ICO “Make a SAR” service

The ICO have recently launched a new “make a SAR” service. It provides a form for a requestor to complete, and then prepopulates an email with ICO branding on that is sent to the organisation.

The ICO appear to have done this so organisations receive more specific requests and guidance and to help manage requester’s expectations.

Any requests received in this way should be treated as a normal SAR – they are not the result of any form of complaint to the ICO or of any request for ICO involvement.

The ICO suggest that in order to find the right email to send the SAR to, a requestor should check the privacy notice of the organisation.

If you receive a SAR in this way, any responses you send will only be sent to the requestor, not the ICO. The ICO will not have any further involvement in the process.