We would like to invite you to take part in the Connect to Work (CtW) Programme. Taking part is entirely up to you, but before you decide we would like you to understand what Connect to Work is and what taking part in the programme involves for you.
The person giving you this information will go through it with you, to help you decide whether you would like to take part. Please ask if you have any questions, or if there is anything you do not understand.
This information tells you more about the programme and what to expect if you take part. It will also give you more information about how your information will be collected, used, and shared. Do ask if anything is unclear.
What is Connect to Work?
Connect to Work is a voluntary, locally commissioned, supported employment programme for anyone who is disabled, has a health condition or is experiencing complex non-health related barriers to work.
What will taking part in Connect to Work involve?
If you agree to take part in Connect to Work you will receive personalised support from a dedicated employment specialist to help build a plan that supports you to get into, or stay, in work. Your dedicated employment specialist will work alongside you to understand your career goals and help you address any specific barriers to employment.
It is also very important that we can make sure Connect to Work is working well and that it is providing the best support to help people return to and remain in work. Therefore, you will also be invited to take part in some surveys and interviews which will help to check if Connect to Work is working well. These will be entirely voluntary, and you don’t have to take part if you don’t want to.
Who is eligible for Connect to Work?
To be eligible for Connect to Work, a person must either have a disability or long-term health condition, and/or have complex barriers to work. In addition to the eligibility criteria, individuals are judged as suitable based on their employment situation, their potential to benefit from the type of support that Connect to Work can offer, and their motivation to work.
Privacy and data protection
In line with the Data Protection Act (2018) and the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and subsequent updates introduced by the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, there are certain things that we need to let you know about regarding what sort of personal information we will be collecting from you and how it will be processed.
- What personal information will be collected and who will it be shared with?
If you take part in Connect to Work, we will collect personal and special category data including name, address, gender, date of birth, telephone number, email address, National Insurance number, health and disability data, disadvantage group data, benefit data, marital status, ethnicity, and programme specific data.
This data will be shared with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), the Evaluation and Fidelity Providers and their sub-contractors.
DWP and HMRC will use your information to gather information from their records such as benefit, earnings, and employment information. Gathering this information directly from records will save time because it means that you won’t have to provide it. This information will be used for research purposes and to help evaluate the effectiveness of Connect to Work – your right to claim benefits will not be affected.
The Fidelity provider (for example, Social Finance and its sub-contractors) may review your personal information to assess the quality of the service you receive under the Connect to Work programme. This information will help continuously drive improvements in the Connect to Work service delivered by us [Devon County Council]. This process is referred to in this information as a ‘Fidelity Assessment’ from this point onwards. The Fidelity provider may contact you to tell you more about the quality review and to invite you to take part in an interview. The interview is completely voluntary.
DWP will share your information with the Evaluation providers, (for example, National Centre for Social Research (NatCen), the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), Frontier Economics, and the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research (CRESR) at Sheffield Hallam University), who are evaluating the effectiveness of Connect to Work on their behalf. These organisations will use this information to contact you to tell you more about the evaluation, and to invite you to take part in a survey and interview. They will explain what taking part in the evaluation will involve when they contact you, and you will have a chance to ask questions. Taking part in the survey and interview will be completely voluntary.
- How long will my personal information be kept?
Your personal information will be kept by Devon County Council for 7 years, so that Connect to Work can be delivered to you. After this time Devon County Council will securely delete your personal information.
The Evaluation providers will keep your personal information until the end of the Connect to Work evaluation, which is expected to end in 2031, so that they can evaluate Connect to Work. After this time, they will securely delete your personal information.
HMRC will keep your personal information until they have identified and gathered the earnings and employment information needed for the evaluation from their records. Once this information has been gathered, HMRC will securely delete your personal information.
DWP will keep your personal information until the end of 2031, in line with the end of the programme evaluation. After this time, DWP will securely delete any personal information which is collected as part of the evaluation. Please note that this doesn’t include information DWP already hold, such as benefit data.
