The UK’s Data (Use and Access) Act brings useful updates to the country’s data protection regime – particularly for research-driven and tech-forward businesses – but it doesn’t rewrite the rulebook.
The Act introduces clarification and incremental changes rather than wholesale reforms. While it leaves much of the substance of the UK GDPR intact, it offers some helpful clarifications and adds flexibility in specific areas, especially for data-driven businesses in tech, life sciences, and AI.
One area that has drawn attention is the treatment of personal data used for “scientific research”. The term may sound narrow, but the Act confirms it includes not only academic and publicly funded research, but also a broad range of commercial R&D activities.
In some cases, data collected for one purpose can now be reused for research without requiring fresh consent from the individuals. This will not open the floodgates, but it may remove friction for teams working on new features or exploratory analysis, particularly in fields like health tech and machine learning....