News, blogs and speeches

Registration opens for ICO annual conference

03 May 2024, News

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) will hold its annual Data Protection Practitioners' Conference (DPPC) online on Tuesday 8 October.

Information Commissioner: Persistent sensitive information breaches failing people living with HIV

30 April 2024, News

People living with HIV denied “basic dignity and privacy” by repeated data breaches that disclose their HIV status

ICO yn dirwyo dau gwmni cyfanswm o £340,000 am wneud galwadau marchnata ymosodol a digroeso

24 April 2024, News

Bron 1.43 miliwn o alwadau wedi’u gwneud dros gyfnod o 13 mis

ICO fines two companies a total of £340,000 for making aggressive and unwanted marketing calls

24 April 2024, News

Almost 1.43 million calls made over a 13-month period.

Housing association reprimanded for exposing personal information on online portal

17 April 2024, News

We have issued a reprimand to Clyde Valley Housing Association in Lanarkshire after personal information was accessible to other residents on an online customer portal.

ICO publishes guidance to improve transparency in health and social care

15 April 2024, News

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is supporting health and social care organisations to ensure they are being transparent with people about how their personal information is being used.

Information Commissioner’s Office seeks views on accuracy of generative AI models

12 April 2024, News

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has launched the latest instalment in its consultation series examining how data protection law applies to the development and use of generative AI.

ICO joins global data protection and privacy enforcement programme

04 April 2024, News

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has signed onto a new international multilateral agreement with the Global Cooperation Arrangement for Privacy Enforcement (Global CAPE) to cooperate in cross-border data protection and privacy enforcement.

ICO sets out priorities to protect children's privacy online

03 April 2024, News

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is calling on social media and video-sharing platforms to improve their data protection practices so children are safer when using their services. This comes as the regulator sets out its 2024-2025 priorities for protecting children's personal information online.

ICO publishes new fining guidance

18 March 2024, News

The Information Commissioner’s Office has published new data protection fining guidance setting out how it decides to issue penalties and calculate fines.

ICO reprimands Dover Harbour Board and Kent Police over information sharing

15 March 2024, News

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issued reprimands to Dover Harbour Board and Kent Police after they breached data protection law.

ICO reprimands London Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime for complaint web form error

14 March 2024, News

Web form to complain about the Metropolitan Police Service accidentally revealed victims' data

ICO fines Wigan-based Pinnacle Life £80,000 for “predatory” spam call campaign

07 March 2024, News

Wigan-based company Pinnacle Life has been fined £80,000 by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) for a year-long unlawful spam phone call campaign.

ICO warns charities about direct marketing rules as it orders Penny Appeal to stop sending spam texts

05 March 2024, News

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has ordered a charity to stop sending unsolicited marketing texts to people without their consent, as it reminds all charities of their legal obligations.

ICO takes regulatory action against five public authorities under the FOI Act

04 March 2024, News

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has taken action against five public authorities for continued failings to meet their obligations under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act.

Information Commissioner calls for senior leaders to take transparency seriously

04 March 2024, News

Today, as my office takes further regulatory action against five public organisations for their continued failings to meet their obligations under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, I am writing to remind you that transparency is essential if the people and communities we serve are to have confidence in the way that public services are delivered.

Y Comisiynydd Gwybodaeth yn galw ar uwch arweinwyr i gymryd tryloywder o ddifrif

04 March 2024, News

Heddiw, wrth i'm swyddfa gymryd camau rheoleiddio pellach yn erbyn pedwar sefydliad cyhoeddus am eu methiannau parhaus i gyflawni eu rhwymedigaethau o dan y Ddeddf Rhyddid Gwybodaeth, rwy’n ysgrifennu atoch i'ch atgoffa bod tryloywder yn hanfodol os yw'r bobl a'r cymunedau rydyn ni’n eu gwasanaethu i fod yn hyderus yn y ffordd y mae gwasanaethau cyhoeddus yn cael eu darparu.

ICO reassures employers they can share staff data in a mental health emergency

01 March 2024, News

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has published new guidance to give employers more certainty about sharing their workers’ personal details in a mental health emergency.

ICO reprimands West Midlands Police for data protection failure

01 March 2024, News

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issued a reprimand to West Midlands Police (WMP) after the force repeatedly mixed up two people’s personal information.

