How to remove your personal data from the internet (UK, 2026)

You can remove a lot of your personal data from the internet yourself, for free — and you have a legal right to make companies delete it. The single biggest source of exposed UK data is a handful of UK-facing directories and public registers, above all 192.com, the open electoral register and Companies House. This guide walks you through, in order: checking what's out there, getting your info off Google Search, using your UK GDPR right to erasure to force a deletion, opting out of 192.com and the open register, suppressing your address at Companies House, and escalating to the ICO if a company refuses. It also tells you honestly what cannot be removed.

Most "remove your data" advice online is written for the US and names American sites that hold no UK records. This guide is UK-only.

In this guide

• Remove your details from 192.com
• Opt out of the open electoral register
• Remove your address from Companies House (form SR01)
• Get your information out of Google Search
• Are paid data-removal services worth it?

1. First, see what's actually out there

Two quick checks:

1. Google your own name — plus your town, and your name in quotes. Look at the first three pages.
2. Check the main UK sources. In the UK, exposure usually comes from a few places, not from hundreds of American people-search sites:
   • 192.com — the main UK consumer people-search site. Its own categories are People, Businesses, Places, Directory Enquiries, Electoral Roll and Directors, and it republishes the open electoral register and Companies House director data.
   • The open electoral register — the version of the electoral roll that anyone can buy.
   • Companies House — where directors' details are public.
   • Commercial/marketing databases (you can't see these directly, but they're why you get junk mail).

Most famous US people-search brands (Spokeo, Whitepages, BeenVerified and similar) are US-focused. Don't waste time on their opt-outs unless you can see your own UK details on the page.

2. Get it out of Google Search

Google only controls Google. Removing a result from Search does not remove it from the website — but it often makes it much harder to find, so it's worth doing first.

Use Google's "Results about you" tool. Go to myactivity.google.com/results-about-you (or open the Google app → your profile picture → Results about you).

• Add your name and the details you want to track: home address, phone number(s), email address(es). Google also accepts nicknames, maiden names and ID numbers.
• Turn on notifications, then review matches in the "To review" tab.
• Choose Request to remove on anything you don't want shown.
• You can also report a result straight from Search: About this result → Remove result → "It shows my personal info and I don't want it there."

What it does and doesn't do:

• ✅ Removes the link from Google Search results.
• ❌ Leaves the information on the source website — to delete that, you must go to the site (see step 4).
• ❌ Google won't remove results it judges valuable to the public — government or educational sites, news articles, business sites. For those, no "Remove result" option appears.

Google has two other routes worth knowing: a general personal-info removal form for things like your address, phone number, bank details, ID numbers and medical records; and a separate "right to be forgotten" request to delist results about your name under UK data protection law ("inaccurate, inadequate, irrelevant or excessive", balanced against public interest).

• Sources: Google Search Help — Find and remove personal info in Google Search results; Remove my private info from Google Search; Right to be forgotten overview.

3. Use your right to erasure (the real legal lever)

Under Article 17 of the UK GDPR, you have the right to erasure (the "right to be forgotten"). It isn't absolute — it applies in specific situations — but for a data broker or directory holding your details to make money, it's a powerful request.

How to make one:

• Contact the organisation and say what data you want deleted.
• There are no magic words — but put it in writing so you have a record. The ICO publishes a free template letter you can copy.
• The organisation must respond within one calendar month. For complex requests it can take up to two extra months, but it must tell you inside the first month that it needs more time, and why.
• It can ask you to prove your identity — but only for "just enough" information — and the one-month clock starts when it receives that.
• There is normally no fee (only if a request is "manifestly unfounded or excessive").

If they refuse: they must still reply, explain why, and tell you about your right to complain to the ICO or go to court. Legitimate reasons to refuse include journalism/free expression, legal obligations to keep data, and defending legal claims.

Changed in 2025? The Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 (Royal Assent 19 June 2025) made only a technical amendment to the erasure rules and did not remove your right. The ICO's erasure guidance is currently "under review" because of it.

