Privacy Policy

Last updated on: 08th November 2019

In this policy we provide everyone using our service with a clear view of what we do with the information you give us and how we comply with data protection laws. Here, you can also find information about who to contact if you have questions about data protection and related issues.

Who we are

RefNow is a reference service that connects Employers (Requesters), potential candidates and their referees to provide an online easy way to request and get references.

RefNow Ltd, company number 12118557.
Our head office address is:

RefNow Ltd,
71-75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London, England, WC2H 9JQ
Office Email: hello@refnow.co.uk | Privacy officer: privacy.officer@refnow.co.uk

About our services

Requesters sign up to our service for either a free account or paid membership option to be able to collect employment references through our online service.

Candidates receive an invitation to RefNow from an employer who they have agreed to provide employment references for and RefNow facilitates the collection of contact details for the candidates referees. These contact details are used to send a link to those referees to allow them to easily provide a reference for the candidate.

Referees receive an invitation to RefNow after a candidate has entered their contact details which allows the referee to provide a reference for the candidate, which may help the candidate secure a job with the prospective employer who has requested this reference.

Candidates

Information we collect and what we do with it

Information
Use
Your name, contact/personal details and IP address
Your prospective/previous employer provides these so we can contact you and tell you how to sign in and provide your reference information.

We may also have this information if you contact us so we can reply to your enquiry.

We will use your email address and mobile telephone number to send you marketing if you opt into receiving this from us.
Names and contact details of your referees
You provide these so we can send a reference request to them on behalf of your prospective employer.

We expect that you have consent from your listed referees to provide their names and contact details to us so we can contact them on your behalf to request a reference about you which will be given to potential employers (Requesters) who are considering hiring you. If you do not have this consent, please do not provide their details.
ID Document and Photo Image
If you use one of our available verification methods we may collect your photo and information relating to your identity / an ID Document provided by you.

This information will be made available to the Requester.
References
Your referees provide these and we pass them on to your prospective employer and/or the recruitment agency who created the reference request in our system.

We will keep your personal information in our records for 7 years, or even a shorter period if it is no longer needed by us for the purpose for which it was initially collected.

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Referees

Information we collect and what we do with it

Information
Use
Your name, contact details, job title, company, photo and IP address
The candidate you have agreed to be a referee for provides these so we can contact you and tell you how to sign in and provide your reference information.

We may also have this information if you contact us so we can reply to your enquiry.

We will use your email address and mobile telephone number to send you marketing if you opt into receiving this from us.
The reference you provide
We will pass this reference on to the prospective employer and/or recruitment agency of the candidate you are a referee for.

The candidate is entitled to request the reference from the prospective employer who receives it.

We will keep your personal information in our records for 7 years, or even a shorter period if it is no longer needed by us for the purpose for which it was initially collected.

Requesters

Information we collect and what we do with it

Information
Use
Your name, contact details, job title, company and IP address
You provide these to set up your account with our service and sign in.

We may also have this information if you contact us so we can reply to your enquiry.

We will use your email address and mobile telephone number to send you marketing if you opt into receiving this from us.
Name and contact details of prospective candidates
You provide these so we can contact the candidate and request to collect references.
The references you receive
The candidate is entitled to request the reference from you. If you determine this is a valid request you can use our service to provide the reference to the candidate via the download PDF reference option.

We will keep your personal information in our records for 7 years, or even a shorter period if it is no longer needed by us for the purpose for which it was initially collected.

Sharing your information

As well as any sharing mentioned in the relevant sections above, we may also share your personal information with a third party who makes a legally valid request to us (such as tax authorities, law enforcement agencies, immigration authorities and so on).

If we merge with another company or another company buys any of our assets, we may have to share your information with that company as part of the sale.

Security and transfer of your information overseas

We safeguard your personal information by making adequate security arrangements to guard against unauthorised access, use, copying, sharing, alteration, disposal or any such risks.

We may need to send your details to a referee or potential employer that is based overseas, and as part of offering our service we may process your information in locations anywhere in the world where we and/or any members of our group are located.

We currently store your data in Europe. We make sure that your information is appropriately protected wherever we store it.

Your rights

To contact us about any of your rights, please e-mail: privacy.officer@refnow.co.uk.

Access right

You can contact us at any time to request a copy of all the personal information we hold about you.

In some circumstances, we may not be able to provide access to some personal information, if this information is exempt from the right under law. In these cases we will let you know and explain the reasons and what other options you have.

Correction right

You can request that we correct any factually inaccurate information we hold about you, or add a note to indicate your view that the information is incorrect. This right does not include correcting opinions, such as those in a reference.

Deletion right

In some circumstances you can ask us to delete the personal information we hold about you.

Objection right

In some circumstances you can object to us processing your personal information.

Portability right

You have the right to receive back from us all personal information you have provided to us, in a commonly-used electronic format. All report data we hold is currently available in an exportable format of PDF files for individual requests. These files contain full details of each request.

Restriction right

In some circumstances you have the right to have the processing of your personal information restricted. For example, if you dispute its accuracy you can request it is not actively processed while we resolve the dispute.

Complain to the ICO

You can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) who is responsible for making sure that organisations comply with the law on handling personal information. (https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/).

Data processing

The following section contains further information legally required under revised data protection legislation in force from 25 May 2018 (GDPR).

Purpose of the processing and the legal basis for the processing

Data is processed for the purpose of allowing candidates to provide details of their referees, so they can provide employment references to the candidates future / prospective employer. The legal basis for processing all the personal information of employers (Requesters), candidates and referees is article 6(1)(b): the processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which the individual is party or to take steps at the request of the individual prior to entering into a contract.

Essentially this means that all the processing of personal information we carry out is necessary to deliver the online reference tool that we provide. Therefore you will need to provide all the information we ask for, as it is all required for the service.

If we decide to carry out any other processing of your personal data, that is not necessary to deliver the core service, such as to provide value-add or optional extra services, we will tell you about it and update this section of the privacy policy.

Cookies

Our website uses cookies. Some of the cookies store session data of any and every user logged on to our website, to help us identify who is logged on when a request is made by such user.

While other cookies prevent cross-site request forgery; this ensures that only forms that have originated from our website can be used to POST data back.

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