THE INFORMATION COMMISSIONER’S OFFICE
We are currently being inundated, on a near daily basis, with letters from the Information Commissioner’s Office [ICO], addressed to clients who use our office as their registered office.
The ICO are using data from Companies House, comparing that to their database and are writing to the businesses who have not registered with the ICO. Initially, the letters were sent to our clients who are residential landlords, however builders and increasingly diverse sectors are now on the hit list: management consultants, marketing companies etc.
The reason for the letters? The ICO say that if a company holds personal information about their customers for business purposes (like their names, addresses or telephone numbers) or uses CCTV for crime prevention, then it will need to pay the data protection fee. Interestingly their letter doesn’t mention staff. The amount needed to pay is dependent on the size and turnover of the limited company, but for most it will be either £40 or £60, with a discount for using a direct debit. Is paying £35 too much when compared to a fine of £4,000?
This all stems from the General Data Protection Regulation [GDPR] and it looks like this is the first step in a campaign to force SMEs to follow the bureaucratic data protection rules.
What can you do?
- Go to the ICO website where there is a hub of information where SMEs can find out more information about data protection.
- Check whether you are already registered.
- If you aren’t but don’t know if you should be registered with the ICO then you can make sure using the quick self-assessment tool on their website. If you do not need to pay then inform the ICO that you are exempt.
- But if you should be registered then make sure you do register or be prepared to face a £4,000 fine and to be named and shamed.
We at Aysgarth Chartered Accountants do take clients’ and staff data seriously, we are registered with the ICO and have a Privacy Policy.
