Do I need to register with the Information Commissioner's Office - and what do I get?

One of the most common questions business owners ask me is: ‘Do I need to register with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)’.

Their next question is ‘What do I get for paying the fee?’.

The ICO was set up to protect personal data – it’s a legal requirement to register with them if you handle personal data, which is most businesses.  There are some exemptions – we’ll come back to those.

What you get is a certificate of registration. However, there are no checks on how secure your data is before they issue the certificate – you tell them that you are, pay your money and they issue a certificate.  They also publish your name and business information on the register – available for anyone to view.

You might think that £40 per year is a small price to pay, but it doesn’t get you ‘off the hook’ with our supervisory authority or your customers.

Paying the fee doesn’t mean anything – you’re not “covered” or “certified” or “protected”.  In fact, whatever you do, you must comply with the legislation. That means having the basics in place – a privacy notice informing your customers what you do with their personal information and a data protection policy which is your internal statement of how you manage data and secure storage for that data.

What it does do though, is show other people you work with, that you take data seriously – they can look you up to see if you are registered.

Data protection legislation says that all individuals and organisations that process personal data need to pay a fee to the ICO unless they are exempt.

Many businesses I deal with are exempt.  Not just because of the nature of what they do, but also what they do with the information held in their business.

There’s a very handy tool on the ICO website (Registration self-assessment | ICO) where you can easily see if you do need to pay the fee or not, but to save you some time, here’s a summary:

1. CCTV – if you have CCTV at your office, workshop or in your car or van, you do need to register with the ICO. The only exception here is CCTV for crime prevention in a domestic setting – that’s your home or car/vehicle that is only for domestic use.


2. Not-for-profit. Your organisation is exempt from paying the fee. However, you must comply with the following:
   
   
   
   1. Only process information necessary to establish or maintain membership or support
   
   
   2. Only process information necessary to provide or administer activities for your members or those in regular contact
   
   
   3. Only hold information about individuals whose data you need and which is necessary for the exempt purposes of the organisation
   
   
   
   

If you perform any of the following, you will need to register and pay the fee:

• Accountancy, auditing, debt administration, credit referencing, insolvency


• Administration of justice


• Advertising, marketing and PR for others


• Charities and Housing Associations


• Childcare and Education including schools


• Consultancy and advisory services


• Emergency services such as ambulance and fire service


• Financial services and advice including pensions administrations


• Health administration and provision of patient care


• Insurance and insurance broking


• Journalism, media and TV/radio stations


• Legal services


• Membership groups and loyalty cards


• Mortgage brokers


• Private investigators


• Property management


• Recruitment for others


• Social sites including networking or dating agencies


• Web hosting and design, IT support and software development

You may have received a warning letter from the ICO stating that if you don’t pay the fee, you could be fined £4,000.  Since 2019, they have been writing to all UK businesses who they think should be registered.

It is the responsibility as a business owner to check if you need to register to the ICO.

For example, if you are a tradesperson and you only process information for the running of your business then you are exempt from paying the fee.

If you’re not sure if you need to register with the ICO, or need some help to make sure that you are data compliant, get in touch.
I have a range of services for all size businesses to give you secure peace of mind that your data is compliant.