About us

1.1 The Information Commissioner’s Office is the UK's independent public body set up to promote access to official information and protect personal information. We enforce the Data Protection Act, the Freedom of Information Act, the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations and the Environmental Information Regulations.

1.2 The Data Protection Act and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations give you the right to know what information is held about you, and set rules to make sure information about you is handled properly. The Freedom of Information Act and the Environmental Information Regulations give you the right to obtain information held by public bodies unless there are good reasons to keep it confidential.

1.3 We have three functions:

• Educating and influencing: we promote good practice and give information and advice.
• Resolving problems: we resolve eligible complaints from people who think their rights have been breached.
• Enforcing: we use legal sanctions against those who ignore or refuse to accept their obligations, including prosecuting those who commit offences under the legislation.

1.4 We also help individuals and organisations to understand their rights and responsibilities through:

• raising awareness of the law and how it works;
• influencing thinking on privacy and access issues;
• providing an enquiry service;
• maintaining the public register of data controllers;
• approving publication schemes; and
• auditing organisations’ data protection practices.

1.5 Our Head Office is at Wilmslow in Cheshire. We also have regional offices in Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast and a small base in London; in total,we employ around 270 staff.