ICO Cracks Down on South Wales Police's Delays to SARs
The ICO issued an enforcement notice Tuesday as it slammed the South Wales Police for "serious delays" in handling subject access requests (SARs).
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The watchdog's investigation showed that between April 2023 and March 2024, the police responded to only 29% of access requests within the statutory timeframe; as of August 2025, it had 352 overdue SARs, one nearly two years old. The ICO ordered the force to clear the backlog by June 2026.
Wales' largest police unit, the South Wales Police oversees the safety of 1.3 million people, "all of whom deserve better when it comes to respecting their data rights," said ICO Head of Investigations Sally Anne Poole. Delays on this scale are "simply unacceptable."