Privacy Notice

How ADA Recruitment & Talent uses and protects personal information. Last updated: 30 September 2026

1. Who we are

ADA Recruitment & Talent is the trading name of Alison Dutton Associates Ltd, a recruitment business providing permanent, fixed-term and temporary recruitment and work-finding services.

Alison Dutton Associates Ltd is the controller of the personal information described in this notice. This means we decide why and how that information is used.

Company number: 17427722
Registered office: 2 Lawrence Court, Fillongley, Coventry CV7 8FB
Privacy enquiries: hello@weareada.co.uk
Website: weareada.co.uk

2. Who this notice applies to

This notice applies to people whose personal information we use in connection with ADA, including:

• candidates, applicants, work-seekers and temporary workers;
• client contacts, hiring managers and other contacts at organisations we work with;
• prospective client and business-development contacts; and
• supplier, adviser and other professional business contacts.

3. Personal information we may collect

Candidates and work-seekers
Depending on your relationship with ADA and the services we provide, we may collect and use:

• your name, address or location, email address, telephone number and LinkedIn or other professional profile details;
• your CV, employment history, skills, experience, qualifications, training and professional authorisations;
• salary or rate information, notice period, availability and the type of work you are looking for;
• role, location, travel, working-pattern and flexibility preferences;
• notes from conversations, screening and registration meetings;
• applications, opportunities discussed, candidate submissions, interviews, offers, placements and related correspondence;
• work-seeker terms or agreements and records we are required to keep as a recruitment business;
• right-to-work status and, where appropriate and necessary, identity or right-to-work evidence; and
• for temporary work, additional information needed for onboarding, payroll, assignment administration and compliance.

We do not routinely seek sensitive information that is not needed. However, you may choose to provide information such as health or reasonable-adjustment information, or we may need particular information for a role or legal requirement. Where we use special category or criminal offence information, we will only do so where it is necessary and where an additional legal condition allows us to do so.

Clients, prospects and other business contacts
We may collect and use your name, job title, employer or organisation, business contact details, professional profile information, correspondence, meeting and call notes, recruitment requirements, vacancies, commercial relationship information, recruitment history, relevant publicly available business information and follow-up activity.

4. Where we get personal information from

We may receive information directly from you when you contact ADA, apply for a role, register interest, complete a form, attend a meeting, enter into an agreement with us or communicate with us.

We may also obtain information from other sources where appropriate, including:

• job boards, professional networking platforms and other recruitment sources;
• company websites and other publicly accessible business sources;
• referrals and recommendations;
• clients, candidates and other business contacts;
• previous professional relationships; and
• reputable business-data or research services that we may use from time to time.

Where we obtain your personal information from another source, we will provide privacy information as required by data protection law, including when we first communicate with you where that is the applicable deadline.

5. How and why we use personal information

Recruitment and work-finding services
We use candidate and work-seeker information to understand your experience and requirements, assess suitability for opportunities, provide work-finding services, discuss roles, represent you to clients where agreed, arrange interviews, manage offers and placements, maintain our relationship with you, and meet recruitment-sector legal and regulatory requirements.

ADA's normal approach is to discuss an opportunity with you before knowingly submitting your CV or representing you to a client for that opportunity.

Client services
We use client contact information to understand recruitment requirements, qualify vacancies, provide recruitment services, introduce suitable candidates, arrange interviews, manage offers and placements, administer terms and commercial arrangements, maintain client relationships and keep appropriate business records.

Business development
We use relevant business-contact information to identify organisations that may benefit from ADA's recruitment services, identify appropriate recruitment decision-makers, introduce ADA, understand recruitment needs and develop professional business relationships.

Our business development is intended to be relevant and proportionate. If you tell us that you do not want to receive direct marketing from ADA, we will stop using your personal information for that purpose and may retain limited details on a suppression record so that we can respect your preference in future.

Running and protecting ADA
We may also use personal information to administer our business, maintain records, manage suppliers and professional advisers, protect our systems and information, establish or defend legal claims, prevent misuse or fraud, and comply with legal, regulatory, tax and accounting obligations.

6. Our lawful bases

Under UK data protection law, ADA must have a lawful basis for each use of personal information. The bases we are most likely to rely on are:

Contract or steps before a contract: where using information is necessary to provide requested recruitment or work-finding services, or to enter into or manage an agreement with you.

