Privacy Policy

Last updated: 30 September 2026

1. Who We Are

Kayleigh Dobson Consulting Ltd, trading as Dobson Consulting and KDC Search and Selection, provides recruitment, search and selection, workforce consultancy, career coaching and related advisory services.

Kayleigh Dobson Consulting Ltd is the data controller responsible for the personal information covered by this Privacy Policy.

Company number: 17146442

Registered address:
34 Northburgh Avenue
Stafford
ST18 0GW

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.dobsonconsulting.co.uk

For permanent and fixed-term direct-employment recruitment services, KDC acts as an employment agency by introducing candidates to client organisations for direct employment.

Candidates should also read the Candidate Privacy Notice, which explains in more detail how KDC handles candidate, representation and recruitment-process information:
https://dobsonconsulting.co.uk/candidate-privacy-notice/

2. What This Privacy Policy Covers

This Privacy Policy explains how KDC collects, uses, stores, shares and protects personal information when you:

Visit the KDC website
Submit an enquiry
Book a consultation or appointment
Use consultancy, workforce, recruitment or career-support services
Complete a website form
Communicate with KDC by email, telephone, video call, social media or other channels
Apply for, express interest in, or are considered for a recruitment opportunity
Join the KDC Talent Network
Work with KDC as a client, candidate, supplier, associate or professional contact

3. Information KDC May Collect

Depending on your relationship with KDC, we may collect:

Your name and contact details
Your job title, employer or organisation
Business contact information
Enquiry details and messages you send to us
Booking and appointment information
Notes from calls, meetings, coaching sessions or consultancy discussions
Information needed to deliver recruitment, consultancy, workforce or career-support services
CVs, LinkedIn profiles, employment history, qualifications and career information
Vacancy, role brief, salary, benefits, selection and recruitment-process information
Candidate screening, shortlist, interview, representation and recruitment outcome information
Client organisation information, including hiring requirements, selection criteria and decision-making contacts
Payment, invoice and billing information
Website usage information, analytics data and cookie information
Records of consent, preferences, permissions or objections
Information needed to respond to rights requests, complaints or legal obligations

KDC aims to collect only the information reasonably necessary for the relevant purpose.

4. Special Category And Criminal Offence Information

KDC does not routinely request special category information such as health information, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, trade union membership or similar information.

You may choose to provide relevant health, disability or adjustment information where this is needed to support an accessible recruitment, coaching or consultancy process.

KDC does not routinely process criminal offence information. Where a role requires a criminal record check or other regulated check, this will normally be handled by the prospective employer unless otherwise agreed in writing.

Where KDC processes special category information, KDC will also identify an appropriate additional condition under Article 9 of the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, depending on the circumstances.

5. Where KDC Obtains Information From

KDC may collect information:

Directly from you
Through website forms, booking forms, enquiry forms or recruitment forms
During calls, meetings, coaching sessions, interviews or screening conversations
From client organisations or prospective employers
From candidates, referees, former employers or professional contacts where appropriate
From publicly available professional sources, such as LinkedIn, company websites, professional directories, registers, published articles or speaker biographies
From recruitment, CRM, website, booking, payment, email, analytics and document-storage systems used to deliver KDC services
From referrals, recommendations or introductions

Where KDC obtains candidate information from another source, KDC will provide access to the Candidate Privacy Notice within a reasonable period and no later than required by data-protection law.

6. How KDC Uses Personal Information

KDC may use personal information to:

Respond to enquiries
Arrange consultations, meetings and bookings
Provide consultancy, workforce, recruitment and career-support services
Manage client relationships and service delivery
Assess vacancies, role briefs and recruitment requirements
Identify, approach, assess and shortlist potential candidates
Communicate with candidates about relevant opportunities
Obtain candidate permission for vacancy-specific representation
Share candidate information with client organisations where appropriate permission or lawful basis exists
Manage interviews, feedback, offers, recruitment outcomes and placement records
Provide CV, LinkedIn, interview and career-support services
Issue invoices, process payments and manage accounts
Maintain business, compliance and audit records
Improve services, website content and client experience
Manage marketing preferences and communications where permitted
Respond to complaints, rights requests or legal queries
Establish, exercise or defend legal claims
Comply with legal, regulatory, tax and accounting obligations

7. Lawful Bases For Processing

KDC processes personal information only where there is a lawful basis to do so.

