Police Service of Northern Ireland fined £750,000 for breaching UK GDPR

Article summary

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has fined the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) £750,000 for breaches of the United Kingdom’s General Data Protection Regulation, Assimilated Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (UK GDPR). It was found that, between 25 May 2018 and 14 June 2024, PSNI did not carry out processing of its employees’ data with appropriate security or with appropriate technical and organisational measures in place, contrary to Articles 5(1)(f) and 32 of the UK GDPR. This resulted in the personal data of 9,483 police officers and staff being disclosed to the public. Due to the current financial position at PSNI, the ICO has decided to apply the public sector enforcement approach, reducing the penalty from an original determination of £5.6m.