Privacy Policy
Last updated: September 2026
01. About this Privacy Policy
StackSource Ltd (“StackSource”, “we”, “us” or “our”) is committed to protecting your privacy and handling your personal information responsibly, securely and transparently.
This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store and share personal information when providing our recruitment and related services. It also explains your rights under applicable data protection legislation, including the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.
StackSource provides specialist technology recruitment services to candidates and organisations, including permanent recruitment, contract recruitment, search and other recruitment solutions.
In providing these services, we may process personal information relating to candidates, contractors, clients, prospective clients, referees, suppliers and other professional contacts.
For the purposes of applicable data protection legislation, StackSource Ltd is the data controller responsible for the personal information described in this Privacy Policy.
You can contact us about privacy or data protection matters at:
StackSource Ltd
Email: info@stacksource.io
02. Candidates and Individuals Seeking Work
This section applies if you are a candidate, contractor, prospective candidate, applicant or otherwise use our recruitment services.
Personal information we may collect
Depending on our relationship with you and the services being provided, we may collect and process information including:
- Your name
- Address
- Email address
- Telephone number and other contact details
- Employment and career history
- Your CV and information contained within it
- Education, qualifications, professional certifications and skills
- Salary, day rate and other remuneration information
- Job preferences and availability
- Location and working preferences
- Information about your experience and suitability for particular roles
- Information obtained during interviews, screening or assessments
- Right-to-work, visa and immigration information
- Identification information and documents where required
- References and referee contact information
- Information obtained through pre-employment or background checks where appropriate
- National Insurance, tax, payroll and banking information where required for an engagement
- Communications between you and StackSource
- Notes made during or following telephone calls, video calls, interviews and meetings
- Information you choose to provide to us
- Special category personal data where necessary and permitted by law
We aim to collect only the information reasonably necessary to provide our recruitment services and meet our legal, contractual and regulatory obligations.
Where we obtain your information
We may receive personal information directly from you or obtain it from other sources.
These sources may include:
- CVs, applications and registration information provided by you
- Job boards and recruitment platforms
- LinkedIn and other professional networking platforms
- Publicly available professional information
- Clients and prospective employers
- Referees
- Previous employers
- Other candidates and professional contacts
- Recruitment databases and services to which we subscribe
- Our website
- Telephone, video and face-to-face conversations
- Events and professional networking activity
Where we obtain your information from another source, we will handle it in accordance with applicable data protection legislation.
03. How We Use Candidate Information
We may use your personal information to:
- Provide recruitment services to you
- Identify employment and contract opportunities that may be relevant to you
- Contact you about potential opportunities
- Understand your experience, skills and career preferences
- Assess your suitability for particular roles
- Conduct candidate screening and assessments
- Prepare candidate profiles, summaries and assessments
- Introduce you to prospective employers or clients
- Arrange and manage interviews
- Communicate feedback relating to recruitment processes
- Obtain references where appropriate
- Undertake appropriate pre-employment or background checks
- Verify your identity and right to work where required
- Manage contract assignments or engagements
- Administer timesheets, payments or payroll where applicable
- Communicate with you throughout a recruitment process
- Maintain records of our relationship and interactions with you
- Improve the quality and effectiveness of our recruitment services
- Understand recruitment markets and trends
- Meet our contractual, legal and regulatory obligations
- Establish, exercise or defend legal claims
- Protect the security and integrity of our systems
- Maintain appropriate business and system backups
- Provide relevant information about StackSource and our services
We may also retain information about your experience, skills and career preferences so that we can contact you about relevant opportunities in the future.
04. Candidate Assessments
As part of our recruitment services, StackSource may assess candidates beyond the information contained in a CV.
Depending on the role, this may involve interviews, screening, technical or professional assessments and discussions with appropriately experienced specialists.
Information produced during these activities may include:
- Assessment notes
- Interview notes
- Information about relevant technical or professional skills
- Evidence of experience
- Observations relating to suitability for a particular role
- Candidate summaries or profiles
- Information relating to the requirements of a particular client or vacancy
We may use this information to assess your suitability for opportunities and, where appropriate, provide relevant information to clients considering you for a role.
