Privacy and Cookie Policy
Effective Date: 12 July 2026
Last Updated: 12 July 2026
Akkar Ltd ("Akkar", "we", "us", "our") is a global recruitment business committed to protecting the privacy and security of your personal data. This Privacy and Cookie Policy explains how we collect, use, store, share, and protect personal data in connection with our recruitment services and website, and how we use cookies and similar technologies, wherever in the world you are located.
Akkar Ltd is the data controller of your personal data. We are registered in England and Wales, with our registered office at Unit 10, Hove Business Centre, Hove, BN3 6HA, United Kingdom.
If you have any questions about this policy or how we handle your data, contact our Data Protection Team at privacy@akkar.com or on 0207 993 8755.
1. Who This Policy Applies To
This policy applies to:
• Candidates: individuals seeking or considering roles through Akkar, including prospective candidates we identify through sourcing.
• Client contacts: individuals working for organisations that use, or may use, our recruitment services.
• Supplier contacts: individuals working for organisations that provide services to Akkar.
• Referees and emergency contacts: individuals whose details are given to us by candidates or staff.
• Website visitors: anyone using akkar.com.
2. The Laws We Comply With
We comply with data protection laws applicable to our operations and to the locations of the individuals whose data we process, including:
• The UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018, as amended by the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025.
• The EU General Data Protection Regulation (EU GDPR).
• US state privacy laws where applicable, including the California Consumer Privacy Act as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act (CCPA/CPRA) and equivalent laws in other US states.
• Other applicable laws in the jurisdictions where we operate or place talent, which may include Canada's PIPEDA, Australia's Privacy Act 1988, Singapore's PDPA, the UAE and Saudi Arabia data protection laws, and others.
Where local law grants you rights beyond those set out here, we will honour those rights.
3. Personal Data We Collect
We collect only the personal data necessary to provide our recruitment services.
Candidates: name, contact details (address, phone, email), date of birth, employment history, education and qualifications, skills, salary and remuneration expectations, right to work and immigration status, identification documents where required for compliance, professional online profiles (for example LinkedIn), referee details, records of our communications with you, and IP address when you use our website. We may also process interview notes and assessment outcomes.
Special category data: we do not seek sensitive data (such as health, racial or ethnic origin, or trade union membership) unless it is necessary, for example reasonable adjustments for interviews, diversity monitoring you have opted into, or where required by law. Where we process this data, we rely on your explicit consent or another lawful condition and apply additional safeguards.
Client contacts: name, job title, business contact details, organisational information, hiring requirements, and records of communications.
Supplier contacts: business contact details and financial information necessary for contractual arrangements.
Referees and emergency contacts: name, relationship to the individual, and contact details, used only to verify information or to make contact in an emergency.
Website visitors: device and usage data collected through cookies and similar technologies, as described in Section 5.
4. How We Collect Your Data
• Directly from you, for example when you register, apply, or correspond with us.
• From publicly available and professional sources, such as LinkedIn, job boards, and CV databases.
• From third parties, such as referees you nominate, our clients, and background screening providers where lawful and applicable to the role.
• Automatically through our website via cookies and similar technologies.
Where we collect your data from a source other than you, we will inform you within a reasonable period and no later than our first communication with you.
5. Cookies and Similar Technologies
Cookies are small text files placed on your device when you visit our website. We also use similar technologies such as pixels and local storage. Cookies set by us are "first-party cookies"; cookies set by other companies through our site, for example analytics or video providers, are "third-party cookies".
We group cookies into the following categories:
• Strictly necessary cookies: essential for the website to function, for example security, load balancing, and remembering your cookie preferences. These do not require consent and cannot be switched off through our banner.
• Analytics and performance cookies: help us understand how visitors use our site and where we can improve. Set only with your consent.
• Functionality cookies: remember choices you make, such as language or region. Set only with your consent.
• Marketing and advertising cookies: deliver content relevant to you and measure the effectiveness of our campaigns, including cookies set by third parties such as social media and video platforms. Set only with your consent.
A full, regularly updated list of the specific cookies we use, including their names, providers, purposes, and lifespans, is available in our cookie preference centre, which you can open at any time via the "Cookie Settings" link in the footer of this website.
Your choices. When you first visit our site, our cookie banner lets you accept all cookies, reject all non-essential cookies, or manage your preferences by category. Rejecting is as easy as accepting. We do not set any non-essential cookies until you have given consent, and you can change or withdraw your consent at any time via the "Cookie Settings" link.
Global Privacy Control (GPC). We recognise and honour Global Privacy Control and similar universal opt-out signals sent by your browser. Where we detect a valid signal, we treat it as a request to opt out of non-essential cookies and any sharing of personal data for targeted advertising, as required by applicable US state privacy laws.
Browser controls. You can also block or delete cookies through your browser settings. Guidance is available for [Chrome](https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95647), [Safari](https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/safari/sfri11471/mac), [Firefox](https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/enhanced-tracking-protection-firefox-desktop), and [Edge](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/delete-cookies-in-microsoft-edge-63947406-40ac-c3b8-57b9-2a946a29ae09). Blocking all cookies may affect how parts of our website work. For general information about cookies, visit [allaboutcookies.org](https://allaboutcookies.org).
Some third parties that set cookies through our site may process data outside the UK or European Economic Area. Where personal data is involved, we apply the safeguards described in Section 9.
6. How and Why We Use Your Data
We process personal data on the following lawful bases:
• Legitimate interests: to operate our recruitment business, including identifying and contacting candidates, matching candidates to roles, maintaining our candidate and client databases, and improving our services. We balance these interests against your rights and you may object at any time.
