More than nine out of 10 charities are concerned they will not be compliant with incoming data protection regulations in time, a study by the Transform Foundation has found.

Surveying 179 charities and not-for-profits, the foundation found 83 per cent report their knowledge of the General Data Protection Rules as 'patchy' or 'weak'. More than 46 per cent felt their chances of being ready in time for the May 2018 deadline were 50/50 or worse.

Over 93 per cent of respondents were uncertain they will be ready in time, while 68 per cent were anxious or uncertain about how they will handle the changes.

The GDPR are European Union regulations that aim to give the public more control over how charities and other organisations collect and use their data.

Transform Foundation found 91.3 per cent of charities felt they could limit the cost of complying with the changes to less than £5,000 each year, with fewer than 1 per cent budgeting for a cost of more than £20,000 per year.

Nearly 18 per cent said they might have to take on more staff to deal with the changes and a further 5 per cent said they definitely expect to. Almost 66 per cent of respondents intend to seek professional advice on complying with the regulations, and 16.5 per cent had already done so.

Transform Foundation chair David Melville said the study makes clear the “huge burden” the regulations are placing on charities. The lack of confidence among small and medium sized charities that they will be ready in time was especially worrying, he said.

“There is also a significant risk that putting the required changes and training in place will take far longer than people expect, even after the full scale of the challenge has been realised. This adds to the growing compliance burden already being faced by charities, but it’s encouraging that so many plan to seek expert help before it’s too late.”

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