Terms & Conditions

The British Medical Association (BMA) and British Medical Journal (BMJ) need to collect and use certain information about you in order to consider you for work. This notice explains what information we will ask about or collect, what we will do with it, and why.

Privacy notice for job applicants

Purpose

What data does BMA/BMJ collect, and why?

All recruitment

Type of information	Required	What it is used for	Lawful basis
Contact information	Yes	To manage your application, and invite you to participate in any necessary interviews or assessments.	Necessary for contract
Work history, qualifications, experience, and any other relevant accreditations or memberships	Yes	To assess whether you are suitable for the role you have applied for. Some roles require registration or accreditation with particular bodies. Where this is the case, it will be included in the job specification.	Necessary for contract
Diversity information: - gender identity - racial identity - ethnic origin - sexual orientation - religious or spiritual beliefs	No	We will anonymise the data, removing all personal identifiers. We will then analyse the data. We have a legitimate interest in promoting equality and diversity, and in understanding the diversity of backgrounds for people who apply for work. We will not use this data to make any decisions about you. You can update your information each time you apply to a role with us. Data about race and/or ethnicity is a ‘special category’ and needs an extra ‘condition for processing’. The condition we are relying on is that the information is needed to understand and promote equality of opportunity and treatment.	Legitimate Interests
Eligibility to work	Yes	BMA must check that you are legally entitled to work. We may need other specific information in particular cases. For example, visa information, legal restrictions on you that are relevant to your work, or conditions that otherwise affect if, how, or when you can work. If you do not provide this information, we may not be able to employ you.	Legal obligation

Successful applicants

Type of information	Required	What it is used for	Lawful basis
National Insurance Number and bank information. Other documentation required in your case	Yes	In order to pay you for your work, and to pay tax, we require this information. If you do not provide this information, we may not be able to employ you.	Necessary for contract

How we collect your data

We will collect your personal data in a number of ways, such as:

You may provide information before or during an application to work for us, through formal or informal interview, application forms, covering letters, CVs, assessments, and other interactions when applying for work.
Third parties including recruitment agents, your school, university and previous or current employers, in order to verify details about you and/or your application to work for us.
For certain positions, we may undertake background screening (we will tell you if we intend to do this):

for positions where individuals will be able to authorise payments of £50,000 or more without oversight, we will perform a financial check;
for high-profile positions or positions where there is a substantial risk to BMA/BMJ’s reputation, we will conduct a social media search;
for positions where criminal records screening is required by law, or where there is a substantial risk to BMA/BMJ’s reputation, we will screen against an individual’s criminal record.

Do you share my data?

We share data about you only as necessary to organisations that assist us with the recruitment process. This includes checking your eligibility to work, any necessary background checks, and checks on relevant qualifications, memberships, and accreditations. The organisations that receive the data cannot use it for other purposes. Successful candidates details will be passed to our occupation health screening providers for a pre placement occupational health check.

How long will you keep information about me?

We keep all applicants’ data for two years following your application. For successful applicants, this information will be added to their Human Resources record. For candidates who have missed out, the information is retained so that, if a successful candidate proves unsuitable, other candidates can be contacted without repeating the recruitment exercise. For individuals in Northern Ireland, we are required by law to hold the data for two years.

What are my rights?

You have rights over your data. You can contact us if you would like to:

Have a copy of your personal data
Correct inaccurate information about you
Erase information about you
Restrict how your data is used
Object to our use of your data
Have your data ported to another organisation

You can find advice about your rights on the website for the Information Commissioner’s Office (the regulator for data protection law in the UK): www.ico.org.uk.

Questions and complaints

Our registered office is BMA House, Tavistock Square, London, WC1H 9JP.

If you have any queries relating to how we use your information please contact our Data Protection Officer (DPO):

Name: Joel Henderson
Address: as above
Email: dpo@bma.org.uk
Tel number: 020 3058 7415

You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues (www.ico.org.uk). We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO so please contact our DPO in the first instance.

Last updated: October 2025