Assessments are intended to support recruitment decisions and do not guarantee employment, engagement or selection by a client.
05. Our Lawful Bases for Processing
We must have a lawful basis for processing your personal information.
The lawful basis we rely upon will depend on why we are processing the information and our relationship with you.
Contract
We may process personal information where it is necessary to take steps at your request before entering into a contract or to perform a contract with you.
For example, where you undertake a contract assignment through StackSource, we may need to process information necessary to establish and administer that engagement.
Legal obligations
We may process personal information where necessary to comply with legal or regulatory obligations.
These may include obligations relating to:
- Recruitment and employment legislation
- Right-to-work requirements
- Tax and payroll
- HMRC requirements
- Record keeping
- Fraud and crime prevention
- Data protection
- Regulatory authorities
Where applicable, this may include requirements arising from the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003 and other legislation governing recruitment businesses.
Legitimate interests
We may process personal information where it is necessary for the legitimate interests of StackSource or a third party, provided those interests are not overridden by your rights and interests.
Our legitimate interests may include:
- Operating and developing our recruitment business
- Identifying potential candidates
- Contacting potential candidates about relevant opportunities
- Matching candidates with appropriate vacancies and assignments
- Assessing candidate experience and suitability
- Providing recruitment services to candidates and clients
- Identifying prospective clients and recruitment requirements
- Maintaining relationships with candidates and clients
- Understanding recruitment markets and trends
- Maintaining accurate business records
- Improving the quality of our services
- Protecting our business, systems and information
- Preventing fraud and misuse of our services
- Establishing, exercising or defending legal claims
- Maintaining appropriate records of our recruitment activities
Where we rely on legitimate interests, we consider those interests against the potential impact on your rights and freedoms.
Consent
In some circumstances, we may ask for your consent to process information for a specific purpose.
Where our processing relies on your consent, you may withdraw that consent at any time by contacting us.
Withdrawal of consent does not affect the lawfulness of processing that took place before consent was withdrawn.
06. Information Obtained from Third Parties
Recruitment involves identifying people who may be suitable for employment or contract opportunities.
We may therefore obtain professional information about potential candidates from third-party sources.
These may include:
- Job boards
- Professional networking platforms
- Recruitment databases
- Publicly available sources
- Clients
- Referees
- Previous employers
- Professional contacts
For example, we may identify your professional profile or CV through a recruitment platform and contact you where we reasonably believe that an opportunity may be relevant to your experience.
Where information obtained from another source is not relevant to our recruitment activities, we will not retain it unnecessarily.
If you tell us that you do not wish to be contacted about recruitment opportunities, we may retain limited information necessary to record and respect that preference.
07. Special Category Personal Data
Certain types of personal information receive additional protection under data protection law and are known as special category personal data.
This can include information concerning:
- Health
- Race or ethnic origin
- Religious or philosophical beliefs
- Political opinions
- Trade union membership
- Genetic information
- Biometric information used for identification
- Sex life
- Sexual orientation
StackSource does not generally require this information when assessing candidates and asks that you do not provide special category information unless it is relevant or necessary.
There may, however, be circumstances where information such as health or disability information is provided to us, for example where reasonable adjustments are required during a recruitment process.
Where we need to process special category personal information, we will only do so where permitted by applicable data protection law and where an appropriate additional condition for processing applies.
This may include circumstances involving employment law obligations, establishing or defending legal claims, or explicit consent where appropriate.
08. Criminal Conviction and Offence Information
Some roles may require criminal record or background checks.
Where StackSource processes information relating to criminal convictions or offences, we will only do so where we have an appropriate lawful basis and where processing is authorised by applicable law.
Where a criminal record check is required, we may use an appropriate third-party screening provider or work with the relevant client to facilitate the check.
We will only process this information where it is relevant and necessary for the role or engagement concerned.
09. Clients, Hiring Managers and Business Contacts
This section applies where you work for, represent or are associated with an organisation with which StackSource has, has had, or may have a business relationship.
