The Information Commissioners Office (ICO) has announced the 3 tier system that is likely to be used to determine the amount of the fee payable to the ICO from April 2018.
This is still subject to change and will require parliamentary approval.
The new fee structure is expected to come into force in April or May 2018. It’s expected that data controllers, who have a current registration (or notification) under the Data Protection Act, do not have to re-register or pay the new fee until that registration has expired.
The proposed fees:
Tier 1: annual fee of up to £55 – this tier is for SME’s that do not process large volumes of data.
The likely criteria:
- Staff headcount below 250; and
- Turnover below £50M pa; and
- Number of records processed under 10,000.
Tier 2: annual fee of up to £80 – this tier is for SME’s that process large volumes of data.
The expected criteria:
- Staff headcount below 250; and
- Turnover below £50M pa; and
- Number of records processed above 10,000.
Tier 3: annual fee of up to £1,000 – this tier is for large businesses.
The likely criteria:
- Staff headcount above 250; and
- Turnover above £50M pa.
Direct marketing top-up fee of £20 – this is for organisations that carry out electronic marketing activities as part of their business.