Recruitment Privacy Notice

Smart Heat Experts Limited is the controller of the personal information you provide when you apply for a role with us. Our company number is 16361636.

Our trading address is Cedar Cottage, Foxhill Village, Haywards Heath, RH16 4QZ. Our registered office is 24 Gander Lane, Barlborough, Chesterfield, England, S43 4PZ.

You can contact us by phone on 01444 672796, by post at the registered office, or through smartheatexperts.co.uk.

This notice explains what recruitment information we use, why we use it, who may process it, how long we keep it, and the rights available to you.

Depending on the stage of recruitment, we may collect:

• Contact and general location information, such as your name, telephone number, email address, town or first part of postcode.
• Route preferences, availability, notice period and working arrangements.
• Qualifications, gas-status information, driving information, training interests and relevant experience.
• Your application, interview, assessment answers, communications and reviewer notes.
• Later verification, right-to-work and reference evidence where appropriate for the role and stage of recruitment.
• An adjustment or support request, if you choose to make one, and minimal security or audit information where it is actually recorded.

We do not request or accept a CV in the initial version 3 application. Historical CVs already held by the recruitment system remain protected, are available only to authorised administrators, and are retained under the approved recruitment retention rules. A CV may be specifically requested later where appropriate.

If you request an adjustment, please describe only the support or alternative way of completing an application or interview that would help. Please do not provide a diagnosis, medical records or medical history.

We use recruitment information to:

• Receive, assess, discuss and progress your application.
• Administer and document a fair recruitment process, including questions, assessments, interviews, complaints and claims.
• Verify qualifications, driving entitlement, right to work and references at the appropriate stage.
• Communicate with you about your application.
• Consider requested recruitment adjustments and equal access.
• Contact you about suitable future roles for up to 12 months if you separately choose that optional preference.

1. Application and recruitment progression — Article 6(1)(b). We process information to take steps at your request before a possible employment contract and to receive, assess, discuss and progress your application.
2. Fair process, records and claims — Article 6(1)(f). We have legitimate interests in recruiting consistently, documenting the process, answering questions and complaints, and protecting our legal position. We balance those interests against your rights.
3. Legal checks — Article 6(1)(c). We process right-to-work information and other legally required checks to comply with a legal obligation. Pre-contract steps or legitimate interests may apply to role qualification and driving checks where relevant.
4. Recruitment adjustments and equal access — Article 6(1)(c). We process adjustment information to meet applicable employment-law obligations. If health or disability information is revealed, the additional basis is Article 9(2)(b) together with the applicable Part 1 Schedule 1 Data Protection Act 2018 employment-law condition. We do not rely on explicit consent for this processing.
5. Future roles — Article 6(1)(a). The optional, separate and unticked future-role preference is based on your consent. It lasts for up to 12 months and can be withdrawn without affecting your current application.
6. Legal claims and complaints — Article 6(1)(f). We may retain information that is actually needed to investigate or defend a legal claim or complaint.

Fields marked as required in the application form must be completed. Missing required contact or experience information may prevent us from properly considering your application. Please answer required questions honestly; there are no trick answers and no single answer automatically rejects an application.

A CV, an adjustment request and the future-role preference are optional. Not providing any of these will not count against your current application. We do not request a CV in the initial version 3 application.

Current version 3 applications may use your chosen route, experience, qualifications, gas status and capability answers to suggest one or more routes and reviewer prompts. This is advisory only. It cannot score, rank, reject, hide, deprioritise or decide an application, and a human reviewer can disregard it.

A person meaningfully reviews every application and makes every progression and hiring decision. Current version 3 applications are not sent to OpenAI and have no AI scoring or decision.

Selected, redacted version 1 and version 2 information was previously processed as a Replit subprocessor through OpenAI in the United States to produce decision-support summaries. Name and contact details, postcode, adjustment information, right-to-work data, driving endorsements and uploaded files were excluded. Historical summaries did not make the hiring decision, and no solely automated decision is used.

Adjustment information is kept separate and restricted. It is excluded from route matching, notifications, logs and AI.

• Replit, Inc., for website and application hosting and managed database and infrastructure.
• Replit App Storage, backed by Google Cloud Storage, for historical uploaded recruitment documents only. Historical CV access is restricted to authorised administrators and subject to the approved retention rules. No new version 3 CVs are collected.
• Twilio SendGrid is retained for a possible future optional recruitment email service. In the current dashboard-only launch mode, automated recruitment email is disabled and SendGrid does not receive version 3 application data.
• OpenAI, for the historical version 1 and version 2 processing described above through Replit only.

Replit states that platform data is hosted primarily in US GCP data centres unless an optional region is selected. Recruitment data handled through Replit and the historical OpenAI processing may therefore involve international processing, including the United States. We do not claim that historical documents are in a particular storage region.

Where a UK restricted transfer applies, the applicable safeguards may include Replit’s UK Addendum to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses and/or UK International Data Transfer Agreement, Google Cloud’s UK Addendum, and Twilio’s UK International Data Transfer Agreement for qualifying SendGrid transfers. Historical OpenAI processing was covered through Replit’s subprocessor terms, not a direct Smart Heat Experts/OpenAI data-processing agreement.

We will not enable SendGrid for version 3 recruitment email without first updating this notice and the applicable recruitment configuration.

You may request more information or a copy of relevant safeguards by phone or post using the controller contact details above.

• Unsuccessful applications: normally six months after we notify you of the outcome.
• Withdrawn applications: normally six months after withdrawal for process records and potential claims.
• Future-role information: up to 12 months from your consent, unless you withdraw it sooner.
• Adjustment information: normally deleted when recruitment ends. If needed for a complaint or claim, it is restricted until the applicable six-month recruitment-record period ends.
• Successful applicants: information needed for employment moves to the employee record and is handled under our employee privacy arrangements.

We securely delete or anonymise information after the applicable period, subject to a legal hold. A minimal withdrawal record may remain so that we can honour your choice.

You may have the right to:

• Access the personal information we hold about you.
• Correct inaccurate or incomplete information.
• Request deletion, subject to lawful reasons to retain it.
• Request restriction of processing.
• Receive information you provided in a usable format where applicable.
• Withdraw future-role consent at any time.
• Ask for an explanation of route matching.

Right to object: you may object to processing based on our legitimate interests, including fair recruitment administration and legal claims. We will consider your objection against the circumstances permitted by data-protection law.

To use a right or ask about your application, contact Smart Heat Experts first by phone, post or through our website. To withdraw optional future-role consent, you can use the single-use link shown after submission. Withdrawal does not change your current application.

Please contact Smart Heat Experts first so we can try to resolve your concern, but you may complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at any time. Visit ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint, call 0303 123 1113, or write to the ICO at Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.

Version 1.4. Effective date: 26 August 2026.