Data Protection Update

It is the topic everyone seems to be avoiding at the moment, yet it concerns most businesses across all manner of industries and getting it wrong is not an option. I am referring of course to the new General Data Protection Regulations.

By May 2018, all companies trading in the European Union must comply with these new Regulations which will replace the Data Protection Act. Now that the rules have been published, Recruitment Agencies up and down the country will shortly need to take action to ensure they remain compliant.

The biggest impact we can expect to see under the new rules is the introduction of fines for breaches of data protection. These can be as much as €20,000,000 or 4% of global turnover, whichever is higher. This means if your Agency is caught breaching the core data protection obligations then you are looking at being fined some serious money.

When it comes to Data Protection and information we know that the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) are rigorous in their checks and will issue fines where they are warranted. Only last year a Recruitment Agency was fined £5,000 and ordered to pay costs of nearly £500 for failing to register with the ICO.

So what should you do next?

Firstly, don’t panic. While you do need to start thinking about your obligations under these new rules, you do have time to ‘take stock’ as you have just under a year to implement them. But we wouldn’t recommend putting this off any longer as some of the tasks are quite complex.  For further guidance as to the Regulations and what you need to be doing, TBOS customers can call us on 0845 881 1112.


Stewart Roberts

Written by Stewart Roberts

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