We’re encouraging entrepreneurs to think about data protection as they make plans to launch their new business ventures this January, ahead of the new tax year.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is the UK regulator for information rights. We empower all organisations to use people’s information responsibly and confidently and provide proactive guidance and practical tools to help organisations get it right.
Where better place to start than our beginner’s guide to data protection – here you’ll find eight easy steps to get you started on your data protection journey
Why does it matter?
Making sure you have the appropriate measures and practices in place from the outset will give your small business a head start and ensure you’re compliant with data privacy laws whilst showing your customers, suppliers, and any others that you deal with, that you are a brand they can trust.
How can the ICO help?
As well as hosting an array of informative videos on our e-learning site, specifically for small organisations, we have also created a number of free tools to help make data protection simple and hassle free:
Privacy notice generator
Under data protection law, every organisation that holds people’s information needs to explain why it holds it and what it does with it.
Organisations can provide this information through a privacy notice, which is displayed on their website or included in other communications, to ensure they’re compliant.
In just a few simple steps, our new privacy notice generator will create a bespoke privacy notice for your organisation, ready in 10 to 15 minutes. The generator tool can create two types of privacy notice – one for your customer and supplier information, and one for your staff and volunteers if you have them.
Direct marketing advice generator
Direct marketing is where you advertise or communicate marketing messages to particular people or organisations. This includes promoting your aims and ideals.
All organisations carrying out direct marketing must comply with the Privacy and Electronic Communication Regulations (PECR), and the UK GDPR.
Our brand-new direct marketing advice generator provides reliable compliance advice, tailored to your own direct marketing activities via one quick and easy tool.
It covers many types of direct marketing to meet a range of needs – from SMS, email, direct mail, social media, outbound telephony and more.
This will mean you’re only contacting people who are happy to hear from you, saving you time and money and protecting your reputation.
Bitesize ‘how to’ videos
We’ve recently included some new practical video guides to the existing range on our website.
These will provide you with tips and advice on a wide range of data protection topics, and how to put them into practice.
Faye Spencer, head of business services at the ICO said:
“It can be a busy and overwhelming time starting any new business and that’s why we want to make sure your data protection compliance is as simple and stress-free as it can be.
“Start-ups are often made up of only a small number of employees, with little time and resources so data protection might not always be at the forefront of a business owners mind. However, it is hugely important and implementing this from the outset will put you above the rest.
“Our tools are designed to be quick and easy and provide organisations with the support they need, so they can concentrate on what they’re good at, serving the needs of their customers and growing their organisation.”
Under the Data Protection (Charges and Information) Regulations, all organisations must pay the data protection fee, unless exempt. This fee funds our work, which includes providing resources to help organisations handle and process personal information correctly and lawfully. To check if you need to pay the fee you can use our quick data protection fee self- assessment tool.