Information we may collect
We may collect:
- Your name
- Job title
- Employer or organisation
- Business email address
- Business telephone number
- Professional profile information
- Information about recruitment requirements
- Information about vacancies and assignments
- Communications between you and StackSource
- Information relating to our commercial relationship with you or your organisation
- Feedback or opinions you provide regarding candidates
- References you provide
- Records and notes from meetings and conversations
- Marketing and communication preferences
We may obtain this information directly from you or from:
- Your organisation
- Candidates
- Colleagues
- LinkedIn and other professional networks
- Publicly available sources
- Business information providers
- Professional contacts
How we use this information
We may use business contact information to:
- Provide recruitment services
- Discuss recruitment requirements
- Identify appropriate candidates
- Introduce candidates
- Manage recruitment assignments
- Arrange interviews
- Communicate about placements and engagements
- Obtain candidate feedback
- Obtain references
- Manage our commercial relationship with your organisation
- Identify organisations that may benefit from StackSource’s services
- Contact prospective clients about our recruitment services
- Provide information about relevant StackSource services
- Maintain records of our dealings
- Understand recruitment markets and trends
- Meet contractual, regulatory and legal obligations
- Establish, exercise or defend legal claims
- Improve our services
Where appropriate, this processing may be undertaken on the basis of our legitimate interests in operating and developing our recruitment business.
10. Referees and Other Professional Contacts
If you are named as a referee or professional contact, we may process information including:
- Your name
- Job title
- Employer
- Contact details
- Professional relationship with a candidate
- Information you provide regarding a candidate
We use this information primarily to verify candidate information and assess suitability for employment or engagement.
Information you provide may be recorded as part of the relevant candidate’s recruitment record.
11. Who We Share Personal Information With
StackSource does not sell personal information.
We may share personal information where necessary to provide our services or where we otherwise have a lawful reason to do so.
Depending on the circumstances, recipients may include:
- Clients and prospective employers
- Candidates
- Organisations involved in an employment or contract engagement
- Payroll and accounting providers
- Background screening and referencing providers
- IT and technology service providers
- Recruitment software and CRM providers
- Cloud hosting and data storage providers
- Professional advisers, including accountants and lawyers
- Insurers
- Government departments
- HMRC
- Regulatory authorities
- Law enforcement agencies where legally required
- Other organisations or service providers necessary to deliver our recruitment services
Where another organisation processes personal information on our behalf, we take appropriate steps to ensure that the information is handled securely and in accordance with applicable data protection requirements.
12. Sharing Candidate Information with Clients
A fundamental part of recruitment is introducing candidates to organisations with suitable opportunities.
Where appropriate, information shared with clients may include:
- Your CV
- Candidate profile or summary
- Employment history
- Qualifications
- Skills and experience
- Availability
- Salary or rate expectations
- Location or working preferences
- Interview or assessment information
- Other information relevant to your suitability for the opportunity
We will only share information that we consider relevant and appropriate to the recruitment process.
13. International Transfers
Some of the organisations and technology providers involved in delivering our services may process personal information outside the United Kingdom.
Where personal information is transferred internationally, we will take appropriate measures to ensure that the transfer complies with applicable data protection legislation.
Depending on the destination and circumstances, this may include:
- Transfers to countries covered by UK adequacy regulations
- Appropriate contractual safeguards
- Other safeguards permitted under applicable data protection legislation
Where required, additional safeguards will be considered to protect your personal information.
14. Data Security
We take the security of personal information seriously.
We use appropriate technical and organisational measures designed to protect personal information against:
- Unauthorised access
- Accidental loss
- Misuse
- Alteration
- Unauthorised disclosure
- Destruction
Access to personal information is limited to people and organisations that have an appropriate business or legal reason to access it.
We also expect organisations processing personal information on our behalf to implement appropriate security measures.
Although no electronic storage or transmission system can be guaranteed to be completely secure, we take proportionate measures to protect the information entrusted to us.
15. How Long We Keep Personal Information
We retain personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes for which it was collected and to meet our legal, regulatory, contractual and legitimate business requirements.
The appropriate retention period depends on the nature of the information and our relationship with you.
When determining how long information should be retained, we may consider:
- Legal and regulatory requirements
- Contractual obligations
- Potential legal claims
- The nature and duration of our relationship with you
- Whether the information remains relevant to recruitment services
- The likelihood that we may be able to assist you with future opportunities
- Your preferences regarding future contact
Different categories of information may therefore have different retention periods.
