CCTV Compliance Services
Advanced Overwatch carries out CCTV compliance reviews for organisations across Northern Ireland.
CCTV footage of identifiable people is personal data. We review your registration, signage, retention and access arrangements so your system protects you legally as well as physically. Check your organisation now with our free ICO Compliance Checker. Like all our professional services, this is available at any location: across Northern Ireland and further afield, with remote delivery where the work allows.
Thousands of premises secured since 2017
What this service covers
A practical review of your system against current ICO guidance, delivered in plain English.
Registration & fee check
We confirm whether your organisation must pay the ICO data protection fee and that your registration details are current.
Signage & transparency
Placement and wording of CCTV signage reviewed so people are properly informed, as transparency rules require.
Retention & access review
Retention periods, storage security and who can view or export footage, documented and justified.
Who needs a CCTV compliance review
Any organisation running cameras that capture identifiable people outside its own household has data protection duties. In practice the review matters most to a few groups. Businesses that inherited a system with the premises and cannot say what it records or for how long. Employers whose cameras cover staff areas as well as public ones. Landlords, letting agents and management companies operating cameras in shared areas. Schools, surgeries and care settings. Retailers who need footage to survive a challenge if it is ever used in a disciplinary process or a prosecution.
The household exemption is narrower than most people assume. A camera that captures only your own property is treated differently from one covering a shared driveway, a footpath or the street. If you are not sure which side of that line you are on, that is exactly what the review answers.
How a compliance review is carried out
Desk review. Before the visit we check the register entry, any existing policy, the signage wording and the retention setting on the recorder.
Site walk. We look at every camera, note what it actually sees rather than what the drawing says, photograph the signage and check who can reach the recorder.
Gap list. Findings are written up against current ICO guidance and ranked, so the things that would fail first sit at the top of the list.
Fixes. Signage wording and placement, retention periods, access rules by role, a stated purpose for each camera and a subject access procedure. Where a camera over reaches onto a neighbouring property we adjust the angle or apply privacy masking.
Handover. You receive the written review, replacement signage wording, a retention schedule and a review date. Where nothing needs to change we say so.
The law, questions to ask and what happens next
The Data Protection Act 2018 and UK GDPR are the operative law, and the Information Commissioner’s Office is the regulator. Its guidance on CCTV and video surveillance sets out what an organisation has to be able to show: a defined purpose for each camera, a lawful basis, coverage that goes no further than the purpose needs, clear signage, a retention period you can justify and a route for people to ask for footage of themselves. Where the basis relied on is legitimate interests, the ICO expects a recorded balancing test, described in its legitimate interests guidance. If footage is ever lost or disclosed in error, the ICO also publishes the route for reporting a breach.
Worth asking any supplier: can they state the purpose of each camera in one sentence; what the retention period is and why; who holds the recorder password; how a subject access request would be answered inside the statutory month; and what happens to footage once exported.
CCTV compliance, your questions
Do I need to register my CCTV system with the ICO?
In most cases, yes. Businesses using CCTV that captures identifiable people normally must pay the ICO data protection fee. Our free checker tells you in seconds.
What happens if my CCTV is not compliant?
The ICO can take enforcement action, and non-compliant footage can be challenged as evidence. Compliance protects both your business and the usefulness of your system.
How long can I keep CCTV footage?
Only as long as you can justify for the purpose it was collected. We help you set and document a retention period that fits your risks.
Do staff and visitors have a right to see footage of themselves?
Yes, individuals can make a subject access request. We set your system up so responding is straightforward.
Can you review a system you did not install?
Yes. We review and bring existing systems up to standard regardless of who installed them.
Can my neighbour have a CCTV camera pointing at my house?
A camera that captures land outside its owner’s own boundary falls outside the household exemption, so the owner takes on duties to be transparent, to capture no more than is necessary and to answer requests. The ICO publishes guidance for domestic camera users on exactly this point. Where a business camera over reaches onto a neighbouring property we adjust the angle or apply privacy masking so the recorded area matches the stated purpose.
Do you legally have to tell people you have CCTV?
Yes. Transparency is a requirement rather than a courtesy, and signs are the usual way of meeting it. A sign should be visible before somebody enters the covered area, and it should name the operator and give a contact point. We review wording and placement as part of the review.
What are the rules for sharing CCTV footage?
Any disclosure needs a lawful basis and a record of who authorised it. Police requests, insurer requests and subject access requests each follow a different route, and other people in the footage may need to be obscured before release.
Ready to get started?
Book a free CCTV compliance review with Advanced Overwatch. We will walk your system, flag any gaps and give you a clear, prioritised list of fixes.
What happens next
What happens next: book a free compliance review. We will walk the system, hand you a ranked gap list and give you a fixed quote after a free survey for any work you ask us to carry out.
Related pages
Why choose Advanced Overwatch
Established in 2017, we design, install and maintain security systems. Advanced Overwatch is SSAIB certificated (NIRE127) specifically for Intruder Alarm Systems, Visual Surveillance Systems (VSS) and Access Control Systems. We operate our own 24-hour CCTV Monitoring Control Room. Intruder alarm monitoring is provided through our monitoring partner’s NSI Gold certified Alarm Receiving Centre (ARC).