Heathrow recruitment privacy notice

Last updated: February 2025

This privacy notice tells you what to expect when Heathrow Airport Ltd (Heathrow) and any Heathrow subsidiaries collects personal information when you apply for a role at Heathrow. Heathrow is committed to protecting your personal data when you use Heathrow services.

Whenever you provide such information, we are legally obliged to use your information in line with all applicable laws concerning the protection of personal data, including the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR).

What information may we collect about you?

  • Name
  • Email address
  • Mobile number
  • Job application screening responses such as;
  • Criminal convictions
  • Salary expectations
  • Information on preferred working arrangements
  • Publicly available information, including via social networking sites and public profiles
  • Communications and correspondence
  • Equal opportunity data (this information is kept anonymous and used for reporting purposes only)
  • Any adjustments you may need in the application process
  • Any disability information you disclose to us in relation to guaranteed interviews
  • CV
  • Passport
  • An image of yourself
  • If you participate in a video interview, we will process the recording which will include your image/voice.

Heathrow collects information about how you use the job application process via our website and the device(s) you use to access this service. This includes collecting unique online identifiers such as IP addresses, which are numbers that uniquely identify a specific computer or other network device on the internet. For more information, see our section on ‘cookies’ below.

How will Heathrow use the information it collects about me?

Heathrow is committed to collecting and using personal information responsibly, securely and fairly. The information provided in this application form will be stored electronically and will be used for the following purposes:  

  • To support the assessment of your suitability linked to one role, or a number of roles, at Heathrow.
  • We may share your information with our third party recruitment partners who deliver recruitment activities on our behalf (this may include the running of assessment centres, on-line testing, telephone interviews etc.)
  • Should you be successful in your application and subsequently offered a role we will use the data to create your core colleague record in the payroll system. This record will be used throughout your employment with the company.
  • If you are offered a role and Right to Work checking is required, we have appointed a third party operator who will process this on our behalf. This may involve you uploading an image of yourself and passport where we will match these images together to ensure these are of the same person. This means we will be using biometric facial matching in order to do this.
  • Identifying and selecting possible candidates for future employment opportunities, if you choose to opt into this service.

Who will your information be shared with?

Your information will be stored and managed by the following recipients:

  • Heathrow staff supporting the recruitment process
  • Third party recruitment partners
  • Third party processor who hosts recruitment information or platforms on our behalf 
  • Third party processor who conducts Right to Work checking on our behalf
  • Third party processor who hosts our video interviewing platform

We will not transfer or disclose your personal information, other than: as identified in this Privacy Notice, to our trusted third party suppliers, to the police, tribunals, courts, regulators, or other authorities to assist them with their investigations or requests or for us to report security incidents or suspected or actual unlawful acts and/or as may be otherwise required by law. In the case of all disclosures we will always ensure the disclosure is legitimate and proportionate for the purpose.

What is lawful basis for collecting data

Heathrow has a legitimate interest to process your personal data for assessing your suitability for a role/roles at Heathrow.

In addition, we may process prospective employees’ data on the basis of explicit consent and/or compliance with legal obligations or in line with contractual requirements. Where data is collected and used solely on the basis of explicit consent, prospective employees have the right to withdraw consent at any time.

International transfers

Occasionally data may be shared with suppliers outside of the EEA, however where this is done we will have appropriate measures in place to ensure your data is secure. 

How long will Heathrow keep my information?

Should you not be successful in obtaining a role with Heathrow, we may retain your personal information for up to one year, after which point it will be anonymised.

If you are successful in obtaining a role with our company, we will retain your personal data and it will form the basis of your employment details in our system. At that point in time, we will provide you with our colleague privacy notice. 

Your information will be retained in a secure environment and access to it will be restricted according to the 'need to know' principle.          

What rights do I have over my personal data?

Under the General Data Protection Regulation, you have the right to:

  • Access your personal data by making a subject access request
  • Rectification, erasure or restriction of your information where this is justified
  • Object to the processing of your information where this is justified
  • Data portability

To exercise your rights please contact the Heathrow Data Protection Officer using the following contact details:

By email to: privacy@heathrow.com

What if I find your response unsatisfactory?

Should you find our response unsatisfactory, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority – the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). You can find more information on the ICO website at https://ico.org.uk/concerns/ regarding the complaints process.

Privacy & Cookies

Cookies are small text files which are stored on your computer when you visit certain web pages. At Heathrow we use cookies to understand how our sites are used which helps us to improve your overall online experience. Some of the cookies we use are necessary for some of our sites to work whilst other cookies are used to provide tailored advertising by trusted third parties. To find out more about cookies, visit www.aboutcookies.org

The different types of cookies we use

Heathrow use the following categories of cookies on our websites:

Functionality - These cookies are used to provide services or remember settings to enhance your visit for example text size or other preferences. The information these cookies collect is anonymous and does not enable us to track your browsing activity on other websites. By using our websites, you agree that we can place these types of cookies on your device.

Managing cookies

If you'd prefer to restrict, block or delete cookies from Heathrow and our third party advertisers, or any other website, you can use your browser to do this. Each browser is different, so check the 'Help' menu of your particular browser to learn how to change your cookie preferences. If you choose to disable all cookies we cannot guarantee the performance of our websites and some features may not work as expected.

Changes to this privacy notice

We will keep this privacy notice under regular review and we will place any updates here. At the start of this privacy notice we will tell you when it was last updated.