Data Protection Fee

[nickf]

I have just received a letter from the Information Commissioner's Office trying to encourage me to part with £40 or £60 of hard earned each year for each Ltd company I run in order to register with the ICO and pay a data protection fee.

I'm not really sure what benefit I will receive from paying for this service (other than avoiding a potential £4000 fine). At least Dick Turpin wore a mask!

I just wondered if others had received similar and how many are paying.

 

[B'o'B]

I have just received a letter from the Information Commissioner's Office trying to encourage me to part with £40 or £60 of hard earned each year for each Ltd company I run in order to register with the ICO and pay a data protection fee.

I'm not really sure what benefit I will receive from paying for this service (other than avoiding a potential £4000 fine). At least Dick Turpin wore a mask!

I just wondered if others had received similar and how many are paying.

Yes we got it, I've just put CCTV up so knew I should be doing something now anyway.
Just to reassure you it is supposed to be of absolutely no benefit to you at all, it is (supposed) to be for the benefit of the people you hold the data about. But you are right in the tone of your post it is essentially a data protection-racket fee.
Finding what "Industry Sector" we are in on the ICO website was a good giggle.....

 

[nickf]

Just spoke to them, apparently "agriculture" is no longer on their list of sectors so I guess that sums up the level of regard we are held in with government!

 

[Highland Mule]

I have just received a letter from the Information Commissioner's Office trying to encourage me to part with £40 or £60 of hard earned each year for each Ltd company I run in order to register with the ICO and pay a data protection fee.

I'm not really sure what benefit I will receive from paying for this service (other than avoiding a potential £4000 fine). At least Dick Turpin wore a mask!

I just wondered if others had received similar and how many are paying.

I had a similar letter. If you have the same one, there is an opportunity to do a questionaire which will determine if you are liable or not. As I hold no such data, I wasn't, was recorded as such and hence had no fee.

 

[nickf]

I had a similar letter. If you have the same one, there is an opportunity to do a questionaire which will determine if you are liable or not. As I hold no such data, I wasn't, was recorded as such and hence had no fee.

I let some property out to individuals rather than companies and therefore have to pay.

 

[Highland Mule]

I let some property out to individuals rather than companies and therefore have to pay.

Fair enough, if you're storing personal data. Best make sure you're complying with the rules in how it's stored though, as surely next thing will be an audit.

 

[Johnnyboxer]

I have just received a letter from the Information Commissioner's Office trying to encourage me to part with £40 or £60 of hard earned each year for each Ltd company I run in order to register with the ICO and pay a data protection fee.

I'm not really sure what benefit I will receive from paying for this service (other than avoiding a potential £4000 fine). At least Dick Turpin wore a mask!

I just wondered if others had received similar and how many are paying.

I handle personal data so have been subscribing to the ICO since 2009

Just pay £40 annually

I think your contact has arisen from a sweep of Companies House registers

Applies to Sole Traders and Partnerships-but harder to track, as there is no official registration of businesses

 

[sjt01]

It is easy (once you have found your way round the web site) to register as not needing to pay a fee - we only hold data for payroll, and our CCTV is to observe machinery operation (mainly the digester), not people, so registered as not fee paying.
It appears once you have had the letter you have GOT to either pay or register as non-paying.

 

[radar]

Got the letter too. Googling shows it is genuine, but unfortunately looks like a scam letter!
Exempt though!

 

[robs1]

What letter guv never had it honest.

 

[Cab-over Pete]

Was going to look into this tomorrow, thought it looked like a scam.

Another few quid. This kind of shite just keeps chipping away at us.

 

[Feldspar]

I am a bit confused by this. We have one company which is just an investment company. Owns some land and shares and has only family as directors. Does this count for this or not? I too thought it a scam to start with.

 

[Highland Mule]

I am a bit confused by this. We have one company which is just an investment company. Owns some land and shares and has only family as directors. Does this count for this or not? I too thought it a scam to start with.

Do the questionnaire - if the company holds personal data of clients etc then it needs to register. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. I suspect it doesn’t, but only you and your fellow directors will know that.

 

[Courier]

FYI....

"The EU GDPR is an EU Regulation and it no longer applies to the UK. ... The EU GDPR may also still apply directly to you if you operate in Europe, offer goods or services to individuals in Europe, or monitor the behaviour of individuals in Europe."

I'll bet the powers that be will or have already come up with something to replace it though ...