ICO ups data fees for large firms

Firms with over 250 employees will be liable for the higher fee

The UK's Information Commissioner has added a new fee for large firms looking to make sense of their data protection requirements.

From this week, firms that need to register as a data controller must pay £500 to the ICO for the privilege, a huge increase on the previous £35 flat rate fee.

The ICO said that the fee would apply to public bodies with staff numbers over 250, as well as private firms with the same staff numbers, and turnover of £25.9m and rising. Any firms that fall out of this area will still pay £35 per year according to the ICO.

By law any firm that processes personal information, whatever it may be, must register with the ICO. After this, compliance goes on public record in the Register of Data Controllers.

This is the first time that that ICO has raised its fees in this area. However, as the UK privacy watchdog, it has often complained that a lack of funding has hamstrung some of its activities. The ICO said that the higher charge for larger firms would help it to better protect public information and give it the funding to increase activity, particularly in the area of auditing.

Although there have been a large number of high profile data loss incidents, the watchdog usually prefers to guide rather than enforce on its rules, and last month released a web guide for online providers that handle personal information.