Written by: Haim Ravia, Dotan Hammer
The UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) published a blog outlining its enforcement approach to the UK public sector under the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018. The ICO emphasizes that its primary objective is to raise data protection standards across sectors rather than rely on fines as the default tool. Early engagement with senior decision-makers, audits, guidance, and sandbox-type support take precedence.
The blog explains that the ICO has prioritized tools such as warnings, reprimands, and enforcement notices, reserving fines for only the most egregious breaches. Reassurance is given that the regulator continues with “active conversations” and outcomes such as improved compliance-rates in public-authorities’ handling of subject-access-requests (SARs). The ICO maintains that this public sector approach offers three clear advantages: fostering a focus on improvements, minimizing negative impacts on vital public services, and providing regulatory certainty by clarifying expectations early in the process.
A key rationale offered is that punitive actions in the public-sector risk reducing budgets for essential services, thus punishing the same people who were harmed by a breach– so the ICO prefers interventions that are improvement-oriented, publicly visible, and which can drive reputational incentives across many organizations. The blog also stresses the importance of early and continued engagement with public bodies, embedding data-protection by design into major technology programs, clarifying expectations at project outset and thereby preventing costly retrofits.
Click here to read the ICO’s blog post regarding public sector enforcement.
