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ICO website user survey 2026

Purpose and lawful basis for processing

We are conducting a survey of our website users so we can understand current user experiences and inform future website improvements. 

We are also looking to identify individuals who are interested in participating in future website research and testing.

The lawful basis we rely on to process your data is your consent under article 6(1)(a) of the UK GDPR.  

If you tell us about any disability or website accessibility requirements, we treat this information as special category data and the lawful basis we rely on to process your data is your explicit consent under article 9(2)(a) of the UK GDPR. 

What we need

You can choose to complete the website survey anonymously, but if you indicate that you are interested in participating in future research and testing, we need to collect your full name and email address so that we can contact you.

This will mean your website survey response will no longer be anonymous, and your survey responses and any information you have provided us about disability or website accessibility requirements will be linked to you. 

What we do with it

We’ll use your name and email address to contact you and invite you to participate in future research. 

We ask for information about disability and accessibility requirements so that we can better understand how all types of users interact with our website and online services and so we can identify website users suitable for future website research and testing. We use this information to make improvements to our website to ensure we design an equitable and inclusive website experience for all.

How long we keep it

For information about how long we hold personal data, see our retention schedule.  

What are your rights?

You can withdraw your consent at any time by sending a request to the ICO at [email protected].

For more information on your rights, please see 'Your data protection rights'. 

Do we use any data processors?

Yes - this survey is created and run using Smart Survey who act as our data processor in relation to your survey responses. Further information about this is available in their Privacy Policy & Notice

Data controller contact information

The Information Commissioner is the controller for the personal information we process, unless otherwise stated. 

There are many ways you can contact us, including by phone, email, live chat and post. More details can be seen here

Our postal address:             

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

Helpline number: 0303 123 1113 

Our Data Protection Officer is Louise Byers. If you wish to contact her you can do so using the form here or via our postal address. Please mark the envelope ‘Data Protection Officer’.