The ICO is producing an online resource with topic-specific guidance on employment practices and data protection. It is releasing drafts of the different topic areas in stages and adding to the resource over time. A draft of the guidance on handling information about workers’ health is now out for public consultation.

The ICO says that the draft guidance aims to provide practical guidance about handling the health information of workers in accordance with data protection legislation and to promote good practice.

The ICO also intends to produce additional practical tools, such as checklists, to go alongside the guidance to help support employment practices.

Before drafting the guidance, the ICO issued a call for views between August and October 2021, seeking input from relevant stakeholders including employers, professional associations, those representing the interests of staff, recruitment agencies, employment dispute resolution bodies, workers, volunteers, employees and suppliers of employment technology solutions.

The consultation is open until 5pm on 26 January 2023. To access the consultation and for a link to the consultation responses, click here. To access a blog post published by the ICO on the draft guidance, click here.