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The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has launched a new video aimed at helping care-experienced people understand their rights to access their personal care records.
The three-minute explainer, My right to better records, explains how care-experienced people can make a right of access request, commonly known as a Subject Access Request (SAR), under UK data protection law.
The video explains what a SAR is, how to make a request and what people can expect once it has been submitted. The ICO hopes social care professionals and organisations supporting care-experienced people will use it to help explain the process and support conversations with those seeking access to their records.
The resource forms part of the ICO’s Better Records Together campaign, which aims to improve how care records are created, handled, accessed and disclosed throughout their lifecycle.
The campaign follows research highlighting significant problems faced by care-experienced people attempting to obtain their records. Of those who had accessed their records, 89% were left with questions or concerns, while 71% reported poor communication from their local authority. A further 69% said the process took longer than expected, with some people waiting up to 16 years.
Jenny Brotchie, Principal, Scottish Affairs at the ICO, said that knowing about the right to access records was “just the beginning” for many care-experienced people, with navigating the process potentially complex and overwhelming.
She said social workers and other practitioners had an important role in helping people understand and exercise their rights, adding that the ICO hoped the video would support conversations between professionals and care-experienced individuals.
The launch follows an ICO briefing in July attended by more than 50 social care leaders across the UK. Local authorities and health and social care trusts were asked to commit publicly to improving the creation, handling and accessibility of care records by implementing the Better Records Together care records standards.
The ICO also ran a UK-wide supervision pilot during 2025 and 2026, monitoring 19 organisations to identify and drive improvements in the handling of care records.
The regulator said it would prioritise enforcement action where organisations persistently delay responses to SARs or fail to take measures to reduce harm and address delays.
The ICO has already taken enforcement action against organisations over problems with care records. This has included reprimands issued to Glasgow City Council and City of Edinburgh Council in February 2025, an enforcement notice against Bristol City Council in September 2025 over delays involving child social care data, and an £18,000 fine issued to Scottish charity Birthlink in July 2025 after approximately 4,800 personal records were destroyed.
Local authorities and social care providers that have not yet engaged with Better Records Together are being encouraged to use the campaign’s resources and commit to its care records standards.
To watch the video, click here.
