What Data Is Shared and How Is It Protected?

What Data Is Shared and How Is It Protected?

Using the Equifax verification service allows the sharing some of your employees’ payroll data with Equifax, but only under strict conditions and protections:

• Employee-Requested Data Sharing: No data is shared without the employee’s explicit consent. Data will only be released when an employee actively authorises a verification request via Equifax. In other words, your company’s payroll information isn’t being looked at constantly or indiscriminately – it’s only accessed for a specific purpose, initiated by the employee.

• Scope of Data: The information shared typically includes details needed to verify employment or income. This includes confirmation of employment status (i.e. that the person is employed by your organisation and their start date) and/or income details (their gross pay, net pay and summary of deductions for the previous twelve months). The data is used solely to confirm what the verifier (e.g., the bank or landlord) needs to know – nothing more.

• Compliance with Data Protection Laws: The service adheres to all relevant data protection regulations. In particular, data sharing through Equifax Verification Exchange complies with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and equivalent standards. Your employees’ data and privacy rights are respected – the process is designed with privacy principles in mind from the start.

• Security Measures: Equifax employs robust security measures to protect any data in transit or at rest on their systems. The Verification Exchange platform operates under Equifax’s global security policies and incorporates multiple layers of protection, including encryption of data, tokenization, and strict identity verification for any party requesting information. Equifax’s infrastructure (the Equifax Cloud™) has been built for highly regulated data workloads, following “privacy by design” principles and industry best practices in security management. This means that the system was engineered from the ground up to keep personal data safe and confidential.

In summary, only the necessary information is shared, only when an employee permits it, and it is handled with a high level of security and compliance.