Connect To Work privacy policy

Connect to Work (CTW) is a voluntary programme funded by the UK Government to support disabled people, people with health conditions, and individuals in specified disadvantaged groups to move into and maintain employment. It will also provide support to those in work but at risk of losing their employment, helping them to retain their jobs.

Local London, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), the Delivery Partners and other relevant bodies are committed to protecting and respecting your personal data. This Privacy Notice explains how we use information about you and how we protect your privacy when your personal and special category data for the purposes of the Connect to Work Programme.

If you have any concerns or questions about how we look after your personal and special category data, please contact your CTW Employment Specialist, who will be able to provide you with detailed information, address your concerns, and ensure that any queries are handled in accordance with applicable data protection legislation.

Please note, this Privacy Notice was last updated in May 2025.

Your personal data

Personal data is anything that directly or indirectly identifies and relates to a living person, such as a name, address, telephone number, date of birth, your gender, age, how the application was made etc.

All personal data collected will be evaluated periodically and only kept as long as necessary or in line with legal requirements.

We collect information about you as provided to us and note that you may be asked to provide the following:

  • Name.
  • Date of Birth.
  • National insurance number.
  • Contact details (email address, postal address, telephone number.)
  • Gender.
  • Employment status.
  • Residency status.

In addition to this some information is considered ‘special category data and needs more protection due to its sensitivity. This includes any information about an identifiable individual that can reveal their sexuality and sexual health, religious or philosophical beliefs, racial origin, ethnicity, physical or mental health, trade union membership, political opinion, genetic/biometric data.

As part of this activity, we may process special category data in relation to the following:

  • Details concerning your health.

Why do we need your personal data?

We will collect and process the above data about you:

  • For the purposes of administration in respect of your participation with the Connect to Work programme.
  • To communication with you.
  • To undertake reporting and research in relation to how well the Connect to Work programmes work.
  • To determine your eligibility and suitability requirements to participate in the Connect to Work programme.
  • To ensure that the serviced delivered meet your need and are of the highest standards.
  • To support you with the management of health via an Integrated Care System to improve your health and wellbeing;
  • To better identify the support, you may require for the achievement of the Connect to Work outcomes.
  • To monitor your outcomes achieved as a result of the participation in the Connect to Work programme.
  • To undertake analysis and evaluation related to employment support for Connect to Work participants.
  • To support you into employment, by sending your CV/ application forms via email to necessary recipients, including employees.
  • To enable you to access the UK Government Funds.

How the law allows us to use your personal data

There are several legal reasons why we will need to collect and use your personal data in different circumstances.

Generally, we collect and use personal data where:

  • We have your consent.
  • It is necessary for the purposes of a public task carried out in the public interest.

Consent

If we have consent to use your personal data for any particular reason, you have the right to remove your consent at any time.

If you want to remove your consent, please contact your Connect to Work Employment Specialist to tell them about the personal data being used and where it is being used or the department using this data, so they can respond to your request.

Your rights regarding your personal data

The law gives you a number of rights in relation to what personal and special category data is used by the Connect to Work programme, and how it is used, and these rights are listed below.

Your rights

You have the right to ask us not to process your personal data for marketing purposes. We will usually inform you (before collecting your data) if we intend to use your data for such purposes or if we intend to disclose your personal data to any third party for such purposes. You can exercise your rights to prevent such processing by checking certain boxes on the forms we use to collect your data. You can also exercise the right at any time by contacting your Connect to Work Employment Specialist.

You are prohibited from posting or transmitting via this website any unlawful, defamatory, obscene, offensive or scandalous material, or any material that constitutes or encourages conduct that would be considered a criminal offence, likely to give rise to civil liability, or otherwise violates any law. We will fully co-operate with any law enforcement authorities or court order lawfully requesting or directing us to disclose the identity of anyone posting any such information or materials on this website.

 

Right to be informed (Articles 12, 13, 14)

This right applies. Individuals will be provided with Participant Information Sheets detailing how their data will be processed, the purposes for processing their data, who their data will be shared with, how long their data will be retained for, and their data subject rights.

Individuals will also have the opportunity to ask questions about how their data will be processed before deciding to join Connect to Work and when they are invited to participate in any surveys or interviews for the evaluation of Connect to Work.

Right of access (Article 15)

Right applies. CTW Delivery Partners and DWP have existing arrangements in place which provide individuals with access to the data that will be shared and processed under this Agreement. However, this right will not apply to de-identified data as it will not be possible to re-identify an individual within the dataset.

Right to rectification (Article 16)

Individuals have the right to have inaccurate or incorrect personal data rectified. However, this right will not apply to de-identified data as it will not be possible to re-identify an individual within the dataset.

Right to erasure (Article 17)

For personal data processed by DWP, this right does not apply because the processing is being carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the Controller (GDPR Article 17(3)(b)).