Legitimate interests: where it is necessary for ADA's legitimate business interests or those of another party, and those interests are not overridden by your rights. This may include operating and improving our recruitment services, maintaining professional relationships, matching candidates and opportunities, protecting our business, and relevant and proportionate B2B business development.

Legal obligation: where we need to use or retain information to comply with laws and regulations applying to ADA as a recruitment business or company.

Consent: where consent is the appropriate legal basis and we specifically ask for it. Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time.

Where legitimate interests is used for direct marketing or business development, ADA considers the purpose, necessity and impact of the processing and respects the individual's right to object.

7. Special category and criminal offence information

Some personal information receives additional protection under data protection law. This includes, for example, information about health, ethnicity, religion, trade-union membership or sexual orientation. Criminal offence information is also subject to additional safeguards.

ADA will only collect or use this type of information where it is genuinely necessary for the relevant purpose and where both a lawful basis and the additional condition required by law apply. This may include information needed to support reasonable adjustments, meet employment or recruitment obligations, establish or defend legal claims, or complete checks that are lawfully required for a particular role. We will not ask for criminal offence information as a routine part of every candidate registration.

8. Who we may share personal information with

Where necessary and appropriate, we may share personal information with:

• clients and prospective employers in connection with recruitment opportunities and placements;
• candidates and work-seekers where client-contact or vacancy information is needed to manage a recruitment process;
• recruitment technology, IT, cloud, communications, website and document-signing providers that support ADA;
• temporary-worker payroll, funding, back-office or compliance providers where relevant to an assignment;
• accountants, solicitors, insurers and other professional advisers;
• government, tax, regulatory, law-enforcement or other public authorities where we are legally required or permitted to do so; and
• other parties where necessary to establish, exercise or defend legal rights.

We expect service providers processing personal information on ADA's behalf to protect it and use it only for the agreed purposes.

9. International transfers

Some technology and service providers used by ADA may process or store personal information outside the UK. Where personal information is transferred internationally, we will take steps required by UK data protection law to ensure an appropriate level of protection, such as using an applicable adequacy regulation or approved contractual safeguards where required.

10. How long we keep personal information

We keep personal information only for as long as it is reasonably needed for the purpose for which it was collected, to provide our services, maintain appropriate business records, meet legal or regulatory requirements, resolve disputes or establish or defend legal claims.

Recruitment agencies and employment businesses are required to retain certain records relating to work-seekers and hirers for minimum periods. Where those requirements apply, ADA will retain the relevant records for at least the required period.

Retention periods can differ depending on the type of information and our relationship with you. We consider the nature and sensitivity of the information, why it is needed, legal requirements and whether the purpose can be achieved without continuing to retain it. We periodically review information and delete or anonymise it when it is no longer required.

11. Your data protection rights

Depending on the circumstances and the lawful basis being used, you may have the right to:

• ask for access to the personal information we hold about you;
• ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information;
• ask us to erase your personal information in certain circumstances;
• ask us to restrict how we use your information in certain circumstances;
• object to certain processing, including processing based on legitimate interests;
• receive or transfer certain information in a portable format where the right applies; and
• withdraw consent at any time where we rely on consent.

Your right to object to direct marketing: you have an absolute right to object to the use of your personal information for direct marketing. If you ask ADA to stop using your personal information for direct marketing, we will do so.

To exercise your rights, contact us using the privacy contact details in section 1. We may need to confirm your identity before acting on a request.

12. Automated decision-making

ADA does not currently make decisions about candidates, work-seekers, clients or prospects solely by automated means where those decisions have legal or similarly significant effects. Technology may support research, administration or recruitment activity, but ADA retains human judgement in its recruitment and commercial decisions.

13. Keeping information secure

We take appropriate organisational and technical measures to protect personal information against unauthorised access, loss, misuse, alteration or disclosure. Access to personal information is limited to people and service providers who need it for legitimate business purposes.

14. Complaints

If you have concerns about how ADA uses your personal information, please contact us first using the privacy contact details in section 1 so that we can try to resolve the issue.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's data protection regulator. Information about making a complaint is available at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint, or you can telephone the ICO helpline on 0303 123 1113.

15. Changes to this notice

We may update this Privacy Notice from time to time to reflect changes in our services, systems, suppliers or legal requirements. The latest version will be published on the ADA website and the 'last updated' date will be revised.