Data Protection Complaints

A data protection complaint is any expression of dissatisfaction about how EA has handled a living person’s personal data. 

A data protection complaint might include concerns that: 

• their personal data has been handled unfairly or unlawfully 
• their personal data has not been kept secure 
• their personal data has been kept longer than necessary 
• they are unhappy with how EA responded to a data rights request 

Email your complaint to dpo@eani.org.uk, with as much detail as possible. If you cannot email us, call the Information Governance Helpline on 028 9047 5011 and we will help you submit your complaint. 

EA will not regularly investigate complaints raised after a significant delay.  You should raise concerns within three months of your last meaningful contact with EA. Complaints raised after this timeframe will be logged at the discretion of the Head of Information Governance if a reasonable explanation for the delay has been provided. 

In line with ICO requirements, EA will acknowledge receipt of your complaint within 1 month of receipt and investigate. We will aim to complete our investigation and provide you with a written response to your complaint within a reasonable timeframe.  

If your complaint also involves a service issue that is not about data protection, that part of the complaint will be handled separately under the EA Corporate Complaints Handling Procedure, which you can access under Complaints, Comments and Compliments. 

If you are not satisfied with the response to your complaint, you may raise the matter with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). The ICO is the UK regulatory body for data protection matters. You can read about how the ICO handles data protection and raise a complaint to the ICO by visiting ICO website. 

If you make a complaint, we will use the personal information you provide to respond to you, investigate the issue, and keep a record of the complaint. We may share relevant information with other EA services where necessary. 

We do not ask for special category data, but if you choose to provide it, we will only process it were lawful and necessary, with appropriate safeguards.  

To find out more about how and why we use personal information, and who to contact if you have any questions, please see the EA Information Governance Service’s Privacy Notice.