The Data Use and Access Act 2025 – how to handle data protection complaints

The Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 (DUA Act) implements statutory obligations on data controllers. This article will focus on, in particular, the requirement for data controllers to ensure that, by June 2026, appropriate complaint procedures are put in place (s 103).

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has published draft guidance on complaint procedures to allow organisations time to prepare for and comply with the DUA Act. Such guidance was open to consultation but had closed on 19 October 2025.

When do data protection complaints arise?

Data protection complaints can arise from many situations and ultimately, come from individuals who are unhappy as to how their data was handled. Such situations may arise from those who:

• are not satisfied with how their data subject access request (DSAR) was dealt with or the organisation’s response;
• have been subject to a data breach or compromise; or
• are generally dissatisfied as to how their data has been used, stored or kept etc.

What does the DUA Act say?

The DUA Act now states that data controllers must ‘facilitate the making of complaints… by taking steps such as providing a complaint form which can be completed electronically or by other means’ (s 103). Before the introduction of the DUA Act, the ICO reiterated the importance of internal discussion between the data subject and the organisation to solve complaints before such issues were escalated. However, the introduction of this statutory obligation reinforces the concept that complaints must be dealt with internally first.

This therefore means that organisations will need a robust complaints procedure in place to deal with complaints directly. The procedure should be simple, accessible and easy to find.  The ICO guidance includes examples of what organisations could do. This includes:

• allowing complaints to be made on a form but submitted through various methods including, electronically, by email or by post;
• allowing complaints to be made via live chat functions online;
• utilising other online systems like a portal;
• allowing complaints to be made by telephone; and
• allowing complaints to be made to an individual.

Not only will the above help to ensure an effective complaints procedure is in place, but it can also help to invoke a sense of trust and understanding between the organisation and the individual making the complaint.