Many organisations will be inundated with requests for personal information from UK consumers, with 40 per cent already planning to take advantage of their data privacy rights within six months of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) coming into force on 25 May.

European Union residents will be able to request companies delete their data - the so-called ‘right to be forgotten’ - with businesses required to sufficiently respond within one month of receiving the request.

A new study, commissioned by Veritas and conducted by 3GEM, surveyed 3,000 adults, including 1,000 in the UK. It revealed that consumers are most likely to target the following industries with personal data requests:

• Financial services companies, including banks and insurance companies (56 per cent).
• Social media companies (48 per cent).
• Retailers (46 per cent).
• Former, current or potential employers (24 per cent).
• Healthcare providers (21 per cent).

“In light of recent events surrounding the use of personal data by social media, and other, companies, consumers are taking much more of an interest in how their data is used and stored by businesses across many industry sectors,” said Mike Palmer, executive vice president and chief product officer at Veritas.

“With a flood of personal data requests coming their way in the months ahead, businesses must retain the trust of consumers by demonstrating they have comprehensive data governance strategies in place to achieve regulatory compliance.”

Of those that intend to exercise their rights, 65 per cent plan to request access to the personal data a company holds on them, while 71 per cent intend to exercise their right to be forgotten under the new regulations.

The key drivers for exercising their data privacy rights are increased control over personal data, with 56 per cent of respondents not feeling comfortable having personal data sit on systems that they have no control over.

Data breaches increase the likelihood of receiving requests for personal data, with 47 per cent stating they will exercise their rights to request personal data and/or have that data deleted, if a company that holds their personal information suffers a data breach.

The survey also showed eight per cent will exercise their data privacy rights simply to irritate a company that they feel has mistreated them.

Most consumers do not expect organisations to be capable of fulfilling their requests under the new regulation, with 79 per cent stating they won’t be able to find and/or delete all of the personal data that is held on them, and 20 per cent stating businesses will only be able to deliver up to half of the personal data they hold.

“It’s imperative that businesses embrace technology that can help them respond to these requests quickly, with a high degree of accuracy,” commented Palmer. “Businesses that fail to recognise the importance of responding effectively and efficiently to personal data requests will be putting their brand loyalty and reputation at stake.”

Recent research from Accenture backed up the Veritas study, finding that 47 per cent of UK adults would like some aspects of their digital history to be deleted forever.

But an FStech investigation into preparedness for the new regulations found mixed results across the UK financial services sector.

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