Version 2.0, July 2026. This notice replaces all earlier versions.
Hive Support CIC (“Hive”, “we”, “us”) provides HR, recruitment and operational support to Members of Parliament and their offices. Our registered office is 16 Bridge Road, Haywards Heath, RH16 1UA, and we are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office under registration number A8507492.
This notice explains how we collect and use personal data, who we share it with, how long we keep it, and your rights.
For most of our work we are the data controller, meaning we decide how and why personal data is used. This covers our recruitment services, our marketing and business contacts, and our own staff and suppliers.
For some work we act as a data processor on behalf of an MP’s office. Each MP is the employer of their own staff and is the data controller for their team’s employment records. Where Hive manages HR files, appraisals, absence records or similar on an MP’s behalf, we act only on their instructions under a written data processing agreement. If you are employed in an MP’s office and have questions about your employment data, your MP’s office is the right first point of contact, though we will always help route your query.
The rest of this notice describes the processing we carry out as a controller.
If you apply for a role through Hive or register with us as a candidate, we collect the information you give us: your name and contact details, CV, employment history, qualifications, right to work information, and your answers to application questions. We may also collect information from referees you nominate, and from publicly available professional sources where relevant to a role.
We use this information to assess your suitability for roles, communicate with you about vacancies, arrange interviews, and put you forward to MP offices with your knowledge. Our lawful basis is our legitimate interests in operating an effective recruitment service, and taking steps at your request before entering a contract where you are engaging with us directly. We take up references on the basis of our legitimate interests and those of the recruiting office, and we will tell you before we contact your referees.
Because roles in MPs’ offices are subject to Parliament’s security vetting requirements, we ask all applicants to confirm they have lived in the UK for at least three of the last five years. This is applied as a consistent eligibility criterion for all parliamentary roles.
Some recruitment involves information about health, such as reasonable adjustments for interview, or equal opportunities monitoring data covering ethnicity, disability and similar characteristics. We process adjustment information because it is necessary for exercising rights and obligations in the field of employment, in line with our Appropriate Policy Document, and we process monitoring data only with your explicit consent and in anonymised form wherever possible. You do not have to provide monitoring data and it plays no part in selection decisions.
If you work in an MP’s office or another organisation we deal with, we hold your business contact details, correspondence and records of the work we do together. Our lawful basis is the performance of our contract with your office or our legitimate interests in managing client relationships. If you enquire through our website or sign up to receive updates, we use your details to respond and to send you relevant information, and you can opt out at any time.
Candidate and recruitment data is held in Vincere, our applicant tracking system. HR and absence records we manage for client offices are held in Breathe HR. Documents and correspondence are held in Microsoft 365, including SharePoint and OneDrive. Each of these providers acts as our processor under contractual terms that meet UK GDPR requirements.
We share candidate information with the recruiting MP’s office as part of the recruitment process, and we share information with referees, IPSA or House of Commons teams where necessary for onboarding, payroll or security vetting, always with your knowledge. We do not sell personal data and we do not share it for third party marketing.
All personal data is stored in the UK. Vincere, Breathe HR and Microsoft hold our data in UK data centres, and no routine transfers outside the UK take place. If that changes, we will ensure any transfer meets the data protection test under UK law before it is made.
We keep candidate data for two years from our last contact with you, so that we can consider you for future opportunities. You can ask us to delete your details at any time. Client records are kept for six years after the relationship ends, in line with limitation periods. Data protection complaint records are kept for six years. Where we act as processor, retention is set by the controlling MP’s office.
You have the right to access your personal data, to have inaccuracies corrected, to have data erased in certain circumstances, to restrict or object to processing, and to data portability where it applies. Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time. To exercise any right, contact us at info@hivesupport.co.uk. We will respond within one calendar month.
Our website uses cookies that are essential to make the site work, and Google Analytics cookies to understand how the site is used. Analytics cookies are used solely for statistical purposes and are set under the UK’s statistical purposes exemption; you can object to them at any time through the cookie settings on our site. Full details are in our cookie notice.
If you have a concern or complaint about how we handle your personal data, please contact Sam Mackewn at info@hivesupport.co.uk or use the complaints form on our website. We will acknowledge your complaint within 30 days and respond without undue delay. Full details are in our Data Protection Complaints Policy. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at any time, on 0303 123 1113 or at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint.
We review this notice annually and whenever our processing changes materially. The current version and date always appear at the top of this page.