Small Business Data Protection Act Responsibilities

Every business generates some kind of records – whether they are quotes or invoices being sent to customers, correspondence, reports or emails, job offers sent to candidates, CVs received when advertising a job. The list is endless.

Where those records contain data about a person or another business it falls under the conditions of the Data Protection Act and the way that data is handled needs to meet certain criteria.

As a business owner or manager you have an obligation to meet with these criteria as set out by the Government's Information Commissioner's Office.

Most importantly, when the data is no longer required it needs to be disposed of in a way that means it cannot be used or accessed by anyone. As a business it is your legal duty to ensure this.

The only way you can be sure the data cannot be used in the future is to completely destroy it to the extent that it cannot be reconstituted. Essentially the only ways of doing this are burning or shredding.

Burning can be dangerous and time consuming, and will add to your company's carbon footprint. Also, there is the risk of certain parts not burning fully, or being blown away whilst the fire is burning. Not ideal.

Using a small office shredding machine is fine for one sheet at a time, but is a real pain if you have a lot to do. Plus you need to take out staples and rip pages out of note books. We think you have better things to do with your time.

Most big businesses have a contract with a shredding company to visit weekly or monthly. Without a contract the business shredding companies charge a pretty steep minimum collection charge for a one off or ad hoc collection. In addition you may have to wait in the office all day for them to turn up – not great if you have got appointments to attend.

Our HomeShred service takes the pain away.

Quick, convenient, cost effective and at a time to suit you. With no minimum or maximum order, we can grow with your business.

If you have one sack full a year, or 10 sacks to allow you to have a decent clear out, you can rest assured that your obligations under the data protection act will be fulfilled.

When we have completed the shredding we will send you a certificate to prove it. One less thing to worry about.