UK DSAR deadline calculator: one calendar month

When is a response to a data subject access request, or any other data protection rights request, due in the UK? Enter the day the request was received. The answer is the same date a month later, moved to the next working day when it falls on a weekend or a bank holiday, as the ICO counts it. What you enter stays in your browser.

This page counts days; it is not legal advice.

How the ICO counts a calendar month

The UK Information Commissioner's Office gives an organisation "no later than one calendar month, starting from the day they receive the request" to respond (ICO: time limits for responding to data protection rights requests). It and its guidance on responding to a subject access request work the month out the same way:

• Starts on the day the request is received, "even if that day is a weekend or public holiday". If you asked for ID, for proof that a third party may act for the person, or for a fee where one is allowed, the month starts when that arrives.
• Ends on the corresponding date of the next month. When that month is shorter and has no such date, it ends on the month's last day: 31 January runs to 28 February, or 29 February in a leap year.
• Moves to the next working day when that date "falls on a Saturday, Sunday or bank holiday".
• Stretches by up to two further months if the request is complex or the person has made a number of requests, counted as three months from the day of receipt and moved the same way. The person has to be told within the first month, with the reasons.

The ICO's page for the public notes that its guidance is under review after the Data (Use and Access) Act; the calculator follows the text as read on 29 September 2026. It counts for the UK only, with the bank holidays of England and Wales left out. Outside the UK, check with your data protection authority how it counts.

Tracking requests on a monday.com board

A team that logs each request as an item on a monday.com board can use Stale & SLA to set an SLA target for each status in working days, counted with the holidays you list left out. An item is at risk at 80% of its target and breached once it passes it, and an escalation step can notify the people in a People column when an item has waited a set number of working days. Each target measures the time an item spends in one status, from the moment it entered it: it is not a clock from the day the request arrived, and it starts again when the item moves on. So keep the date this calculator gives on the item as well, for example in a Date column, and set the targets short enough that the whole path ends before it. See SLA tracking on monday.com, escalations, or try the app on sample data. For a US federal request, the FOIA deadline calculator counts 20 working days.

Frequently asked

Is the day the request arrives counted?

Yes. In the ICO's guidance the month starts on the day the request is received, even a weekend or a bank holiday, and ends on the same date in the next month: a request received on 3 September is due on 3 October.

What if the next month has no such date?

The deadline is the last day of that month. A request received on 31 January is due on 28 February, or 29 February in a leap year, and moves on to the next working day if that day is a weekend or a bank holiday.

What happens when the date is a weekend or a bank holiday?

It moves to the next working day. In 2026, 25 December is a Friday and the Boxing Day bank holiday is on Monday 28 December, so a request received on 25 November 2026 is due on Tuesday 29 December.

When can the deadline be extended?

The ICO's guidance allows two further months when the request is complex or the person has made a number of requests. The extension counts three months from the day of receipt, and the person has to be told, with the reasons, within the first month.

What if we asked for ID or a fee?

The ICO's guidance starts the month when that information or fee arrives, so enter that day. It also describes stopping the clock while you wait for a clarification you asked for; this calculator does not count that pause.

Which holidays are left out?

The bank holidays of England and Wales, substitute days included. Scotland and Northern Ireland have some other bank holidays, such as St Andrew's Day and St Patrick's Day, so check a date near one of them. The calculator counts for the UK only.

Is this legal advice?

No. It counts days by the ICO's published guidance, which the ICO says, on its page for the public, is under review after the Data (Use and Access) Act. Check the ICO's current guidance for a request that matters.