The Fidelity provider will keep your personal information for a maximum of 16 weeks around the timing of the quality review – up to eight weeks prior to the review and up to eight weeks after the review. After these 16 weeks, your personal information data will be securely deleted.
- How will my personal information be protected?
- Devon County Council (DCC) will be the Data Controller for the Connect to Work Service.
- DWP will be the Data Controller for the evaluation of the Connect to Work Service.
- The Fidelity Provider will be the data controller for the Fidelity Assessment.
This means that DCC and DWP will make sure that your personal information is kept safe and handled lawfully and in line with the Data Protection Act and the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR).
- Find out more about how the Controllers use and protect information on the DWP website: personal information charter
- See the full Devon County Council Connect to Work Privacy Notice
- See Social Finance’s privacy statement
- What is the lawful basis for processing my information?
DCC will use the following lawful bases to process your information:
- Personal data: Section [8(c)] of the Data Protection Act 2018 and Article 6(1)[(e)] of the UK GDPR.
- Special Category data: Section [10(1)(g)] of the Data Protection Act 2018 and Article 9(2)[(g)] of the UK GDPR.
DWP will use the following lawful bases to process your information:
- Personal data: Section 8 of the Data Protection Act 2018 and Article 6(1)(e) of the UK GDPR.
- Special Category data: Section 10 of the Data Protection Act 2018 and Article 9(2)[(b) of the UK GDPR.
The Fidelity Provider will use the following lawful bases to process your information:
- Personal data: Section 8 of the Data Protection Act 2018 and Article 6(1)(e) of the UK GDPR.
- Special Category data: Section 10(3) of the Data Protection Act 2018 and Article 9(2)(g) of the UK GDPR.
- Agreement to take part
If you decide to take part in Connect to Work, you will be asked to sign an Agreement Form to confirm that you agree to take part. To summarise if you agree to take part:
- Your personal information will be shared and linked to other information from DWP and HMRC for research and evaluation purposes.
- Your personal information will be shared with the Fidelity Provider (for example, Social Finance and its subcontractors) to assess the quality of the service you receive under Connect to Work.
- DWP will use your personal information to confirm that you are eligible to take part in Connect to Work.
- DWP will gather information from your records, for example, information about benefits, earnings, and employment. This information will be used for research purposes only and will be undertaken on an anonymous basis i.e. your name and contact details will not be linked to this data.
- Your personal information will be shared with research organisations who will be evaluating Connect to Work on behalf of DWP. These organisations may contact you to see if you would like to take part in any research. Participation in this research is entirely voluntary.
- The organisations that hold your personal information in connection with Connect to Work will securely delete it once they have fulfilled their purpose, as laid out in section ‘How long will my personal information be kept?’ of this information sheet.
- The analysis of any research and subsequent findings that will be published will not include your name or anything else that can be used to identify you.
- What if I don’t want to take part anymore?
If your information has not yet been shared with Social Finance for the Fidelity Assessment, it will not be shared. Any information already provided or shared before you withdraw may still be used to evaluate Connect to Work. You will not be contacted by the research team or asked to provide any further information. If you would like to withdraw, you can tell your Employment Specialist.
Your rights
- You do not have to take part in Connect to Work – it is voluntary and entirely up to you.
- If you agree to take part but change your mind at a later stage, you have the right to withdraw without giving a reason.
- You have the right to report any concern about how your personal information is being used by contacting the DWP Data Protection Office: at data.protectionofficer@dwp.gov.uk. Or the Devon County Council Data Protection Officer: information.governance@devon.gov.uk.
- You also have the right to report any concern about how your personal information is being used to the Information Commissioner’s Office. Details can be found at www.ico.org.uk or you can call 0303 123 1113.
- You can request to see any identifiable information that is stored about you. Your Employment Specialist can give you a form to complete to request to see this information. You can also request a form by emailing ctwenquiries@devon.gov.uk.
- You can request that your personal information be amended if it is incomplete or incorrect.
Your Employment Specialist can give you a form to complete to request an amendment to your information. You can also request a form by emailing ctwenquiries@devon.gov.uk.