Policy Briefing — UK Data Protection and Digital Information Bill Introduced
The UK government introduced the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill, proposing targeted reforms to UK GDPR accountability, international transfers, and digital identity governance that demand refreshed privacy controls and testing.
Executive briefing: On 18 July 2022 the UK government laid the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill before Parliament. The 240-page Bill proposes targeted reforms to the UK GDPR, Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018), and Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR), alongside new governance for trusted digital identity services and data sharing for public services. Ministers frame the package as a way to reduce administrative burdens while preserving the EU’s adequacy decision. Privacy, risk, marketing, and digital identity teams must now evaluate how the draft provisions would reshape accountability artefacts, legitimate interest assessments, international transfer documentation, and consent management workflows.
The Bill retains core UK GDPR principles—lawfulness, fairness, transparency, purpose limitation, data minimisation, accuracy, storage limitation, integrity, and accountability—but amends the way organisations evidence compliance. It introduces a concept of “recognised legitimate interests” enabling certain processing without balancing tests, gives controller discretion to determine whether to conduct “assessments of high-risk processing” instead of prescriptive DPIAs, and replaces mandatory Data Protection Officers with a “senior responsible individual” (SRI) for most organisations. It also revises PECR rules to permit analytics cookies without consent in more scenarios, expands smart data schemes, and sets the foundation for government-issued identity attributes.
Accountability reforms
While the government positions the Bill as reducing paperwork, the accountability changes require careful redesign of privacy management frameworks:
- Senior responsible individual. Most controllers currently required to appoint a Data Protection Officer must instead designate an SRI from the organisation’s senior management. Unlike DPOs, SRIs may have other responsibilities but remain accountable for oversight of processing, risk mitigation, and cooperation with the ICO. Organisations must update governance charters, reporting lines, and conflicts-of-interest controls to reflect the new model.
- Privacy management programmes. Article 24 of the amended UK GDPR requires controllers and processors to implement a “privacy management programme” proportionate to the organisation’s size and processing activities. Expected components include policies, roles, risk assessments, training, and continuous improvement cycles. This codifies what many organisations already maintain but gives the ICO explicit authority to assess programme maturity.
- High-risk assessment flexibility. The Bill removes the explicit DPIA requirement and instead asks controllers to assess high-risk processing using their privacy management programme. Organisations must define risk methodologies that still capture threats to individuals, integrate security and ethics reviews, and document decisions for accountability.
- Record-keeping thresholds. Controllers no longer need Article 30 records of processing if they have fewer than 250 employees unless processing is likely to result in high risk, involves special categories, or is frequent. Larger enterprises should maintain RoPA artefacts to demonstrate accountability, but may streamline content.
Lawful basis and individual rights
The Bill introduces a schedule of “recognised legitimate interests” covering public interest communications, national security, crime prevention, democratic engagement, and certain business-to-business marketing. For these activities, controllers need not perform a legitimate interest balancing test. Compliance teams should evaluate whether relying on the schedule aligns with customer expectations and sector codes of conduct, particularly where EU operations remain subject to the stricter test.
Subject access requests may be refused or charged a reasonable fee when they are “vexatious or excessive,” broadening the previous “manifestly unfounded or excessive” standard. Controllers must establish policies defining criteria for vexatious requests, maintain audit trails, and ensure staff are trained to recognise legitimate requests. Timeframes for responding remain one month, with possible extension of two months for complex cases.
The Bill also modifies the definition of “scientific research” to facilitate data use in R&D, clarifies that automated decision-making restrictions only apply when there is a “significant effect,” and aligns child’s consent age for information society services at 13 years. Organisations should reassess profiling controls, human review triggers, and privacy notices to ensure they accurately reflect proposed changes.
International transfers and adequacy
To maintain EU adequacy while enabling more agile transfers, the Bill introduces a test for “data protection test” (DPT) decisions. The Secretary of State may recognise third countries, territories, or international organisations if they ensure a “not materially lower” level of protection compared with UK standards. Controllers conducting their own transfer risk assessments may rely on similar thresholds, reducing formality compared with the current EU standard but still requiring documented analysis of legal frameworks, enforcement, and redress mechanisms.
Privacy teams must therefore refresh transfer impact assessments, update standard contractual clauses (SCCs) to the UK International Data Transfer Agreement (IDTA) or addenda, and monitor adequacy decisions for divergence from EU lists. Organisations operating across the EEA and UK should maintain dual-track assessments to satisfy both regimes.
Digital identity and public sector data sharing
Part 2 of the Bill establishes a trust framework for digital verification services. Providers seeking certification must meet security, privacy, and integrity requirements set by the Secretary of State, with oversight from the Office for Digital Identities and Attributes (ODIA). Businesses planning to rely on government-backed identity credentials should prepare for accreditation processes, interoperability testing, and liability apportionment when identity assertions fail.
The Bill also expands data-sharing gateways for public sector bodies, including better use of civil registration data and streamlined mechanisms for combating fraud. Private organisations collaborating with government programmes must ensure data sharing agreements account for new legal gateways, retention schedules, and audit obligations.
Outcome testing and assurance considerations
Even if the Bill reduces formal documentation, the ICO expects organisations to evidence effectiveness. Privacy leaders should enhance testing and assurance mechanisms:
- Programme effectiveness reviews. Conduct annual internal audits of the privacy management programme, measuring policy adoption, incident response times, training completion, and risk treatment closure rates.
- Rights handling drills. Perform tabletop exercises simulating vexatious subject access requests, complaints to the ICO, and cross-border transfer queries. Document decision rationale and ensure SRI sign-off.
- Cookie consent testing. Monitor analytics and marketing deployments to verify that PECR exemptions are applied correctly, banners remain transparent, and user preferences are honoured across devices.
- Transfer resilience checks. Validate technical and organisational safeguards for international transfers, including encryption key management, access controls, and vendor oversight.
Interdependencies with other reforms
The Bill sits alongside the UK’s Online Safety Bill, forthcoming AI white paper, and sectoral initiatives like the Financial Conduct Authority’s data strategy. Organisations should coordinate responses to ensure consistent governance of automated decision-making, children’s data, and transparency obligations. Multinationals must also prepare for divergence from EU GDPR interpretations, particularly in adtech, employee monitoring, and scientific research contexts. Maintaining EU-standard controls may be prudent to avoid fragmentation and preserve adequacy status.
Next steps
The Bill will proceed through second reading, committee scrutiny, and potential amendments. Political changes have already delayed progress, and the government signalled in autumn 2022 that it would refine the draft before resubmitting in 2023. Nevertheless, organisations should treat the July 2022 text as a strong indicator of policy direction. Recommended roadmap:
- 0–3 months: Map proposed changes to existing accountability artefacts, identify where EU requirements are stricter, and brief executive sponsors on governance adjustments.
- 3–6 months: Prototype privacy management programme metrics dashboards, update subject rights playbooks, and rehearse SRI reporting to the board or risk committee.
- 6–12 months: Align digital identity strategy with ODIA certification criteria, update vendor contracts for international transfers, and engage with industry consultations to influence secondary legislation.
By preparing now, UK and multinational organisations can absorb the reforms without sacrificing data protection maturity or regulatory trust.
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