Privacy Policy

Last updated: 14 October 2026

This policy explains how Ford Search Partners Ltd (“Ford Search Partners”, “we”, “us”) uses the personal data of the people we deal with, including candidates, prospective candidates, clients, suppliers, referees and anyone who contacts us. For this data we are the Data Controller. We may update this policy from time to time, so please check back occasionally.

We are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (registration number ZB540184). For any question about this policy or to exercise your rights, contact our Operations Director, Gavin Ford:

Gavin Ford, Operations Director, Ford Search Partners. Tel: +44 (0)203 137 4995. Email: gavin@fordsearchpartners.com

What data we hold, why, and our lawful basis

We collect most information directly from you, and some from public sources (mainly LinkedIn, company websites and Companies House) or from third parties such as your employer or a referee.

Data we hold	Why we use it	Lawful basis
Identity and contact details; CV, career history, qualifications, interview notes, references, ID and work-permit information (candidates)	To match candidates to roles, arrange interviews and feedback, secure offers, and provide relevant information to clients.	Legitimate interests; and steps taken at your request before entering a contract.
Employer, current role and professional details (prospective candidates and Talent Maps)	To survey the market, build relationships and assess whether the talent our clients need is available.	Legitimate interests.
Identity, contact, financial and service details (clients and suppliers)	To agree and perform our contract with you and manage payments.	Performance of a contract; and legitimate interests.
Call and meeting recordings, transcripts and notes	To keep accurate records, and for training and quality. See the section below.	Legitimate interests.
Correspondence, account and marketing-preference data (everyone)	To respond to you, run and improve our business, keep records and meet legal duties.	Legitimate interests, or legal obligation.

We rarely process special category data (such as health or ethnicity) and only where you make it available to us, with separate consent. Where you do not provide information we need, we may be unable to deal with your query, application or contract.

Call and meeting recording

Some of our telephone calls and online meetings, whether you call us (inbound) or we call you (outbound), may be recorded and/or transcribed. We do not announce this at the start of every call, so this policy is how we let you know it may happen. You are welcome to ask us at any time whether a call is being recorded, and if you would prefer a particular call not to be recorded, just let us know and we will make written notes instead. We do this to keep accurate notes, summaries and briefs, and for training and quality purposes. Our lawful basis is legitimate interests, and we have carried out a legitimate interests assessment which you can ask us about.

We use third-party tools, including Fireflies, AssemblyAI and Recall.ai, to record, transcribe and summarise calls and meetings. They act as our processors under written contract and use the data only on our instructions. Calls made through our own phone system are recorded and transcribed, and an AI tool drafts a summary that a consultant checks before it is saved to our records.

Artificial intelligence

We use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to help our consultants work accurately and efficiently. They help us to:

transcribe and summarise our calls and meetings, and draft notes for our records;
summarise the information we already hold about you, so a consultant is well prepared before speaking with you;
suggest candidates whose experience may suit a role we are working on;
find and check professional contact details.

A consultant always reviews what these tools produce. AI never decides by itself whether you are put forward for, shortlisted for or rejected from a role: every decision about you is made by a person at Ford Search Partners, who is responsible for it.

These tools are provided under contract by our technology suppliers, who process your data only on our instructions and do not use it to train their AI models. Our lawful basis is legitimate interests. You can object to our use of AI tools in relation to your data at any time by contacting Gavin Ford, Operations Director, and we will tell you how we will handle your information instead.

Who we share data with, and transfers abroad

We share data with clients (and, with your permission, a candidate’s details with a client) to assess fit; with our IT and service providers, namely Microsoft 365 and SharePoint, JobAdder, SourceWhale, LinkedIn Recruiter, Fireflies, AssemblyAI, Recall.ai and Sage, our own recruitment and business systems (FSP Intelligence), hosted in the UK and EU, Amazon Web Services, for secure hosting, backups and AI processing within the UK and EU, and Twilio, for our telephone calls and text messages, using its European data centres; with professional advisers; with authorities where required by law; and with a buyer in the event of a sale of the business. Providers act only on our instructions under written contract.

We may transfer data outside the UK, for example when working with an overseas client, or where a provider’s systems or support teams outside the UK handle limited data, such as checking that a phone number is valid. Where we do, we rely on UK adequacy regulations or appropriate safeguards (such as the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or the UK Addendum to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses), and, in line with the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, satisfy ourselves that the protection is not materially lower than under UK law.

How long we keep it, and how we protect it

We keep your information only for as long as necessary for the purpose we collected it, taking into account legal obligations and limitation periods for claims. We have appropriate technical and organisational security measures in place and limit access to those with a business need. No system is completely secure, so we cannot absolutely guarantee security, but we take it seriously. We do not make decisions about you by automated means alone. Where AI tools help us (see Artificial intelligence above), a person at Ford Search Partners reviews their output and makes the decision.

Your rights

You have the right to be informed, to access your data, to have it corrected or erased, to restrict or object to processing, to data portability, to withdraw consent where we rely on it, and to complain. To exercise any right, contact us using the details above. We usually respond within one month and free of charge, though we may charge or refuse for manifestly unfounded or excessive requests. We may ask you to confirm your identity or clarify your request, which pauses the time limit, and we carry out reasonable and proportionate searches.

How to complain

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your data, please contact us first so we can put it right. We will acknowledge your complaint within 30 days and keep you informed of the outcome without undue delay. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at any time: ICO, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF; helpline 0303 123 1113; www.ico.org.uk.