Evaluation of the Acas Individual Conciliation Service: Privacy notice

In line with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), this privacy notice explains how your personal data will be processed as part of the Acas Individual Conciliation (IC) Evaluation. It outlines the legal basis for processing, who will access your data, how it will be used, stored, and deleted, and who to contact with questions or concerns.

Who is collecting my data?

The National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) is carrying out this research in partnership with Frontier Economics, on behalf of the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas).

The National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) is Britain’s largest independent social research agency. For over 50 years, we have been working with charities, universities and Government to find out what people really think about the big issues. NatCen is independent of all Government departments and political parties.

Frontier Economics is one of the largest economic consultancies in Europe. Frontier Economics’ contribution to this project is led by our public policy practice, which specialises in conducting market analysis, impact evaluations, cost-benefit and value for money assessments, working with Government, regulators, and private sector clients.

What is the legal basis for processing data?

For the purpose of data protection legislation, Acas are the data controllers and NatCen are the data processers. This means Acas are responsible for deciding the purpose and legal basis for processing data from this study. For this study, the legal basis for processing data is ‘Public Task’.

Why have I been selected?

We are contacting you because Acas records show that you, or someone on your behalf, have recently been in contact with Acas about an employment dispute. Your information has been provided for research purposes only.

What data is being collected?

Personal data collected as part of this research will include contact details, background information such as age or gender, and views and opinions in response to questions about experiences of using services provided by Acas. Your personal details will be securely deleted once the research has been completed, at the end of 2027. 

Who will have access to my personal data?

Your data will be held securely by NatCen in line with the GDPR. Only the NatCen research team will have access to personal data that you provide during the survey. 

What will you do with the information I give?

The data collected will be used for research purposes only.

Your responses will be used to help produce outputs for Acas which will be used to inform improvements to the Individual Conciliation service. Responses from the survey will be collated and published in a report. 

Your responses will be treated confidentially and anonymised. Data collected will be combined, making sure responses cannot be traced back to you.

All personal information, and any other data held on the project, will be securely deleted at the end of the project.

Can I withdraw or opt out?

Participation is voluntary. 

You can:

• Decline participation in the survey.
• Withdraw at any time.
• Withdraw your data prior to analysis up until 6th July 2026. Please contact the NatCen team as soon as possible if you wish to do so.

Will my contact information be shared with anyone else?

We will never share your contact details with third parties, including Government, charities or commercial companies for marketing purposes. If there was a legitimate research purpose for sharing contact details or identifiable information, we would only do so with your direct permission.

Will I have access to my information?

Yes, but please note that once your data is combined with others’, anonymised and research findings have been finalised, we will not be able to change the findings by removing individual information. However, you can always request that your personal data be deleted or updated, and we will let you know immediately if this is possible or not.

What are my rights?

You have rights with regards to your personal data. These include:

• The right to request copies of your personal data.
• The right to ask us to correct any personal data that we hold about you that’s inaccurate or incomplete.
• The right to ask us to delete personal data that we hold about you.
• The right to object or restrict how we’re processing your personal data.

Who to contact if you have a query or complaint?

To contact the research team at NatCen, please email AcasICSurvey@natcen.ac.uk.

If you would like to speak to someone in Acas about the research, email research@acas.org.uk.

If you have any questions about how your data will be used, you can contact NatCen’s Data Protection Officer at dpo@natcen.ac.uk.

If you are unhappy with the way your personal data is being processed, you can report it to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at https://ico.org.uk/ or by calling the ICO helpline on 0303 123 1113.