{"id":1324,"date":"2020-02-27T16:28:25","date_gmt":"2020-02-27T16:28:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aysgarthaccountants.co.uk\/?p=1324"},"modified":"2022-03-24T16:16:57","modified_gmt":"2022-03-24T16:16:57","slug":"gdpr-hasnt-gone-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aysgarthaccountants.co.uk\/gdpr-hasnt-gone-away\/","title":{"rendered":"GDPR hasn\u2019t gone away!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

THE INFORMATION COMMISSIONER\u2019S OFFICE<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are currently being inundated, on a near daily basis, with letters from the Information Commissioner\u2019s Office [ICO], addressed to clients who use our office as their registered office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 \u00a340 or \u00a360, with a discount for using a direct debit. Is paying \u00a335 too much when compared to a fine of \u00a34,000?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What can you do?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n