Privacy notice for DWP Labour Market Evidence Programme

In line with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), in this privacy notice for research participants, we explain the legal basis for data processing for the Labour Market Evidence Programme. This includes who will have access to your personal data, how your data will be used, stored, and deleted and who you can contact if you have a query or a complaint.

What is the legal basis for processing my data?

This Labour Market Evidence Programme, a new initiative designed to strengthen the evidence base that informs labour market policy and practice, is being carried out by the Institute for Employment Studies (IES) and Learning and Work Institute (L&W), referred to as ‘the research team’, who have received funding from Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to undertake this work. The aim of the programme is to deliver evidence reviews and practical resources to support policymakers within local government and health services to better understand what works in supporting improved labour market outcomes for out-of-work and in-work individuals.

DWP is the data controller for this project. This means they are responsible for the purposes and means of processing personal data. IES and L&W are data processors, acting on behalf of the controller. For this project, the legal basis for processing your data is ‘Public Task’. All participants will be informed, either in writing or verbally, of the purpose of the research consultation and how their data will be used.

Any consent that you give to take part in this research consultation is voluntary and can be withdrawn at any time up to the end of the project (April 2027).

Who will have access to my personal information?

DWP will share relevant stakeholder contact details (such as policy staff within local authorities and health services) with the research team, which will only be used for research consultations within this project. DWP will provide the following data:

Name
Job role
Organisation name
Email address

Data will be transferred securely from DWP to the research team and will be stored in a secure folder on a server that can only be accessed by the research team.

What will happen to my information?

We will use the data to invite stakeholder contacts to take part in consultation activities. Activities might include interviews, workshops, or User Panels. The information you provide as part of User Consultation activities will be used for these purposes only.

Consultation activities may inform reports and other project outputs. Some outputs will summarise the main findings from interviews or workshops. We will make every reasonable effort to preserve your anonymity when using or reporting the information you provide. For example, we will not name any of the organisations we speak to or use the names of individuals or specific job titles when we report the findings from the research. However, there are some limits to anonymity. These limits will be discussed with you at the start of any research activity you participate in. For any information that you share that could identify you, specific consent will be sought from you before we use it any outputs.

The research team will process your data in accordance with data protection law which includes keeping it secure and only using it where there is a fair and lawful basis to do so.

We will securely delete all your data three months after the end of the project. The project is due to end in April 2027.

What say do I have in this?

Under the GDPR you have several rights as an individual, even after you have given information and consented to it being used for research consultation purposes.

You have the right to:

Withdraw your consent at any time without giving a reason. If you do withdraw, we will still use the information you have provided to help with research and analysis. However, you will not be asked to provide any more information or be contacted again by the research team.
Request that any personal information that you gave as part of the research consultation is deleted.
Request access to the personal information that is held about you.

You can read more about the rights granted to you under GDPR here: https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/individual-rights/.

Who can I contact for further information, if I want to make a complaint or to exercise my rights?

If you have any further questions about how your data will be used or would like to withdraw from the study, then please contact lorraine.lanceley@employment-studies.co.uk or mags.bexon@learningandwork.org.uk