ICO finds the Home Office’s pilot of GPS electronic monitoring of migrants breached UK data protection law

01 March 2024, News

Home Office pilot scheme failed to assess privacy intrusion of GPS monitoring.

ICO and Federal Communications Commission sign Memorandum of Understanding

29 February 2024, News

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which formalises their commitment to work together to protect people from unwanted nuisance calls, spam messaging and the misuse of private and sensitive data.

Yr ICO yn galw ar bobl i rannu profiadau wrth gael mynediad at gofnodion gofal, gan addo gwella’r cymorth

28 February 2024, News

Mae Swyddfa'r Comisiynydd Gwybodaeth (ICO) yn galw ar bobl sydd â phrofiad o'r system ofal yn y Deyrnas Unedig i rannu'r heriau maen nhw wedi'u hwynebu wrth gael mynediad at eu cofnodion gofal gan sefydliadau.

ICO calls for people to share experiences accessing care records as it vows to improve support

28 February 2024, News

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is calling on people with experience of the care system in the UK to share the challenges they have faced when accessing their care records from organisations.

ICO orders Serco Leisure to stop using facial recognition technology to monitor attendance of leisure centre employees

23 February 2024, News

Regulator issues enforcement notices ordering Serco Leisure and community leisure trusts to stop using FRT and fingerprint scanning to monitor workers’ attendance

Information Commissioner’s Office tells platforms to respect information rights when moderating online content

16 February 2024, News

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is working to support people's information rights online by ensuring organisations understand their data protection obligations when seeking to make…

Practical tips for small beauty and wellbeing businesses this Valentine’s Day

14 February 2024, News

Show your customers you care – about their information rights – this Valentine’s Day.

ICO urges all app developers to prioritise privacy

08 February 2024, News

The Information Commissioner’s Office is reminding all app developers to ensure they protect users’ privacy, following the regulator’s review of period and fertility apps.

New ICO campaign promotes sharing data to safeguard children

29 January 2024, News

The Information Commissioner’s Office is partnering with education, law enforcement and social service organisations to raise awareness about responsible data sharing to protect children from harm.

ICO fines financial services company £50k for spam text messages

19 January 2024, News

Financial services company LADH Limited has been fined £50,000 by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) for sending tens of thousands of spam text messages, in breach of Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR).

ICO publishes updated Commissioner’s Opinion on age assurance for the Children’s code

18 January 2024, News

New Opinion gives clarity to organisations on how to comply with age assurance

Two home improvement companies fined a total of £250,000 for making illegal marketing calls

16 January 2024, News

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has fined two home improvement companies a total of £250,000 for bombarding people on the UK’s ‘do not call’ register with millions of unlawful marketing calls.

Information Commissioner’s Office launches consultation series on generative AI

15 January 2024, News

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has launched a consultation series on generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), examining how aspects of data protection law should apply to the development and use of the technology.

ICO fines HelloFresh £140,000 for spam texts and emails

12 January 2024, News

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has fined food delivery company HelloFresh £140,000 for a campaign of 79 million spam emails and 1 million spam texts over a seven-month period.

Information Commissioner’s Office MBE awards in the King’s New Year Honours List

30 December 2023, News

ICO Deputy Chief Executive, Paul Arnold and Senior Independent Director, Nicola Wood have been awarded MBEs in the King’s New Year Honours List. Paul Arnold receives his award for services to…

“We are not seeing the improvement both we and the public need” – ICO issues enforcement notice to GMP over transparency failures

20 December 2023, News

Enforcement notice issued to Greater Manchester Police over failure to clear Freedom of Information backlog

Bank of Ireland UK reprimanded for inaccurate data on customers’ accounts

15 December 2023, News

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issued Bank of Ireland UK with a reprimand for mistakes made on more than 3,000 customers’ credit profiles.

ICO fines Ministry of Defence for Afghan evacuation data breach

13 December 2023, News

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has fined the Ministry of Defence (MoD) £350,000 for disclosing personal information of people seeking relocation to the UK shortly after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in 2021.

Two new employment guidance pieces out for consultation

12 December 2023, News

We are producing an online resource with topic-specific guidance on employment practices and data protection. We are releasing our drafts of the different topic areas in stages and adding to the resource over time, and two new pieces of guidance are now out for public consultation.

