Starting your own recruitment company? You’ll need to think about Data Protection.
May 2018 is when the General Data Protection Regulation takes effect,and it will affect people running recruitment businesses. There will be real implications for data protection, and storage.
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will have certain similarities with the existing UK Data Protection Act (1998) but there will be new and different requirements for any business that processes personal data, which of course includes recruitment consultancies.
Going into business as we come out of Europe might mean you’ll need some extra help…..
The GDPR is in effect a new legal framework with the European Union, and
the Government have stated that our leaving Europe will not affect its implementation. In practical terms much of what’s covered by the GDPR is already covered by the Data Protection Act, but the reality is you’ll have records of clients and candidates that fall within the legislation which makes you responsible for its security. And, despite our leaving the EU there will be some aspects of the new European rules that affect you. What’s more, the framing of the regulations is a complex process, far from finalised and needing constant scrutiny.
…..because it will get complicated.
This is a complicated subject. The definitions and terminology alone need careful study. There is the issue of your being a ‘controller’ or a ‘processor’. A ‘controller’ determines how and why personal data is processed – by the ‘processor’, who works on behalf of the ‘controller’.
As a recruitment consultancy you could easily be defined as a ‘controller’, and even at ‘processor’ level you have specific obligations about maintaining personal records. There are real legal liabilities, and they are likely to change under the new regulations. The rules apply inside the EU, and to businesses trading into the EU. Given the current state of negotiations, it’s difficult to predict what will happen.
It needn’t stop a start up.
All in all this is something that a busy recruitment start up could do without. Just when you need to be concentrating on your new business, by developing client relationships and delivering the right candidates, that last thing you want is to immerse yourself in legislation. It’s another area in which we can help.
At The Recruit Venture Group we specialise in backing start up recruitment businesses. Full initial funding is just part of the package. You’ll also receive shares and dividends – in your own business – and access to a complete back office and support system.
In fact you’ll be sufficiently supported to pay yourself a salary from the start.
But it goes even further than that. We stay with you, to provide legal and taxation advice. New legislation – like the GDPR – is something we’ll track for you, updating you regularly on how it affects you, and what actions you need take.
Which means that you can get on with what you do best. Recruitment.
If you’ve got five years unbroken experience in recruitment, and preferably three of them in a specific sector, and you’re serious about starting up on your own, we’d like to help. In lots of ways.