The lawful bases KDC may rely on include:

Contract: where processing is needed to provide services, manage bookings, deliver agreed work or take steps before entering into a contract.
Legitimate interests: where processing is necessary for KDC’s business interests or those of a client, candidate or professional contact, and those interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms.
Legal obligation: where KDC must process information to comply with legal, tax, accounting or regulatory duties.
Consent: where you have given clear consent, for example to receive certain marketing communications or to be retained for future candidate opportunities where consent is the appropriate basis.

8. KDC’s Legitimate Interests

KDC’s legitimate interests may include:

Running and developing KDC’s business
Responding to enquiries and maintaining professional relationships
Providing consultancy, career support, recruitment and search services
Helping clients identify suitable candidates
Helping candidates access relevant employment opportunities
Managing candidate introductions, representation and recruitment records
Avoiding duplicate or unauthorised candidate representation
Improving services, systems and website content
Maintaining appropriate business, audit and compliance records
Protecting KDC’s legal, financial and commercial interests

Before relying on legitimate interests, KDC considers whether the processing is necessary and whether your interests, rights or reasonable expectations override those interests.

9. Right To Object To Legitimate-Interests Processing

You have the right to object to processing based on legitimate interests.

If you object, KDC will stop processing the relevant information unless there are compelling legitimate grounds to continue, or the information is needed to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.

To object, email [email protected].

10. Withdrawal Of Consent

Where KDC relies on consent, you can withdraw that consent at any time.

Withdrawing consent will not affect processing that was lawful before consent was withdrawn. It may mean KDC can no longer provide a particular service, retain you for future opportunities, or send certain communications.

To withdraw consent, email [email protected].

11. Recruitment, Search And Selection Services

KDC provides permanent and fixed-term direct-employment recruitment, candidate search and selection services.

For these services, KDC acts as an employment agency.

KDC may process candidate information to identify, contact, assess, shortlist and represent candidates for relevant vacancies. KDC will not send a candidate CV or candidate evidence pack to a prospective employer without an appropriate basis and vacancy-specific permission to represent the candidate.

More detail is available in the Candidate Privacy Notice:
https://dobsonconsulting.co.uk/candidate-privacy-notice/

12. Service Providers And Systems

KDC uses trusted service providers and systems to operate the business and deliver services.

These may include:

Website hosting, WordPress, website forms and security providers
SureForms and other form providers
HubSpot or other CRM systems
Microsoft 365, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Teams and document-storage services
Microsoft Bookings or other appointment-booking systems
Stripe or other payment-processing providers
FreeAgent or other accounting and bookkeeping systems
Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Google Ads or similar analytics and marketing tools
Email, cloud storage, file-sharing and communication providers
Professional advisers, including legal, insurance, accountancy and compliance advisers

Where a service provider acts as a processor on KDC’s behalf, it may only process personal information in accordance with KDC’s instructions and the applicable contractual safeguards. Some providers, including certain payment and professional-service providers, may act as independent data controllers and process information in accordance with their own privacy notices.

13. Payments

Payments may be processed by Stripe or another secure third-party payment provider.

KDC does not store full card details. Payment providers process payment information in accordance with their own privacy and security standards.

KDC may retain records of payments, invoices and transactions for accounting, tax, audit and legal purposes.

14. Who KDC May Share Information With

KDC may share personal information where necessary with:

Client organisations and prospective employers, where relevant to recruitment services and candidate representation
Candidates, clients or professional contacts involved in a recruitment, consultancy or career-support process
Website, CRM, form, email, booking, payment, analytics and document-storage providers
Professional advisers, including legal, insurance, accountancy and compliance advisers
Regulators, courts, law-enforcement bodies, public authorities or tax authorities where required or permitted by law
Another party where necessary to establish, exercise or defend legal rights
A purchaser, successor or professional adviser if KDC is involved in a business restructuring, sale or transfer

KDC does not sell personal information.

