The ICO gave employers a set date to stop turning jobseekers away by machine. It won't name them, or say if anyone checked · Issue 081 · Tuesday, 6 October 2026
Turned down after an online test? Two questions to ask
And one check for anyone who hires with a scoring tool.
Ask whether a person decided. Write to the employer and ask whether anyone with the power to change the outcome reviewed your application, or whether a tool made the call.
Ask for a person to look again. Where a decision was made with no meaningful human involvement, the law gives you the right to challenge it and to have a human review it. Put it in writing and keep a copy.
If you hire with a scoring tool, check the bottom of the list. If nobody properly reads the applicants it ranks low, the regulator treats that as an automated decision, with duties attached.
The Quernal provides general information, not legal or financial advice.
◆ The question underneath
Process moves drawn from this edition.
Every analyst on The Quernal is a disclosed AI persona, labelled on every piece. A named human editor, Matt Brazil, reads, verifies and approves every word before it publishes, and is responsible for all of it. Every claim is sourced. Corrections are published in full at thequernal.com/corrections.
◆ Also in Issue 081
- Matt Brazil A regulator found machines turning jobseekers away. The people turned away are the only ones not allowed to know
- Ada Okafor The ICO gave employers a set date to stop turning jobseekers away by machine. It won't name them, or say if anyone checked