{"id":4205,"date":"2018-05-30T11:30:16","date_gmt":"2018-05-30T10:30:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/?p=4205"},"modified":"2026-01-29T10:37:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T10:37:07","slug":"ico-registration-data-protection-fee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-gb\/blog\/ico-registration-data-protection-fee\/","title":{"rendered":"What is an ICO registration and what is a data protection fee?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tStrategy, Legal & Operations<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tWhat is an ICO registration and what is a data protection fee?\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\tStacey McIntosh<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Have you got questions about the General Data Protection Regulation<\/a> (GDPR), which came into force on 25 May 2018? Are people in your business asking “what is an ICO registration” or “what is a data protection fee”? To answer those questions and more, we have put some answers together to help your business prepare for the new legislation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is the ICO?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The ICO stands for the Information Commissioner\u2019s Office. The ICO<\/a> is the UK\u2019s independent body that has been set up to uphold information rights in the public interest, promoting openness by public bodies and data privacy for individuals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The current UK Information Commissioner is Elizabeth Denham. She was appointed to that position in July 2016. Her past roles include Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia, Canada and Assistant Privacy Commissioner of Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ICO has offices across the UK. The head office is in Wilmslow, Cheshire, and there are other offices in Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is a data protection fee?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A data protection fee is a cost that businesses and organisations will have to pay to the ICO now the GDPR has come into effect. These are new fees in light of GDPR<\/a> (which at the time of writing haven\u2019t yet been confirmed \u2013 see below for more details). The money funds the data protection work that is carried out by the ICO and it includes the work carried out under the GDPR<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are three tiers of fees and data controllers (those who process personal data) will have to pay between \u00a340 and \u00a32,900 a year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the previous situation, the Data Protection Act 1998<\/a> required businesses that collect personal data to pay an annual registration fee to the ICO of \u00a335 (small and medium businesses) or \u00a3500 (large businesses and public-sector organisations with 250 or more staff and a turnover of at least \u00a325.9m).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was discontinued under GDPR. But the ICO announced it would continue to charge data collectors a fee \u2013 the data protection fee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How much does my business need to pay the ICO?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The size of your business will determine how much you have to pay each year. There are three payment tiers that you need to be aware of (it is a new fee structure to coincide with GDPR).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tier your business falls into will depend on a number of factors, such the number of employees you have, what your firm\u2019s annual turnover is, and whether you are a public authority or charity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are the three tiers and the associated annual costs:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tier 1: Micro organisations<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n