20.04.2021
This week, many manufacturers will receive a letter from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) reminding them about payment of the ICO data protection fee.
Last year, the ICO wrote to companies in the manufacturing sector to remind them about the legal obligation to register with the ICO and pay the data protection fee. Whilst many manufacturers responded, either by registering with the ICO or explaining that they are exempt, not all did.
The ICO recognised the challenges businesses were facing due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and therefore did not follow up with manufacturers that didn’t respond to last year’s letter. However, the ICO has now asked Make UK to let our members know that many of them can expect to receive a letter this week (or shortly thereafter), reminding them to check whether they need to pay the fee and to let the ICO know if they don’t.
The cost of your data protection fee generally depends on your size and turnover. There are three tiers of fee ranging from £40 to £2,900. Charities and small occupational pension schemes only pay £40 regardless of size and turnover. You can use the ICO’s fee tier calculator to find out how much you will need to pay. You may also find the ICO's FAQs on the data protection fee useful.
You can check if you are up to date with your fee payment by searching the ICO register.
How we can help
As the ICO recognises, the difficulties in running a business during the pandemic may understandably have resulted in some GDPR obligations being placed on the back burner. If this is the case, you may find our upcoming webinar, GDPR in 2021: key issues for HR, a useful way to catch up on recent data protection developments.
In the ‘GDPR in 2021’ webinar, we will cover the data protection issues that arise from Covid-19, including the implications of asking employees about vaccination status and the introduction of workplace testing. We will also update you on the GDPR impact of the UK’s exit from the EU following the end of the transition period and address other key issues such as recent ICO guidance on subject access requests (SARs) and handling personal data securely in the context of remote/home-working.
The webinar will take place on the morning of Wednesday 21 April 2021. For more information and to book your place, click here.
Make UK members can also access our web based data protection resources here. We have produced a set of Essential GDPR Templates for HR, which contains the HR ‘must have’ documents required for GDPR compliance, including template employee and job applicant privacy notices, a data protection policy, an employee data retention process and more. These documents have just been updated to reflect issues around Covid-19, including testing and vaccination, as well as the end of the Brexit transition period and various recent changes to ICO guidance. For further information and to purchase the template documents, please click here.
If you are a Make UK member and you need support in relation to data protection, please contact your adviser. If you are not a Make UK member, please call 0808 168 5874 or email us at [email protected].