Need to know

• The Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 is rolling out, making rights like complaints and DSARs more practical and harder for organisations to ignore.

• Local firms can step in to draft precise complaints and targeted DSARs, helping clients access the exact records they need with real leverage behind the request.

Welcome to TSL’s Weekly Edge, whether you’re aiming for a regional or high-street practice, or just want to get a feel for how law works in the real world beyond textbooks, you’re in the right place. 

No corporate jargon, no massive deals, just real useful information designed to give you that extra edge in your legal journey.

🧠Wilson’s Weekly Wisdom

When things get busy, it’s easy to complain. And honestly, a good moan now and then can be quite therapeutic. I’m definitely no exception. But one thing I’ve learned is, it’s better to be a complainer than a quitter.

Will I do the task? Yes.

Will I likely complain? Also yes.

And that’s fine. The key is that the work still gets done. Progress doesn’t require silence or pretending everything is enjoyable. It just requires showing up and getting on with it, even if it means having a little moan at the end of the day.

📣 Your Turn: Ask Us Anything (Almost)

Got a question that’s been quietly bugging you about the legal world, commercial awareness, training contracts, or how regional firms actually work day to day? Good. We want it.

Each month, we’ll pick a question and do a an editorial response. No fluff. No corporate waffle. Just honest, practical answers you can actually use in applications, interviews, and real conversations in firms.

If you’re wondering it, chances are someone else is too. So be brave, be curious, and send it in.

👉 Submit your question here!

💡Spotlight Article

Sheer curiosity. A fair few of us have probably Googled ourselves at some point. Sometimes, it’s nothing to worry about. Other times, you think, how on earth is that still online?

An old listing. A profile you forgot existed. Some ancient review that refuses to go ghost.

But that’s the mild stuff, the whisper before the noise takes over. 

🔎What’s happening? 

The UK’s Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, DUAA, is rolling into force through 2026, and it’s quietly changing how organisations deal with personal data. No big dramatic headlines, and it’s not GDPR all over again.

It’s the UK tightening things up where it counts. 

Businesses get a bit of wiggle room, but they’re also being told to sort themselves out. In real terms, the way data shapes online rep is easier to challenge, clearer-cut, and a lot harder for companies to just shrug off.

Here’s the shift.

From 5 February 2026, if someone complains about how a business is handling your personal data, they must acknowledge it within 30 days. If they do not, the Information Commissioner’s Office, the ICO, can get involved.

By June 2026, complaints must be properly logged and pushed through an actual system. There are clear steps to escalate, so it’s a process now, not a choice.

Then there are recognised legitimate interests, which means companies can get on with routine tasks like fraud checks in property deals, without asking for fresh consent every five minutes, helping to keep the wheels turning smoothly.

Data Subject Access Requests, DSARs, are now described as reasonable and proportionate, as they are now only meant to search for the data that matters, not trawl through everything under the sun.

That should make requests quicker and more to the point. Automated decisions only get seriously restricted when they’re a big deal and involve sensitive characteristics like your health or ethnicity. Routine fraud screening will continue.

Also, the ICO is revamped, which means more oversight, more audits, and quicker enforcement!

The crux?

Holding someone’s data is no longer passive. If businesses are going to keep it, they need to justify it and deal properly with challenges.

❓ Why it matters to high street firms

Theoreticals are great if you have little intention of dealing with everyday people, but when individuals can challenge, access, and correct personal data more easily, and organisations must respond faster, the tussles start turning up in everyday practice, as:

• Reputation problems become real client problems: A dodgy letting record. An old insolvency mark that should’ve been wiped. A horrible review stuck on the wrong person with the same name, all now sits in a solid legal framework. Clients are going to want a hand getting bad data fixed or wiped, with obstacles that mess with their job chances, housing applications, loans, or business deals.

• Complaints and DSARs move from vague rights to practical tools: Solicitors can now point to a clear setup, a deadline, and a regulator who can step in. Local firms can help put together sharp complaints, grab exact records, and push things up the ladder when organisations mess up or ignore people.

• Small businesses become data risk clients too: Anyone holding customer or tenant data has stricter rules and will be watched more closely. Drop the ball on a complaint, and it’ll all flare up in a heartbeat!

Regular folks are likely to call their local solicitor, as complaint handling systems, record keeping, and ICO responses become part of day-to-day advisory work, seamlessly easing into high street practice.

The ICO

Think of them as the data watchdog, which oversees how organisations use personal data and can investigate complaints, order corrective action, and issue fines.

If your information is mishandled or your complaint is brushed aside, this is the body that can make organisations take it seriously.