The ICO becomes the Information Commission on 30 September.
The UK data regulator is renamed and gets a new board on 30 September 2026 under the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025. Its functions do not change.
The Information Commissioner’s Office will become the Information Commission on 30 September 2026, the ICO said on 15 September, after the Government confirmed the date.
The change comes from the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, which alters how the regulator is governed while, in the ICO’s words, maintaining its existing regulatory functions and responsibilities. For anyone running social in the UK, the regulator behind UK GDPR guidance and the direct marketing rules keeps the same job under a new name.
The ICO says the move follows the announcement in July of seven Non-Executive Members appointed to the new Information Commission Board, who take up their roles on the same day. Through the transition, it says, the focus is on a smooth handover and continuity of service for the organisations and people it deals with.
What changes on the day
- The name: the ICO becomes the Information Commission from 30 September 2026.
- The governance: the new Information Commission Board, with the seven Non-Executive Members named in July, takes up its roles the same day.
- Not changing: the regulator’s functions and responsibilities, according to the ICO.
The legal instrument behind the date is the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 (Commencement No. 9 and Transitional and Saving Provisions) Regulations 2026, which the ICO links as further reading.
What the ICO has not said
The four-paragraph announcement does not mention a new web address, revised guidance, or any change to how complaints, registrations or fees are handled. It says only that continuity of service is the focus, so until the Information Commission says otherwise, assume every process stays where it is.
What it means for brands
Nothing you do on social has to change on 30 September: the ICO is changing its name and its board, not its powers or the rules it enforces, and that is the line to give your boss if the headline reaches them first. The operating consequence is copy, not compliance. Anywhere your team’s wording names the ICO or the Information Commissioner’s Office, in a privacy notice, competition terms, consent wording under a lead form, a community guidelines page or the complaints line in a DM template, will be out of date from that date. This week, search your templates and published pages for “ICO” and “Information Commissioner’s Office”, list every hit, and diary the change to “Information Commission” for 30 September rather than the day someone points it out.
Sources
The NBK Social briefing
Social media news and analysis from NBK Social, by email.