• Contract: to perform a contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into one, for example placement terms.
• Legal obligation: to comply with laws that apply to us, for example right to work checks, tax, and accounting requirements.
• Consent: where we ask for it, for example for optional diversity monitoring or certain marketing. You may withdraw consent at any time without affecting the lawfulness of processing before withdrawal.
7. AI-Assisted Tools and Automated Processing
Akkar uses technology, including AI-assisted tools, to help source, match, and shortlist candidates more effectively. We want to be transparent about how this works:
• AI tools assist our consultants; they do not replace them. No decision that significantly affects you, such as whether to put you forward for a role, is made solely by automated means. A human consultant reviews and makes all significant decisions.
• Where we use AI systems classified as high-risk under the EU Artificial Intelligence Act in recruitment activities, we comply with our obligations as a deployer, including human oversight, transparency, and record keeping.
• You have the right to ask for information about how these tools are used in relation to you, to express your point of view, and to request human review of any outcome you believe was influenced by automated processing. Contact privacy@akkar.com.
8. Who We Share Your Data With
We share personal data only where necessary:
• Prospective employers (our clients): we share candidate details only with your prior consent, which we record.
• Service providers: IT, CRM, cloud hosting, communications, and background screening providers acting on our instructions under contracts that require appropriate security and confidentiality.
• Professional advisers: lawyers, auditors, and insurers where necessary.
• Regulators and authorities: where required by law or to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.
• Business transfers: if Akkar is involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, personal data may be transferred as part of that transaction subject to appropriate safeguards.
We do not sell your personal data, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioural advertising as those terms are defined under US state privacy laws.
9. International Transfers
As a global recruitment business, we may transfer your personal data to countries outside the UK or the European Economic Area, including where our clients or service providers are located. When we do, we use legally recognised safeguards, including:
• Adequacy decisions or regulations, including the UK-US Data Bridge and the EU-US Data Privacy Framework for certified US recipients.
• The UK International Data Transfer Agreement or UK Addendum, and the EU Standard Contractual Clauses, supplemented where necessary by additional technical and organisational measures.
You can request a copy of the relevant safeguards by contacting privacy@akkar.com.
10. How Long We Keep Your Data
We keep personal data only as long as necessary for the purposes it was collected:
• Candidate data: for the duration of our relationship and, where we have an ongoing legitimate interest in considering you for future roles, for up to 3 years from our last meaningful contact with you, unless you ask us to delete it sooner. We periodically review inactive records and delete or anonymise them.
• Placement, contractual, and financial records: retained for longer periods where required by law, typically 6 years after the end of the relevant tax or contractual year.
• Client and supplier data: for the duration of the relationship plus applicable statutory periods.
When data is no longer needed, we securely delete or anonymise it.
11. How We Protect Your Data
We apply appropriate technical and organisational measures, including encryption in transit and at rest, role-based access controls, multi-factor authentication, staff training, and vendor due diligence. Access to personal data is limited to personnel who need it to perform their role.
In the event of a personal data breach, we will assess the risk and, where required, notify the relevant supervisory authority (in the UK, the Information Commissioner's Office) without undue delay and within 72 hours of becoming aware. If a breach is likely to result in a high risk to your rights and freedoms, we will notify you without undue delay.
12. Your Rights
Subject to the law that applies to you, you have the right to:
• Access: obtain a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Rectification / correction: have inaccurate or incomplete data corrected.
• Erasure / deletion: have your data deleted in certain circumstances.
• Restriction: limit how we process your data in certain circumstances.
• Portability: receive your data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format.
• Object: object to processing based on legitimate interests, and to direct marketing at any time.
• Withdraw consent: at any time, where processing is based on consent.
• Human review: request human intervention in relation to automated processing, as described in Section 7.
• Non-discrimination: we will never treat you differently for exercising your privacy rights.
To exercise any of these rights, contact privacy@akkar.com. We will verify your identity and respond within one month (or the shorter period your local law requires, such as 45 days under certain US state laws where that applies). We may extend this period for complex or multiple requests where the law allows, and we will tell you if so. Exercising your rights is free of charge except in limited cases permitted by law.
US residents: depending on your state, you may also have rights to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal data and of profiling that produces legal or similarly significant effects. As stated above, Akkar does not sell or share personal data for those purposes. You may appeal a refusal of a rights request by replying to our decision or emailing privacy@akkar.com with "Appeal" in the subject line. Authorised agents may submit requests on your behalf where your state law allows.
13. If You Choose Not to Provide Data
You are not obliged to provide personal data to us. However, if you choose not to provide certain information, we may be unable to provide our recruitment services to you or comply with legal obligations, for example right to work verification.
14. Children
Our services are directed at individuals of working age. We do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under 16. If you believe we hold data about a child, contact us and we will delete it.
15. Complaints
If you are unhappy with how we have handled your personal data, please contact us first at privacy@akkar.com or in writing to the address below. We take every complaint seriously and will respond promptly.
You also have the right to complain to a supervisory authority. In the UK, this is the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO): ico.org.uk, phone 0303 123 1113, or by post to Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF. If you are in the EEA, you may contact the supervisory authority in your country of residence or work. If you are elsewhere, you may contact your local data protection regulator.
16. Changes to This Policy
We review this policy regularly and may update it from time to time. The latest version will always be available on this page with the date of the most recent update shown at the top. Where changes are significant, we will take reasonable steps to bring them to your attention.
17. Contact Us
Akkar Ltd
Unit 10, Hove Business Centre, Hove, BN3 6HA, United Kingdom
Phone: 0207 993 8755
Email: privacy@akkar.com
