Privacy notices: Law, Governance and insurance

Privacy Notice for individuals employed at elections or referendums and for electoral registration activities.

The Returning Officer is responsible for the administration of elections and referendums. In order to deliver this service and fulfil their statutory responsibilities in respect of these functions, the Returning Officer is required to employ individuals as election staff to work at polling stations, at the counting and postal vote processes and for other specified duties. Electoral Services facilitates the recruitment process on behalf of the Returning Officer.

Staff are also employed by Electoral Services to assist in the compilation and maintenance of the Register of Electors. Electoral registration canvassers are employed at certain periods of the year to assist residents in registering to vote.

In order to fill elections and canvasser vacancies, Electoral Services advertises the positions and interested individuals consequently apply. When applying for a canvasser or election position, Electoral Services collect information about applicants in order to determine whether the individual would be suitable for a position.

The following personal information is required as part of the application process:

• The applicant’s full name, address, date of birth, national insurance number, contact telephone number and email address.
• Confirmation of eligibility to work in the UK.
• Confirmation of access to personal transport.
• History of experience working at elections.
• History of previous criminal convictions.
• History of election campaigning on behalf of a candidate or party.

Where an offer of employment is made, Electoral Services is required to collect the following additional personal information, such as:

• The individual’s bank account details including, bank name and address, sort code, account number, name of account.
• Employee statement regarding tax arrangements.
• Proof of eligibility to work in the UK.

Lawful basis for processing information

General Data Protection Regulation Article 6(1)(b) – processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which the data subject is party or in order to take steps at the request of the data subject prior to entering into a contract. 
General Data Protection Regulation Article 6(1)(e) – processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller.  

What is the information used for

Personal information is collected so that Electoral Services can ensure staff are employed in accordance with legal requirements and are then duly paid for carrying out their election/canvasser duties. The data is then stored so that the staff can be contacted about forthcoming / future events to see if they are interested in working again for the Returning Officer or Electoral Registration Officer. The lawful basis for employing individuals to work on elections/canvasses is to facilitate the process whereby the Returning Officer/Electoral Registration Officer fulfils their statutory duties as outlined in the Representation of the People Act 1983, Local Government Act 1972 and Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013. 

Occasions when information needs to be shared include:

• The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead’s HR/Payroll department. The council’s payroll department facilitates the payment of staff on behalf of the Returning Officer.
• Democracy Counts, the electoral management software (EMS) supplier. The EMS supplier provides an online polling station staff training programme. The supplier requires polling station staff’s names and email addresses. Staff’s personal details are held in the electoral management database. The software supplier may be able to access these records when assisting with technical support calls in relation to the administration of the database.
• Modern Polling, the supplier of our polling station tablet solution, This supplier provides an online polling station staff training programme.
• The Association of Electoral Administrators, a supplier of online polling station staff training.
  Thames Valley Police. For high profile electoral events, the police may need to perform background checks on the individuals we have employed to work at an election for security purposes.
• The Election Claims Unit at Cabinet Office. For national polls, spending is reimbursed by central government and the Returning Officer is required to submit their election accounts to Cabinet Office for accountability purposes. Details of payments made to election staff and personal data collected to pay staff via our payroll (such as bank details and national insurance numbers) are sometimes required as part of this process and are submitted to Cabinet Office as for audit purposes.
• Colleagues working in or with polling stations, eg: poll clerk details with any presiding officers within the same venue and the polling station inspector, presiding officers with the other presiding officer if it is a double station and the polling station inspectors, polling station inspectors with the presiding officers in their rounds and the other inspectors.

How long do we store the personal information

Election staff’s personal details are kept by Electoral Services for as long as the individual consents to their details being retained for the recruitment to staffing positions for future elections or annual canvasses. Where you have worked on a national poll, we are required to retain your personal details for audit purposes until the election accounts have been settled by central government. This process can take up to two years after the date of poll.

If you wish to have your details removed from the Electoral Services staff database then you should send an email to election.staff@rbwm.gov.uk requesting that your details are removed. This will mean that we will be unable to employ you in the future as all appointments are made by email and an email is required to setup and distribute various elements of the polling station online training.

Further information

If you would like to know more about how we use your information or you would like to inform us of a change to your contact details, please contact us using the details below:

Electoral Services,
Town Hall, St Ives Road, Maidenhead, SL6 1RF.
election.staff@rbwm.gov.uk  
01628 796306