• To respond to enquiries, correspondence and complaints.

In some instances, your information may be provided to us by partners to provide our specified services.

Lawful basis for processing personal information

As a company we provide different services and our lawful basis for collecting and using the personal information described in this Privacy Notice will depend on the type of information and the specific context in which we collect and use it.

We will normally collect and process your personal information for our apprenticeship matching services with your consent and to meet our contractual obligations. You can withdraw your consent at any time.

In some instances, the processing of your personal information may be based on our legitimate business interests as a company but not when overridden by your data protection interests or fundamental rights and freedoms. We carry out balancing and necessity tests to ensure that your rights are protected when we rely on our legitimate interests as a business for processing. We may also have a legal obligation to collect personal information to meet our obligations to comply with financial and regulatory requirements.

What we do with the information

We use personal information in the following ways as part of our business operations:

• To provide our apprenticeship matching service.
• To promote our company and services.
• To contact you following your enquiry or to reply to questions.
• To deal with complaints.
• To provide information required by law.
• To carry our due diligence obligations.

Sharing your information

If you provide a workplace for a flexi-job apprenticeship, we will share your information with apprenticeship agencies in order for them to place apprenticeships with you.

For our apprenticeship matching scheme, we provide apprentice application details with interested employers, in some instances this will be shared with multiple companies. We may also share your application details with our apprenticeship partners, including apprenticeship agencies. These agencies act as an employer, placing apprentices with other businesses for short term placements.

We share information with other partners including marketing agencies that work external to support the campaigns.

We share data within the HomeServe Group and with professional advisors. Data might also be shared with regulatory authorities to comply with our obligations.

How we store your information

We have put in place appropriate organisational and technical measures to meet our legal obligation to ensure the security of your personal information. We use industry standard security and firewalls. We maintain physical, electronic and procedural safeguards in connection with the collection, storage and disclosure of your information. We keep personal information for only as long as necessary for our business purposes and to meet our legal and contractual obligations. In most cases, our retention period will come to an end when we no longer require your information and will be deleted six years after your relationship with us ends.

In some instances, we are required to retain data for longer to meet regulatory requirements. We dispose of information by deleting it from all our systems and securely disposing of paper files.

Please email privacy@checkatrade.com obtain more information about our retention periods.

Data Transfers

Most of our processors are based in the United Kingdom but some of our systems require storage in countries such as the United States. When data is transferred outside of the United Kingdom, we ensure that appropriate safeguards such as the UK Addendum to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses, or International Data Transfer Agreements are included in contracts. We annually review contracts to monitor the appropriateness of vendors and the safeguarding of data.

Cookie Notice

We use cookies on our website to enhance your browsing experience and to generally ensure the efficient running of the website. Cookies are small files normally consisting of letters and numbers which store information on the user’s device. They are used in numerous ways, such as to analyse visitor traffic to our website through Google Analytics and to help the website load faster.

We also have links on our websites to our social media sites. Some of the cookies on our website are classified as non-essential cookies which you can decline when first visiting the site or though the cookie preference centre. Personal information we collect when you visit our website includes information about your device, location and IP address.

Your data protection rights

Under data protection law, you have individual rights pertaining to your personal information, including:

• Your right of access – You have the right to ask us for copies of your personal information we hold.
• Your right to rectification – You have the right to ask us to correct information you think is inaccurate or complete information you think is incomplete.
• Your right to erasure – You have the right to ask us to erase your personal information in certain circumstances. We maintain a retention policy and will inform you if we are not able to delete your information immediately.
• Your right to restriction of processing – You have the right to ask us to restrict the processing of your information in certain circumstances.
• Your right to object to processing – You have the right to object to the processing of your personal data in certain circumstances.
• Your right to data portability – You have the right to ask that we transfer the information you gave us to another organisation, or to you, in certain circumstances.
• Rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling. We perform credit checks but decisions about eligibility are done by our staff and are not based on automated decision making.

You do not need to pay a fee for exercising your rights. If you make a request, we are required to respond to you within one month unless there are reasons why it will take longer to collect the information you requested. If that is the case, we will inform you. In some cases, we will require you to provide proof of your identity if we are unable to confirm your identity through other information we hold about you. This is required to ensure the security of the personal information we hold and to meet our legal obligations.

Please email privacy@checkatrade.com if you want to exercise any of your rights.

How to complain

In the first instance please send complaints to: privacy@checkatrade.com

You can also write to: Data Protection Officer, HomeServe PLC, Group Legal, Cable Drive, Walsall, WS2 7BN

If you are not happy with the response you receive, you can send your complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO): Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF

Helpline number: 0303 123 1113, www.ico.org.uk

Updates

This notice will be updated from time to time and we recommend that you check back regularly but we will notify you of any changes through our website but noting the number and date released below:

Version number: 1

Date released: 16 February 2023