Privacy Notice for Workers and Applicants

When you register with Merriwood, we need some personal information to check you can work, find you shifts and pay you. Here's what we do with it, in plain English.

What we ask for, and why

Your contact details and address, to send you work near you and get in touch about shifts.
Your passport, ID or share code, because the law says we must check your right to work before your first shift.
Your DBS check, for care work and some cleaning work, to keep the people you support safe. We note the certificate number, date and result. We don't keep a copy of the certificate.
References and work history, including why you left any job working with vulnerable people, because care providers must see this before you work for them.
Training certificates, to show you're trained for the work.
Your National Insurance number and date of birth, to pay you through payroll and pay your tax.
An emergency contact, in case something happens to you at work.
Your gender, because some clients need a carer of the same gender for personal care, such as help with washing or dressing. We use it only to match you to that kind of work, and you can choose Prefer not to say.
A photo of your face, so the people you visit and our office can recognise you at the door. Clients you're booked with see it on your profile.

We hold these because the law requires us to, or because we need them to give you work. We don't rely on your consent for them. That means you can't opt out of a right to work check and still work through us.

When you're working

When you clock in and out, the app checks your phone is at the client's address, and records the time and your checklist answers. It doesn't track you at any other time. Clients see when you arrived and left and which tasks were done, so everyone has the same record. Notes and photos you add to a visit are kept with that visit's record and shared with our office and that client.

Who sees your information

Our office team, to check your papers and book you.
Clients you're booked with: your name, photo, role, experience and the checks completed. Not your ID documents or DBS details.
Organisations involved in checks and pay: the DBS umbrella body, the Home Office checking service, our payroll provider, HMRC and the pension provider.
The authorities, only where the law requires it, for example if there's a safeguarding concern.

Messages from us

Shift details, reminders and changes to your bookings are part of working with us. Job alerts and our weekly jobs email are optional. You choose them when you register, and you can stop them any time by replying STOP or changing your settings.

How long we keep it

If we don't take your application forward: 6 months.
If you register but never work a shift: 2 years without activity, then deleted.
Once you've worked with us: 6 years after your last shift, because of tax and pay laws.

Your rights

You can ask to see your information, correct it, or ask us to delete it, unless the law says we must keep it. Contact office@merriwood.example. If you're unhappy, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk.