Accessing my personal information

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Quick facts

• If you have a mental health problem, you may want to see what information an organisation keeps on file about you. This could include employers, doctors, hospitals, social services and the police.
• You usually have a legal right to access personal information – sometimes called personal data – held about you by an organisation. This right is protected by the Data Protection Act 2018 and UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR).
• There are some situations where an organisation is allowed to withhold your personal information from you.
• To access your personal information you need to make a request in writing, called a subject access request (SAR).
• Organisations have one calendar month to respond to your subject access request. They are not usually allowed to charge you a fee for supplying your data.
• If your request is refused or ignored, you can write to the organisation to remind them of their obligations. If they still don't provide what you've asked for, you can complain to the organisation.
• If you don't receive a satisfactory response to your complaint, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).

This information was published in November 2021. We will revise it in 2024.

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