15. International Processing

Some service providers may process or store information outside the United Kingdom.

Where this happens, KDC will take reasonable steps to ensure that an appropriate safeguard is in place, such as:

UK adequacy regulations
International data-transfer agreements
Standard contractual clauses with the UK addendum
Another lawful transfer mechanism under UK data-protection law

You can ask for more information about the safeguard applying to an international transfer by emailing [email protected].

16. Data Security

KDC takes reasonable technical and organisational steps to protect personal information.

These may include:

Password-protected systems
Access controls
Secure cloud services
Appropriate device and account security
Secure sharing methods where sensitive information is involved
Limiting access to personal information to those who need it
Using professional systems and providers with security safeguards

No system can be guaranteed to be completely secure, but KDC takes data protection seriously and reviews its approach as services and systems develop.

17. Retention

KDC keeps personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was collected.

Retention periods may depend on:

The type of information
The service provided
The length of the client, candidate or business relationship
Legal, tax, accounting or regulatory requirements
Whether the information may be needed for complaints, disputes or legal claims
Whether you have asked KDC to retain information for future opportunities

General retention periods may include:

Enquiry records: normally retained for up to 24 months after the last meaningful contact
Consultancy, coaching and service records: normally retained for up to six years where needed for contractual, tax, insurance or legal purposes
Accounting, invoice and payment records: normally retained for up to six years
Candidate and recruitment records: handled in accordance with the Candidate Privacy Notice
Marketing preferences: retained for as long as needed to respect your preferences or until you unsubscribe or object
Website analytics information: retained in accordance with the settings of the relevant analytics provider

At the end of the applicable period, information will be securely deleted, anonymised or archived where there is a lawful reason to retain it.

18. Your Data-Protection Rights

Depending on the circumstances, you may have the right to:

Ask for access to the personal information KDC holds about you
Ask for inaccurate or incomplete information to be corrected
Ask for your information to be deleted
Ask KDC to restrict how your information is used
Object to processing based on legitimate interests
Receive certain information in a portable format
Withdraw consent where processing relies on consent
Ask for information about the sources from which your data was obtained
Raise a complaint about how your information has been handled

These rights do not apply in exactly the same way in every situation. KDC will explain if a requested right does not apply and why.

To exercise a right, email [email protected].

KDC may need to confirm your identity before responding.

19. Cookies, Analytics And Website Information

The KDC website may use cookies and similar technologies to:

Make the website work properly
Improve website performance and security
Understand how visitors use the website
Support analytics, advertising and search visibility

Analytics tools may collect information such as pages visited, approximate location, browser type, device type, referral source and time spent on the website.

Where consent is required, non-essential analytics and advertising cookies will not be used unless you have made the relevant choice through the website’s cookie controls. You can change or withdraw your cookie choices through those controls.

You can usually manage cookies through your browser settings. Blocking some cookies may affect how the website works.

20. External Links

The KDC website may contain links to external websites, platforms or services.

KDC is not responsible for the privacy practices, security or content of external websites. You should review the privacy information provided by those websites before submitting personal information to them.

21. Automated Decision-Making

KDC does not use solely automated decision-making that produces legal or similarly significant effects.

KDC may use digital or AI-assisted tools to help organise, search, compare or summarise information. Where these tools are used, outputs are reviewed by a person before they are relied upon or shared as part of a recruitment, consultancy or service decision.

22. Complaints

If you are concerned about how KDC has used your personal information, please contact:

Kayleigh Dobson
Kayleigh Dobson Consulting Ltd
Email: [email protected]

KDC will review your concern and respond as soon as reasonably possible.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Telephone: 0303 123 1113

Website: https://www.ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint

KDC would appreciate the opportunity to address your concern first, but you are not prevented from contacting the ICO.

23. Changes To This Privacy Policy

KDC may update this Privacy Policy when services, systems, legal obligations or data-processing activities change.

The current version will be published on www.dobsonconsulting.co.uk with the date it was last updated.