UK Report March 2026

UK Report - Issue 144

02 March 2026

UK Report March 2026

Overview

Contents

COMMENTS

• A fresh forward look from the ICO
• PL&B 40th anniversary year coincides with new DP regime

LEAD STORIES

• Inside the ICO’s new enforcement toolkit: Breaking down the draft guidance
  Organisations should pay attention to the ICO’s new settlement procedure and expanded information gathering powers. By Alison Llewellyn and Katie Hewson of Stephenson Harwood.
• When an incident is just the tip of the cyber iceberg
  Richard Jeens and William Doyle of Slaughter and May reflect on lessons learned from ICO enforcement in 2025 and key developments for 2026.

NEWS

• Next steps for UK data protection

ANALYSIS

• Beyond the numbers: The psychological toll of data breaches on consumers
• Agentic AI: The ICO’s early signals on data protection risk

MANAGEMENT

• DUAA provides greater legal certainty on SARs for controllers

NEWS IN BRIEF

• ICO fines MediaLab.AI £247,000 for using children’s data unlawfully
  
• ICO issues guidance on how to deal with data protection complaints
  
• Government to consult on potential social media ban for under 16s
  
• Research on social media impact on young people shows mixed effects
  
• Reddit fined over £14.47m over child privacy failures
  
• ICO and Ofcom investigate Grok
  
• Guidance on DUAA ‘children’s higher protection matters’
  
• 59% of Brits are concerned about how much data is collected about them online
  
• Government collaborates with Microsoft on deepfake detection
  
• ICO writes to PM on growth agenda
  
• Alan Turing Institute: ‘Data poisoning’ is a growing risk
  
• ICO updates international transfer guidance
  
• Open Rights group criticises UK adequacy
  
• Jersey DPA issues roadmap for the future
  
• Secretary of State outlines UK AI plans