People Function
3rd floor, Yorke House
Castle Meadow
Nottingham
NG1 2BE
Mr B Dawson
Tel / 0115 974 2173
Fax
Date / 05/05/2011 / www.hmrc.gov.uk
Our Ref / FOI 1503/11 B Dawson
______/ Your Ref
Dear Mr Dawson
Request under Freedom of Information Act 2000
In your initial email you requested that HMRC provide you with:
the complete address, telephone number and e-mail address for human resources in order to obtain references and thereby apply for certain jobs.
In my response of 8th April 2011 I provide the all the contact details and guidance as to how HMRC deals with ex-employee references. Further to my response you have asked for:
an e-mail address and a corresponding telephone number to Queens Dock Liverpool.
The HR Service Centre does not have a generic external telephone number or email address.
This is due to the identification of all internal contact with the Service Centre being verified via our internal security system. This system does not operate externally and therefore to ensure that any external requests can be verified and our employee information remains secure we ask that all external requests are by post.
All postal requests are then followed up by an operative within the contact centre who ensures that the request is legitimate. The operative will ask that proof either be faxed or emailed; the email address provided will be assigned to the individual operatives and not a generic contact.
I have attached our guidance on Data Protection for employment references which is used by the Service Centre.
HR92003 Leaving HMRC: Data protection for employment references
The rules concerning data protection that HMRC need to be aware of when writing references. These include contacting the employer and viewing documentation that supports how an individual has consented to the release of their personal information.
Data protection and references
HMRC has a duty under the Data Protection legislation to process data fairly and lawfully. For this reason, you must not automatically assume that an individual has given their consent to disclose all of the information in the reference request, confidential or otherwise.
To ensure that the prospective employer has the individual's written consent, you must always contact the prospective employer by telephone, email or fax. You must ask them to provide documentation providing proof of consent; preferably by fax or email. This is particularly important if they ask for specific information about an individual's sickness absence.
Employment references for former staff
HR Service Centre
HMRC
4th Floor
Queens Dock
Liverpool L74 4AA
Fax: 0845 600 4958
· where the management chain no longer exists
· who left the Department over 12 months ago
· benefit claims e.g. job seekers
· details of salary for mortgage applications
· tenancies, leases on property, and new bank accounts
I appreciate your frustration that potential employees request an email address when providing references but HMRC does not have a generic external contact email address for employee references.
If you are not happy with this reply you may request a review by either e-mailing or by writing to: HMRC FOI Team, Room 1C/25, 100 Parliament Street, London SWIA 2BQ. You must request a review within 2 months of the date of this letter. It would assist our review if you set out which aspects of the reply concern you and why you are dissatisfied.
If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the Information Commissioner cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the review procedure provided by the department. He can be contacted at The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF. E-mail:
Yours Sincerely
Fran Draycott
HR Operations
PF Security, Risk & Information Team