• Sources: ICO — Your right to get your data deleted (includes the template letter and the one-month deadline); ICO — Right to erasure; GOV.UK — Data (Use and Access) Act 2025: data protection and privacy changes.

4. Opt out of 192.com

192.com is the UK's best-known people-search site, so it's usually the first result people want gone.

How to do it:

1. Go to 192.com's own removal form: 192.com/c01/new-request/
2. Enter your name and postcode — you can add up to five other people at the same address. You may only request removal for yourself or immediate family.
3. Give an email address you control. 192.com sends a confirmation link — your removal won't happen until you click it.
4. That's it. 192.com adds your name and postcode to a suppression file, which also blocks future data files containing those details. Removals are usually done within 24 hours.
5. Lived at other addresses? You'll need a separate form for each name and address.

Expect email verification, not an ID upload. If you don't know the full postcode, email [email protected] with what you do know.

• Source: 192.com — Removal of Personal Data from 192.com.

Other UK directories: UK Phone Book (ukphonebook.com) also publishes an opt-out route. Always use the site's own form — many "removal service" third parties just resell the same free request.

5. Opt out of the open electoral register (free, via your council)

There are two electoral registers: the full register and the open register (called the edited register in Northern Ireland). The open register is sold to anyone who wants to buy a copy — and brokers republish it. You're on it by default.

To opt out (free):

• Use the register to vote service (even if you're already registered), or
• Contact your local electoral registration office (England, Scotland, Wales), the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland, or your overseas-voter registration office.

What it does: your details come off the copy that anyone can buy, so brokers have less to publish. Your right to vote is unaffected, and you stay on the full register either way. The full register can only be used for elections, campaigning, crime prevention, credit/loan checks and jury summoning — and you cannot opt out of it.

• Source: GOV.UK — Opt out of the "open register".

6. Remove your address from Companies House

If you appear as a company director (or PSC, secretary or LLP member), your details may be on the public Companies House register.

The route: form SR01 — Apply to remove your personal details from the Companies House register. It can remove your home address, the day of your date of birth (only for documents filed before 10 October 2015), your signature (certain documents) and your business occupation (only where it was required).

The fee: £34 per document. You pay through GOV.UK Pay and must include the payment reference on your form, or it's rejected.

Who can apply, and the catches:

• You can only remove a home address that was used as your service/"correspondence" address or as the company's registered office.
• If you're still an active officer and it's your current address, you must provide a replacement address.
• If it was used as the registered office: change the registered office first (if the company is active), or wait 6 months if the company has been dissolved.
• After removal, Companies House shows only the first half of your postcode for a UK address.

Where to send it: post to The Registrar of Companies, PO Box 4082, Cardiff CF14 3WE.

If you're at risk of violence or intimidation, there's a separate route (forms SR02/SR03, requested by email from [email protected]) that takes at least 30 days and needs supporting evidence.

• Sources: GOV.UK — Removing your personal details from the Companies House register; How to complete your form SR01.

⚠️ Ignore old fee figures. Some pages still quote £55 — that's out of date. The current published fee is £34 per document.

7. If a company refuses: complain to the ICO

Work in this order:

1. Complain to the organisation first and give it a chance to fix it.
2. If you're still unhappy, complain to the ICO — the UK's data protection regulator — using its online complaint service.
3. You can also enforce your rights through the courts.

What to have ready: the organisation's email address, a copy of the complaint you made to them, a copy of your request (e.g. your erasure request), and any evidence of harm you've suffered.

Be realistic about what the ICO does: it may log your complaint, or tell the organisation to do more work or explain its position. The ICO cannot award you compensation — that's a separate court claim. And it isn't fast: the ICO says complaints needing more detail are currently being assigned to case officers within 40 weeks.

• Source: ICO — Make a complaint about how an organisation has used your personal information.

8. Do you need a paid service?

You can do everything above yourself, free. Paid services exist for a reason: scale and repetition.

