The ICO becomes the Information Commission on 30 September
The UK data regulator changes its legal structure on 30 September 2026. Its powers, its ICO name and the way people complain all stay the same, and anyone with a complaint in progress does not need to do anything.
The UK data protection regulator is changing its legal structure. On 30 September 2026 the Information Commissioner's Office, known to most people as the ICO, becomes a new body called the Information Commission. The regulator says its powers, and the rights it enforces, stay the same.
What is changing
Until now the ICO has been a 'corporation sole', which means its powers sit with a single person, the Information Commissioner. From 30 September those powers pass to the Information Commission, a body run by a board of executive and non-executive members who take decisions together. The government says the wider group will strengthen accountability and help the regulator keep pace with new technology.
What is not changing
For anyone who deals with the regulator, little changes on the day. The organisation keeps the ICO name. The rights it enforces, set out in data protection law, are not affected. Complaints and cases already under way carry over to the Information Commission automatically, under transitional rules in the regulations that bring the change into force.
What people need to do
Nothing. Anyone who wants to make a data complaint, or has already made one, can use the same process as before.
What happens next
The Centre for Digital Consumers will be watching how the new board uses its powers, and whether the change makes the regulator quicker to act on the complaints people bring.