Court of Appeal ruling on immigration exemption brings ‘greater empathy’ - Commissioner

11 December 2023, News

The Court of Appeal has ruled that the government must make changes to the immigration exemption in the Data Protection Act 2018 to make it clearer.

UK Information Commissioner warns against 2024 becoming the year people lose trust in AI

06 December 2023, News

UK Information Commissioner, John Edwards, will today warn that 2024 could be the year people lose trust in AI – and call on tech developers to embed privacy into their products from the very start.

ICO reprimands council for disclosing domestic abuse victim’s details to ex-partner

29 November 2023, News

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issued a reprimand to Charnwood Borough Council after it disclosed the new address of a domestic abuse victim to her ex-partner.

Hospitals urged to improve data protection standards following incident at NHS Fife

28 November 2023, News

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issued a reprimand to NHS Fife, after an unauthorised person was able to enter a ward and access the personal information of 14 patients.

Former NHS secretary found guilty of illegally accessing medical records

17 November 2023, News

A former NHS employee has been found guilty and fined for illegally accessing the medical records of over 150 people.

‘Be smarter than your smart tech’ – ICO issues top tips for consumers buying smart devices on Black Friday

15 November 2023, News

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has shared its top tips to support consumers shopping smart tech this Black Friday.

ICO and European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) sign Memorandum of Understanding

08 November 2023, News

The UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which reinforces their common mission to uphold individuals’ data protection and privacy rights, and cooperate internationally to achieve this goal.

Information Commissioner’s Office issues three fines totalling £170,000 for illegal direct marketing

02 November 2023, News

Three companies offering financial services have been fined £170,000 collectively by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) for illegal direct marketing under the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR).

ICO reprimands University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust for lost referrals

30 October 2023, News

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issued a reprimand to Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust after a computer system caused some patient referrals to be delayed or lost altogether.

ICO seeks Sandbox entrants for 2024

13 October 2023, News

Organisations have until the end of this year to submit expressions of interest in entering the ICO’s Regulatory Sandbox in 2024.

Court of Appeal rules ICO acted lawfully in subject access request complaint litigation

10 October 2023, News

The UK Information Commissioner has welcomed the Court of Appeal’s ruling on a long-running court battle over a subject access request complaint.

UK Information Commissioner issues preliminary enforcement notice against Snap

06 October 2023, News

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issued Snap, Inc and Snap Group Limited (Snap) with a preliminary enforcement notice over potential failure to properly assess the privacy risks posed by Snap’s generative AI chatbot ‘My AI’.

ICO publishes guidance to ensure lawful monitoring in the workplace

03 October 2023, News

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is calling on organisations to consider both their legal obligations and their workers’ rights before they implement any monitoring in the workplace.

Information Commissioner calls on public authorities to stop using spreadsheets in FOI responses

28 September 2023, News

Advice comes following recent high profile data breaches.

Data breaches put domestic abuse victims’ lives at risk, UK Information Commissioner warns

27 September 2023, News

Warning comes after the ICO reprimands seven organisations in the past 14 months for data breaches affecting victims of domestic abuse.

“This needs to be dealt with.” - ICO issues Enforcement Notice to City of York Council over FOI backlog

21 September 2023, News

Information Commissioner issues Enforcement Notice relating to backlog of 261 FOI requests

ICO issues half a million pounds in new fines as fight to tackle illegal nuisance calls continues

20 September 2023, News

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issued fines totalling £590,000 to five companies for collectively making 1.9 million unwanted marketing calls which targeted the elderly and people with vulnerabilities.

Share information to protect children and young people at risk, urges UK Information Commissioner

14 September 2023, News

Organisations will not get in trouble if they share information to protect children and young people at risk of serious harm, the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has promised.

Former social services council employee fined for unlawfully accessing sensitive personal data

13 September 2023, News

A former family intervention officer at St Helens Borough Council has been sentenced for unlawfully accessing social services records.

ICO to review period and fertility tracking apps as poll shows more than half of women are concerned over data security

07 September 2023, News

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is reviewing period and fertility apps as new figures show more than half of women have concerns over data security.

