Make a data protection complaint

Data protection law gives you the right to raise concerns about how your information is collected, used, shared or kept secure.

What is a data protection complaint?

You can make a data protection complaint if you are concerned about how the council has handled your personal data.

For example, you may be worried about:

• How we have responded to your request to access your personal data
• How your personal data has been collected or used (for example, if it is incorrect)
• Whether your personal data has been kept secure

How a data protection complaint is different from a service complaint

A data protection complaint only covers concerns about how your personal data has been handled.

If your concern is about service quality (for example, delays or communication issues), it will be treated as a service complaint instead and dealt with under the Corporate Complaint process instead.

Please see the summary table below for more examples.

I want my issues resolved informally

You can contact us by email at data.protection@suffolk.gov.uk and we'll try to resolve any concerns you may have informally.

If we can’t, we will send your correspondence to our Customer Rights team to respond formally, as per the below.

Submit a formal complaint

You can submit a data protection complaint through our compliments and complaints page.

You can also call the Council’s contact centre at 03456 066 067.

Information you must provide

Please give us enough information to investigate your concerns.

The online form will ask for relevant details. If you choose to contact us via email, we will need:

• Your full name (including any other names you may have been known by)
• Your address (including any previous addresses that may be known to the council)
• Details of your complaint - what happened, relevant dates, documents, and names of anyone who may help with the investigation
• Information about how the issue has affected you (if appropriate)

You can make a data protection complaint on behalf of someone else, but we will need to confirm you have authority to do so.

We cannot investigate complaints made on someone else’s behalf without the appropriate authority, but we’ll let you know what we need.

What happens after you submit a complaint

Once we receive your data protection complaint:

• Customer Rights will acknowledge it within five working days and send your complaint to the relevant service to respond
• The service will investigate by reviewing the information you have provided, checking the council’s records, speaking to relevant staff, and referring to our policies and processes
• The service will provide a written response to you regarding your concerns, in line with the corporate complaints process as determined and outlined by Customer Rights

If anything is unclear, Customer Rights will contact you for more information.

How long it will take

We will provide a response within twenty working days of acknowledging your complaint.

If your complaint is complex and we need more time, we will let you know as early as possible.

What you can do if you're still unhappy

If you remain unhappy with the council’s response, you will need to contact your allocated Customer Experience Manager who will advise on next steps.

You can also ask the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) to review your complaint by using the ICO's complaint form.

You can also call the ICO on 0303 123 1113, or write to the ICO at:

The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF