Do UK Pet Boarders Need to Pay the ICO Data Protection Fee?

A boarding business holds a lot of personal information: names, addresses, phone numbers, emergency contacts, vet details and photos of customers' homes and families. That makes you a data controller under UK law, and data controllers usually have to pay an annual fee to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). Some are exempt.

The fee

It's set by Parliament in three tiers:

• Tier 1, micro organisations: £52. Turnover of up to £632,000 or no more than 10 staff.

• Tier 2, small and medium: £78. Turnover of up to £36 million or no more than 250 staff.

• Tier 3, large: £3,763.

Paying by direct debit takes £5 off. Most small boarding businesses will be in Tier 1, but check the criteria against your own turnover and headcount.

Exemptions

The ICO says you don't need to pay if you process personal data only for certain purposes. The ones most relevant here are staff administration, advertising, marketing and public relations (for your own business), and accounts and records. Others include not-for-profit purposes, personal or household affairs, and processing without any automated system such as a computer.

The word that matters is "only". If you use personal data for anything outside the exempt purposes, the exemption stops applying.

CCTV

CCTV is the usual problem for boarders. Footage of identifiable people is personal data, and security isn't one of the exempt purposes. Many kennels and catteries run cameras for security, animal welfare or live webcams for owners. That's our reading of the rules, not ICO wording, so use the ICO's own self-assessment, which takes a few minutes, to get a definite answer for your set-up.

Exempt from the fee is not exempt from the law

The ICO is clear that even if you don't have to pay, you still have to meet your other data protection obligations. For a boarder that means:

• telling customers what you collect and why, usually in a short privacy notice

• collecting only what you need

• keeping it secure, so no notebook on the reception desk and no customer details scattered across personal phones

• not keeping it longer than you need it

It's easier to answer "what do I hold and where?" when it's all in one place rather than in notebooks, spreadsheets, WhatsApp threads and phone photos. PetPortal keeps your guests, owners, bookings and payments in a single account behind your login.

Sources

• ICO: Data protection fee

• ICO: Data protection fee exemptions

Correct as of October 2026. Fees are reviewed by the Government, so check the ICO website for current amounts. General information, not legal advice.