A new section 164A has been inserted into the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA) by the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 (DUA Act).
From 19th June 2026, Data Controllers will be required to have a complaints procedure to handle data protection complaints. They must also:
- acknowledge receipt of complaints within 30 days of receiving them;
- without undue delay, take appropriate steps to respond to complaints, including making appropriate enquiries, and keep Data Subjects informed; and
- without undue delay, tell Data Subjects the outcome of their complaints
Under the DPA, individuals are entitled to raise complaints where they believe there has been a breach of the UK GDPR e.g. not responding to a subject access request. This extends to any alleged non-compliance involving an individual’s personal data. The key requirement is that the issue must relate to the individual bringing the complaint. In other words, there needs to be a direct connection between the person and the alleged infringement. For example, if a complaint concerns deficiencies in a privacy notice, the individual will need to demonstrate how those shortcomings affect their own personal data, rather than simply pointing to general non-compliance.
There is no prescribed format for handling complaints and organisations have discretion in designing their processes. The essential requirement is that individuals must have a clear way to submit a complaint, and that complaints are acknowledged and responded to. Data Controllers may wish to build on existing complaint-handling frameworks that are already in place and functioning effectively; for example your FOI complaints procedure.
Notably, the legislation does not impose strict deadlines for issuing a final response. As long as responses are provided within a reasonable timeframe and individuals are kept informed of progress, there is no obligation to conclude an investigation within a fixed period. The ICO recently published its guidance explaining the new requirements. Data protection expert, and guest on the first Guardians of Data podcast, Jon Baines writes on his personal blog that in declining to suggest how long controllers should normally take to respond to data subject complaints, the ICO has missed an opportunity to provide regulatory clarity.
If you are looking to implement the changes made by the DUA Act to the UK data protection regime, consider our very popular half day workshop.
The newly updated UK GDPR Handbook (2nd edition) includes all amendments introduced by the DUA Act, with colour-coded changes for easy navigation and links to relevant recitals, ICO guidance, and caselaw that help make sense of the reforms in context. We have included relevant provisions of the amended DPA 2018 to support a deeper understanding of how the laws interact.
