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- Data Complaints Deadline: What UK Businesses Need to Do by 19 June

Data Complaints Deadline: What UK Businesses Need to Do by 19 June

Changes Coming

If you’ve not heard about the changes coming on 19 June 2026, now is absolutely the time to pay attention. A new legal requirement is coming into force for every business in the UK and it’s simpler to get right than you might think. Here’s what you need to know.

So, what’s changing?

The Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 has been working its way through UK law for a while and from 19 June, one of its key provisions becomes enforceable: every organisation must have a formal process for handling data protection complaints.

This isn’t just a best-practice recommendation. It’s a legal requirement. It applies to you whether you’re a five-person agency or a five-hundred-person enterprise.

What does “a complaints process” mean?

  • Give people a clear, accessible way to raise a data protection complaint
  • Acknowledge any complaint within 30 days of receiving it
  • Investigate the complaint without undue delay and keep the person informed along the way, tell the complainant the outcome.

That’s it. It doesn’t need to be complicated but it does need to be in place.

Why should this be important to you?

If you’re running email campaigns, managing CRM data, tracking user behaviour on websites, or running paid social using audience data, this affects you. The sectors specifically called out as having the highest volume of data complaints? Healthcare, financial services, technology, and retail.

What’s next?

  • Designate a point of contact for data complaints internally.
  • Draft a simple acknowledgement template so you’re ready to respond within 30 days.
  • Make it easy to complain, add a clear route to your privacy policy or contact page.

What happens if you don’t?

Having no process at all is a risk you don’t want to carry. Beyond regulatory exposure, it’s also just bad for customer relationships, unresolved complaints erode trust far faster than most things. Getting this right isn’t just about compliance. It’s good business.

Need help?

If you’re not sure where to start, whether this information can become more visible and clearer through your website, emails or other channels, we’re here.

Drop us a message and let’s make sure you’re sorted before the 19 June.