Research into DWP’s Youth Offer: Privacy Information Notice

How We Protect Your Data

This Privacy Information Notice tells you more about how your data will be used and stored.

Data protection legislation and personal data

Data protection legislation determines how, when, and why any organisation can process personal data. ‘Personal data’ means any information which can identify someone. ‘Processing’ means any actions performed on personal data, including: collection, storage, alteration or deletion. These laws exist to ensure that your data are managed safely and used responsibly. They also provide you with certain rights in respect of your data and creates a responsibility on the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and the research organisation it works with to provide you with certain information.

This privacy notice sets out the legal basis for processing data in relation to this research project, which has been commissioned by DWP and is being conducted on their behalf by the Institute for Employment Studies (IES) and Ipsos. This includes who will have access to your personal data, how your data will be used, stored and deleted, your legal rights and who you can contact with a query or a complaint.

The legal basis for processing personal data

The legal basis under which DWP and its contractors process personal data and ‘special category data’, such as information about your health and well-being, racial or ethnic origin, is to fulfil DWP’s public authority duty and for research that is in the public interest. The legal basis for this research is therefore public task.

This legal justification applies to this research project, which is examining how the youth employment support measures are working in different local contexts. The study will involve research in a selection of areas across the UK, involving in-depth interviews with partner organisations, Universal Credit (UC) claimants, and young people not claiming UC but engaging with a Youth Hub.

To arrange telephone interviews with claimants, your name and contact details (phone number, address, and email address) have been shared with the IES and Ipsos research teams by DWP. This data will not be collected for interviews held in-person in DWP Youth Hubs. This personal information will only be processed for the purposes of completing this research, under the direction of DWP.

Participation in the research is completely voluntary – just because you are contacted, does not mean that you have to take part and you can decline the invitation without having to give a reason.

Your personal data collected in this research project will only be used for research. IES and Ipsos will treat the data they hold with respect, keeping them secure and confidential. In conducting this research on behalf of DWP, IES and Ipsos are required to comply with Data Protection legislation and may only process your personal information under the direction of DWP and for DWP purposes only.

Who will have access to my personal data?

For telephone interviews, your contact details will be stored on an encrypted server, with access restricted solely to members of IES’ and Ipsos’ research teams. Even after these contact details have been shared with the research team, you are still free to withdraw from the research and can decline to take part in an interview without having to give a reason.

If you agree to take part in a research interview, any information you provide will be summarised in an anonymised format – this means we will remove any information that could be used to identify you.

How will my data be treated?

If you are invited and choose to take part in an interview, the information you give will only be used for the purposes of this study. This research findings will be shared with officials within DWP. It will directly inform DWP’s delivery of its Youth Offer to ensure decisions are made using insight and feedback provided by those involved in its delivery. Your input will be very useful in making the DWP’s Youth Offer better meet the needs of young people looking for work.

Individuals will not be named in the findings we will share with DWP, nor will any information be included that could reveal their identity.

The period for which personal data will be stored

Data protection law requires that personal data are kept for no longer than is necessary. We only continue to hold personal data where they are still used to carry out research in the public interest.  We will anonymise the information you provide as soon as we practically can (i.e. within 2 weeks of the interview date). The personal data we may have used to contact you, as well as the audio files from interview recordings, will be securely deleted from the IES and Ipsos systems after this study is complete (currently estimated to be October 2022). All transcripts, handwritten notes taken during interviews, and anonymised notes from all interviews in relation to this work will be securely deleted from the IES and Ipsos systems by January 2023. Anonymised interview notes will be sent to DWP for use in future research on DWP’s Youth Offer.

Your rights

You have rights under data protection law to make the following requests for the personal data held about you that is being processed for this research, including:

■    To request access to this data

■    To amend any incorrect or inaccurate information

■    To restrict or object to your data being processed

■    To destroy this data

■    To move, copy or transfer your data.

You have the right to withdraw the information you have provided as part of the interviews up to 2 weeks after the interview date. After this point the information will have been anonymised and will no longer be treated as personal data.

If you wish to discuss these rights, have any concerns, or want to make any requests about your personal data please contact the IES research team at 01273 763 400 and giving the reference ’Youth Offer research’.  Or you can contact Rosie Gloster at IES by emailing rosie.gloster@employment-studies.co.uk

Who can I contact if I would like to withdraw my interview data?

If you have taken part in an interview but would like your data withdrawn, please contact: rosie.gloster@employment-studies.co.uk.

Who can I contact with a query about how my data will be used?

If you have any questions about how your data will be used, please contact Rosie Gloster, Project Manager at IES: rosie.gloster@employment-studies.co.uk.

Further information on the rights available to you is also available from the Information Commissioner’s Office – the independent body responsible for regulating data protection within the UK. They can also deal with any complaints you may have regarding our use of your data:

■    Tel: 0303 123 1113

■    Email: casework@ico.org.uk

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