If the ICB uses Public Task, because the processing of the data is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority, this right will not apply (GDPR Article 17(3)(b)).

Right to restrict of processing (Article 18)

Individuals have the right to obtain a restriction of the processing of their personal data. However, this right will not apply to de-identified data as it will not be possible to re-identify an individual within the dataset.

Right to data portability (Article 20)

If the Accountable Body uses Consent:

  • This right applies to personal data processed by Connect to Work Delivery Partners because the lawful basis used to process this data is Consent.
  • For personal data processed by DWP, this right does not apply because the processing is being carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the Controller (GDPR Article 20(3)).

If the Accountable Body uses Public Task:

  • This right does not apply because the processing is being carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the Controller (GDPR Article 20(3).
  • This right does not apply to data held by DWP who are processing data for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest and in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller.

Right to object (Article 21)

If this request is in relation to personal data held by the Partners Right applies. However, this right will not apply to de-identified data as it will not be possible to re-identify an individual within the dataset.

Rights in relation to automated decision-making, including profiling (Article 22)

The need for suitable safeguards does not arise because this processing does not involve automated individual decision making, including profiling, as defined in Article 22 of GDPR.

 

Who do we share your personal data with?

Local London and the CTW Delivery Partners may share your personal and special category data with DWP, DWP Evaluation Team and other bodies as permitted by law to ensure that CTW programmes is being delivered appropriately.

Local London will use other organisations to either store personal data or use it to help deliver our services to you. Where we have these arrangements, there is always an agreement in place to make sure that the organisation complies with data protection law.

Sometimes we have a legal duty to provide personal data to other organisations.

We may also share your personal data when we consider/believe that there is a good reason to do so, which is more important than protecting your privacy. This doesn’t happen often, but in these circumstances, we may share your personal data:

  • to find and stop crime and fraud; or
  • if there are serious risks to the public, our staff or to other professionals;
  • to protect a child; or
  • to protect adults who are thought to be at risk, for example if they are frail, confused or cannot understand what is happening to them.

For all these reasons, the risk must be serious before we can override your right to privacy.

If we are worried about your physical safety or feel we need to take action to protect you from being harmed in other ways, we will discuss this with you and, if possible, get your permission to tell others about your situation before doing so.

We may still share your personal data if we believe the risk to others is serious enough to do so.

If this is the case, we will make sure that we record what personal data we share and our reasons for doing so. We will let you know what we have done and why, if we think it is safe to do so.

In addition to the above, we note that your personal and special category data may be shared with your employers, education providers, or other relevant third-party organisations to gather personal and special category data regarding your eligibility or your employment achievements within the programme, this may involve providing your name and national insurance number,

Furthermore, the delivery partner named on this from Local London, DWP, and other relevant bodies may share your personal data to enable them to access the UK Government Funds or for the research and evaluation of the programme.

How do we protect your personal data?

Local London is committed to ensure that information is protected together with IT systems, equipment and processes which support its use, demonstrating appropriate level of security, for example ISO/IEC27001 standard.

We have a legal duty to make sure we hold your personal data (on paper and electronically) in a secure way, and to only make it available to those who have a right to see them. Examples of our security include:

  • Encryption, meaning that personal data is hidden so that it cannot be read without special knowledge (such as a password).
  • Controlling access to systems and networks allows us to stop people who are not allowed to view your personal data from getting access to it.
  • Training for our staff allows us to make them aware of how to handle personal data, and how and when to report when something goes wrong.
  • Routine audits and monitoring to detect and prevent unauthorised access.
  • Automatic log-out from systems after periods of inactivity.
  • Disposing of data securely when no longer needed, e.g., through certified shredding or data deletion services.

Where we store your personal data

The data that we collect from you will be held within the UK. For the purpose of CTW programme, no data processing will take place from third countries.

All data held and processed within the UK will be processed by staff who work in partnership with us or for one of our Delivery Partners or other relevant government bodies as permitted by law.

By submitting your personal data, you agree to this transfer, storing or processing. We will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your data is treated securely and in accordance with this privacy policy.

Unfortunately, the transmission of personal data via the internet is not completely secure. Although we will do our best to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to Our Sites; any transmission is at your own risk. Once we have received your personal data, we will use strict procedures and security features to try to prevent unauthorised access.

How long do we keep your personal data?

All personal data collected will be evaluated periodically and only kept as long as necessary or in line with legal requirements.

Your personal data will be retained until 30th June 2032.

Seeking independent advice

For independent advice about data protection, privacy and data sharing issues, you can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at:

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

0303 123 1113 (local rate) 01625 545745 (national rate number) Information Commissioner’s Office website

DWP Personal Information Charter

To find out more about how DWP will use information, please read the DWP personal Information Charter: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-work-pensions/about/personal-information-charter or contact any DWP office.

This Charter includes the process to make requests in accordance with your data subject rights.