ICO publishes new guidance on sending bulk communications by email

30 August 2023, News

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has today issued a warning to organisations to use alternatives to the blind carbon copy (BCC) email function when sending emails containing sensitive personal information, following a catalogue of business blunders.

Joint statement on data scraping and data protection

24 August 2023, News

The Information Commissioner’s Office and eleven other data protection and privacy authorities from around the world have today published a joint statement calling for the protection of people’s personal data from unlawful data scraping taking place on social media sites.

One in three young people falling prey to ‘text pests’ as ICO calls for victims to come forward

22 August 2023, News

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has today launched a call for victims of so-called ‘text pests’ to come forward to help the regulator gather evidence of the impact of this illegal behaviour.

ICO consultation on the draft biometric data guidance

18 August 2023, News

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is producing guidance on biometric data and biometric technologies.

“We are continuing to deliver for the public” – ICO publishes practice recommendations and enforcement notices on FOI

10 August 2023, News

The ICO has today published action on five public bodies – Liverpool City Council, London Borough of Tower Hamlets, the Medicines & Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, the Ministry of Defence and the Environment Agency - for failures to meet expected standards in responding to Freedom of Information Act requests.

ICO and CMA: Harmful online design encourages consumers to hand over personal information

09 August 2023, News

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) are calling for businesses to stop using harmful website designs that can trick consumers into giving up more of their personal data than they would like.

‘Hang up, report them to us – you don’t owe nuisance callers your time’

02 August 2023, News

ICO advice to people receiving cold calls, as government looks to ban cold calls on financial products.

ICO warns of email data breach risk as it issues two reprimands

02 August 2023, News

The Information Commissioner’s Office has reprimanded two Northern Irish organisations for disclosing people’s information inappropriately via email.

ICO reprimands NHS Lanarkshire for sharing patient data via WhatsApp

01 August 2023, News

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issued a reprimand to NHS Lanarkshire, following staff’s unauthorised use of WhatsApp to share patients’ personal data over the course of two years.

ICO backs new data sharing schemes to protect gamblers from harm

13 July 2023, News

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has today backed proposals for the financial sector to share data with gambling companies to protect customers from unaffordable losses.

ICO Sandbox publishes exit report following work with the Betting and Gaming Council to reduce incidents of gambling related harm

13 July 2023, News

The ICO’s Regulatory Sandbox aims to support organisations who are creating products and services which utilise personal data in innovative and safe ways. The Betting and Gaming Council entered the Sandbox to explore the gambling industry’s development and trial of a Single Customer View (SCV) solution. The trial built on the work previously undertaken by the Gambling Commission within the Sandbox in 2021. The SCV solution developed by the BGC and the participating operators (Entain, William Hill, 888, Gamesys, Bet365 and Flutter) aims to enable a more unified and proactive intervention by gambling operators to reduce incidents of gambling related harm. Following the completion of the Sandbox pilot, the data-sharing project – now known as GamProtect – will be implemented across the gambling industry with support from the Betting and Gaming Council.

ICO submits Data protection and journalism code of practice to the Secretary of State

06 July 2023, News

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has published a code of practice about using personal information for journalism (the code), and formally submitted it to the Secretary of State at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.

“They are failing their residents.” - ICO takes action against Croydon Council for failing to respond to Freedom of Information requests

30 June 2023, News

Council hit with enforcement notice for “repeated, systemic” failures on information law.

ICO urges organisations to harness the power of data safely by using privacy enhancing technologies

19 June 2023, News

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is recommending organisations to start using privacy enhancing technologies (PETs) to share people’s personal information safely, securely and anonymously.

Don’t be blind to AI risks in rush to see opportunity – ICO reviewing key businesses’ use of generative AI

15 June 2023, News

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) will today call for businesses to address the privacy risks generative AI can bring before rushing to adopt the technology – with tougher checks on whether organisations are compliant with data protection laws.

Two energy firms fined combined £250,000 for making unlawful marketing calls

08 June 2023, News

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has fined two energy companies a total of £250,000 for bombarding people and businesses on the UK’s ‘do not call’ register with unlawful marketing calls.

ICO warns of “real danger” of discrimination in new technologies that monitor the brain

08 June 2023, News

The Information Commissioner’s Office is warning that newly emerging neurotechnologies risk discriminating against people if those groups are not put at the heart of their development.