The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) announce new guidance in light of coronavirus

Click here to access the guidance.

What does the new guidance mean for my organisation?  

The ICO has acknowledged that ways of working have had to be adapted and that during the pandemic, it will not penalise organisations that it knows need to prioritise other areas or adapt normal approaches. Although the ICO cannot extend statutory timescales (such as a calendar month for responding to a data subject access request), it will inform people through its communication channels that they may experience delays when making data protection rights requests in the circumstances.

Do I still have to respond to data subject requests?

Yes. The new guidance does not mean that organisations can use the pandemic as a reason to delay responding to data subject requests. It may mean that it takes an organisation slightly longer to comply, but should not mean that organisations treat the current circumstances as an excuse for non-compliance. You should still do everything proportionate and reasonable in the circumstances to comply as soon as reasonably practicable.

What does this mean for data protection while working from home?

The ICO has also stated the following:

“Data protection is not a barrier to increased and different types of homeworking. During the pandemic, staff may work from home more frequently than usual and they can use their own device or communications equipment. Data protection law doesn’t prevent that, but you’ll need to consider the same kinds of security measures for homeworking that you’d use in normal circumstances.”

Should I have a home working policy? 

Yes. Organisations must ensure that, for staff who can work from home, their obligations in respect of processing personal data are clearly communicated. Organisations may already have a home working policy – if this is the case, then this should be reviewed to ensure it remains relevant and up-to-date for practices during this pandemic.

What information should I include in my home working policy? 

If organisations don’t have a formal home working policy, then they should set out, as soon as possible, in clear terms, what is expected of employees when working from home. These might include:

• If someone is using their own device for remote working, ensuring that any devices that hold work-related information have up-to-date anti-virus software and that broadband connections have properly configured firewalls.
• Reminding staff to contact the organisation’s IT department if they encounter any issues with home working, and not to try and resolve any issues themselves.
• Reminding staff that they should notify relevant individuals within the organisation if they consider that there might have been a personal data breach. A breach will still be notifiable even if it does occur at home during the pandemic. These should be logged by the organisation in their data breach log in the normal way.
• Ensuring staff lock their devices whenever they are not using them.
• Where possible, working in a separate part of the home to family members.
• Ensuring confidentiality of information – advising staff not to have phone calls where others are likely to hear the conversation. This might mean moving to a different room, closing the door, or arranging a call for a more convenient time. If employees have smart speakers, you may want to consider advising them to either turn these off, if they are working in the same room as it, or work in a different room.
• Wherever possible, avoid taking hard copy documents home, and, if papers are taken home, never placing those papers in a bin or using a home shredder – any such papers should be shredded back at the office in the usual way.
• Locking any papers in a safe place.
• Not using social media platforms (unless already used and permitted by the organisation) to discuss work matters.
• Advising extra caution with incoming emails as at times such as this there may be an increased risk of fraud, email hacking, spear phishing etc.
• Avoiding information being sent to personal email accounts (for example, so it can then be printed at home).
• Reminding staff of your organisation’s Information Security policies, procedures and protocols. These could be emailed to all staff working from home or they could be directed to such documents on the organisation’s intranet, for example.

Organisations should also ensure that their remote access systems can cope with increased demand.

Whilst the ICO appreciate the unprecedented nature of this pandemic, it does not mean that organisations can forget about their obligations as controllers of personal data. If a major data security breach were to happen, there is still the possibility of enforcement action where the organisation didn’t put in place good risk mitigation measures.

We have a specialist team of data protection lawyers here at Ward Hadaway, and would be happy to discuss any data protection concerns or issues that you might have.