Where information is no longer required, we will delete, anonymise or otherwise securely dispose of it in accordance with our data retention practices.
If you ask us not to contact you again, we may retain limited information necessary to ensure that your preference continues to be respected.
16. Marketing and Business Development
We may contact existing and prospective clients, candidates and other professional contacts about StackSource’s recruitment services or relevant opportunities where we have a lawful basis to do so.
You can ask us to stop sending marketing communications at any time by contacting:
Where a marketing communication contains an unsubscribe facility, you may also use that facility.
Opting out of marketing communications does not necessarily prevent us from contacting you about:
- An active recruitment process
- A vacancy or opportunity you are involved with
- A contract or placement
- An existing business relationship
- A legal or regulatory matter
- Another communication that is not marketing
17. Our Website
When you use our website, we may collect limited technical information about your visit.
Depending on the technology used on our website, this may include:
- IP address
- Browser type
- Device information
- Pages visited
- How you arrived at the website
- Approximate location derived from technical information
- Date and time of visits
- Website interaction information
We may use this information to:
- Operate and secure our website
- Understand how visitors use the website
- Diagnose technical problems
- Improve website performance and content
- Protect against malicious activity
Where cookies or similar technologies are used, further information may be provided through our cookie notice or cookie management tool.
Where consent is required for non-essential cookies, those technologies will only be used in accordance with your cookie choices.
18. Automated Decision-Making and Technology
StackSource may use technology to support recruitment activities, including searching, organising, matching, screening or assessing information.
Technology may assist our recruiters and specialists in identifying potentially relevant candidates or opportunities.
Where technology is used to support these processes, we aim to maintain appropriate human involvement in recruitment decisions.
We will comply with applicable data protection requirements if we undertake solely automated decision-making that produces legal effects or similarly significant effects on an individual.
19. Your Data Protection Rights
Depending on the circumstances, data protection law provides you with a number of rights concerning your personal information.
These may include the right to:
Access your information
You may request information about the personal data we hold about you and request a copy of that information.
Correct your information
You may ask us to correct personal information that is inaccurate or complete information that is incomplete.
Request deletion
You may ask us to delete your personal information in certain circumstances.
The right to deletion is not absolute, and there may be circumstances where we are legally entitled or required to retain information.
Restrict processing
You may ask us to restrict how we process your information in certain circumstances.
Object to processing
You may object to processing based on legitimate interests in certain circumstances.
You also have the right to object to the use of your personal information for direct marketing.
Data portability
In certain circumstances, you may request that personal information you have provided to us is supplied to you or another organisation in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format.
Withdraw consent
Where our processing is based on your consent, you may withdraw that consent at any time.
Withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before consent was withdrawn.
Rights relating to automated decision-making
You may have rights relating to decisions made solely by automated means where those decisions have legal or similarly significant effects.
20. Exercising Your Rights
If you wish to exercise any of your data protection rights or have a question about the information we hold about you, please contact:
StackSource Ltd
Email: info@stacksource.io
We may need to verify your identity before responding to certain requests.
There is normally no charge for exercising your data protection rights. However, applicable data protection legislation allows organisations to refuse or charge a reasonable fee for certain requests in limited circumstances.
If you ask us to erase information or stop contacting you, we may retain a minimal record of your request so that we can demonstrate compliance and ensure your preferences continue to be respected.
21. Complaints
If you have concerns about how StackSource has handled your personal information, we encourage you to contact us first so that we can investigate the matter.
Email:
You also have the right to raise a complaint with the UK’s data protection regulator, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
Information about making a complaint is available from the Information Commissioner’s Office.
22. Changes to this Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect:
- Changes to our services
- Changes to our systems or technology
- Changes to our business practices
- Changes to applicable laws or regulatory guidance
The latest version will be published on the StackSource website.
Where a change materially affects how we process your personal information, we will take appropriate steps to bring the change to your attention.
23. Contact StackSource
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, how we process personal information or your data protection rights, please contact:
StackSource Ltd
Email: info@stacksource.io
Website: stacksource.io
Last updated: September 2026