Parish councils might be praying for divine intervention to enable them to afford to hire data experts but other organisations appear to have already seen the light following a 709% surge in the number of vacancies for data protection officers since GDPR was ratified nearly two years ago.
According job site Indeed, the nationwide recruitment drive has also piqued the interest of jobseekers, with figures revealing that during the same period the number of candidates looking for DPO jobs rose nearly four-fold (297%.)
The average salary is currently £47,483 – nearly double the average UK wage of £27,600.
Last year, research conducted by GO DPO, the strategic partner for the Henley Data Protection Officer Programme, claimed that at least 7,000 firms will have to recruit a DPO before May next year.
However, the ICO’s guidance states that only public authorities and businesses which carry out large scale systematic monitoring of individuals, such as online behaviour tracking, are required to appoint a DPO.
Even so, it seems that with a lack of data protection expertise in many companies, business chiefs are simply not willing to chance it.
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