Station Road, Sidcup
Close

How can we help?

Please fill in this form and we'll get back to you as soon as possible.

Please enter your name
Please enter your email address
Please enter your telephone number
Please enter a question
Please let us know how you heard about us
Please enter the verification code

We’ll only use this information to handle your enquiry and we won’t share it with any third parties. For more details see our Privacy Policy

Dealing With Subject Access Requests

Many businesses regard the Data Protection Act 2018 as something that merely requires a lot of form filling and the payment of fees, but there is a lot more to it than that.

The purpose of the Act is to protect a person's right to privacy with regard to the processing of their personal information. Individuals (‘data subjects’ in the terminology) have the right of access to information held about them. For example, a customer of your business has the right to contact you to request a copy of any data you hold on them so that they can check it. This is called a 'subject access request' (SAR). You are required by law to supply the information requested (once you have checked that they are who they say they are, of course). The individual making the request has the right to see data held in any form, not just that held on computer, so storing information in paper form does not avoid the responsibility.

Guidance on dealing with SARs is available from the Information Commissioner's website.

If you receive a SAR, you are required to supply not only all the information you hold on the data subject but also a description of why the information is processed, details of anyone it may be passed to or seen by, and the logic involved in any automated decisions. If you unjustifiably fail to comply with a SAR, the courts may impose a fine of up to £5,000. Any person who believes they have suffered damage and/or distress as a result of a contravention of the Act may seek compensation by applying to the High Court.

In the case of a failure to comply with a subject access request the Court may award compensation for distress alone.

The interpretation of the Court of Appeal is that ‘personal data’ has been defined in such a way that employees are only entitled to see information which is biographical ‘in a significant sense’ and which has the data subject as its focus. The mere mention of a person’s name does not entitle them to see the documents concerned. 

SARs are goverened by the General Data Protection Regulation. There is guidance on this from the ICO.

The contents of this article are intended for general information purposes only and shall not be deemed to be, or constitute legal advice. We cannot accept responsibility for any loss as a result of acts or omissions taken in respect of this article.