Information Commissioner Replaced on 30 September 2026
On 10 September 2026, ministers made a new set of commencement regulations under the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025. If you are wondering why that matters, the short version is this: from 30 September 2026, the legal office of the Information Commissioner disappears, and its functions move to the Information Commission. That sounds dry because it is dry, but it is also a useful lesson in how law often works. Parliament passes an Act first, then some parts start later through separate regulations. This instrument is one of those switch-on moments.
The explanatory note on legislation.gov.uk says this is the ninth set of commencement regulations made under the 2025 Act. That tells you something important straight away. Big Acts are not always brought into force all at once. Government often starts different sections on different dates so public bodies have time to prepare. **What this means:** the main Act was already on the books, but these regulations decide exactly when three more parts begin to operate. In this case, the key date is 30 September 2026.
The provisions being commenced are sections 117(4)(a), 118 and 119 of the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025. In plain English, section 118 abolishes the office of the Information Commissioner. Section 119 transfers that office’s functions to the Information Commission. Section 117(4)(a) then removes an old internal cross-reference in the Data Protection Act 2018 that no longer makes sense once the earlier office has gone. For most readers, that third change is legal tidying-up rather than a new public rule. It does not suddenly create a fresh duty for you or your school, employer or website. It simply keeps the wording of the law consistent after the structural change.
The part that matters most for continuity is regulation 3. It says that anything already done by, or in relation to, the Information Commissioner before 30 September 2026 is to be treated as done by, or in relation to, the Information Commission instead. That includes acts, omissions and other matters, including legal proceedings already under way. **Why that matters:** without a clause like this, a change in legal identity could raise awkward questions about whether investigations, complaints or court cases had to start again. These regulations are written to stop that happening. In everyday terms, the legal label changes, but ongoing work is meant to carry on.
Regulation 4 deals with accounts for the financial year ending on 31 March 2027. Even though section 118 abolishes the office of the Information Commissioner, one part of Schedule 12 to the Data Protection Act 2018 is kept alive for that year so there is no accounting gap while responsibilities move across. This is what lawyers call a 'saving provision'. An old rule is preserved for a limited purpose, even while the wider legal structure changes. Here, the duties that used to sit with the Information Commissioner are instead carried out by the Information Commission for that set of accounts.
This is why the instrument matters, but also why we should not overstate it. The regulations change who the law recognises as the regulator and how unfinished business is carried forward. They do not, by themselves, rewrite the whole of UK data protection law on 30 September. That distinction is useful. When people hear that a data law has changed, they often expect a new set of rights or a new ban to arrive overnight. Sometimes the real change is more administrative than dramatic. The machinery of regulation is being rearranged, and the point of the rearrangement is to keep oversight continuous rather than interrupted.
The regulations were signed on 10 September 2026 by Stephanie Peacock, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Digital, Culture and Media Sport, and published as a statutory instrument in the data protection field. The explanatory note says the purpose is to replace the Information Commissioner with the Information Commission while avoiding disruption to ongoing work and annual accounts. If you are teaching this, studying it or just trying to read statutory instruments without getting lost, the takeaway is straightforward. Commencement regulations decide when an Act starts to apply. Transitional provisions keep work in progress moving. Saving provisions keep selected old rules alive for a specific job. Once you know those three ideas, this document becomes much easier to understand.