A service like Incogni (the main one a UK consumer can actually buy) works by scanning people-search sites and data brokers, sending automated removal requests, repeating them on a schedule to counter re-listing, and reporting progress. Incogni says it covers 420+ brokers and that removals typically take about 14 days to resolve, with fresh requests sent regularly. It's a subscription.

What a paid service does that DIY can't:

• Breadth — covering hundreds of brokers you'd never find yourself.
• Repetition — brokers re-collect your data; a one-off opt-out decays, a service re-sends requests.
• Monitoring — ongoing scans and reports.

What it can't do (be honest with yourself before paying):

• It only covers brokers on its list.
• It cannot remove public-register or legally-kept data — Companies House, Land Registry, court or insolvency records, the full electoral register — or journalism.
• You hand over your name and address so it can match records — a privacy trade-off of its own.
• It's a paid subscription, and cancellation experiences vary.

Rule of thumb: do the free steps in this guide first. Then decide whether the ongoing coverage is worth a subscription.

9. What can't be removed — and how long things take

You cannot remove:

• Your entry on the full electoral register (only anonymous registration takes you off both registers, and only in specific at-risk circumstances).
• Companies House documents, except through the SR01 process (with its fee and limits) or the at-risk route.
• A search result from the source website by asking Google — Google only delists from Search.
• Content protected by freedom of expression/journalism, or data a business must keep by law.
• Land Registry titles and court/insolvency records — these are public by law; there is no removal form.

Realistic timelines:

One last honest truth: data can reappear. Brokers re-collect personal data continuously. 192.com's suppression file stops its suppliers re-supplying your details, but a different broker can still gather and re-list you — which is why monitoring (free alerts, or a paid service) matters as much as a one-off clean-up.

Sources

All links accessed 2026-09-28.

• Google: Find and remove personal info in Google Search results (support.google.com/websearch/answer/12719076); Remove my private info from Google Search (answer/9673730); Right to be forgotten overview (support.google.com/legal/answer/10769224).
• ICO: Your right to get your data deleted (ico.org.uk/for-the-public/your-right-to-get-your-data-deleted); Right to erasure (ICO org guidance); Make a complaint (ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint).
• GOV.UK: Opt out of the "open register" (gov.uk/electoral-register/opt-out-of-the-open-register); Removing your personal details from the Companies House register (gov.uk/guidance/removing-your-home-address-from-the-companies-house-register); How to complete your form SR01; Data (Use and Access) Act 2025: data protection and privacy changes.
• Legislation: Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 (legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2025/18).
• 192.com: Removal of Personal Data from 192.com (192.com/c01/new-request/).
• Incogni: incogni.com.

Disclaimers

General information, not legal advice. This guide explains how UK data-protection and public-register processes work. It is general information only and is not legal advice. For advice about your own situation, consult a solicitor or a recognised advice service.

We are not a data-removal service. cyberawareuk.co.uk does not remove anyone's personal data, does not act on your behalf, and does not handle your personal information in connection with these steps. Everything described here is done by you, directly — usually for free.

Not affiliated with any organisation named. 192.com, the Electoral Commission, your local council, Companies House, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), Google and any other organisation named on this page are independent of cyberawareuk.co.uk. Naming them does not imply any endorsement, partnership or approval.

No guarantee of outcome. These are the published processes. The result depends on the organisation you contact. Some records cannot be removed at all, and some organisations may refuse a request or take longer than expected.

Accuracy and change. Public-register processes, fees and legal deadlines change. Last reviewed: 28 September 2026 — always confirm the current requirement at the official source before relying on it.

External links. Links to official websites are provided for convenience only. We are not responsible for the content, accuracy or availability of other sites.

Limitation of liability. To the fullest extent permitted by law, cyberawareuk.co.uk excludes all liability for any loss or damage arising from your use of, or reliance on, this page. We are not liable for the acts, omissions or services of any third party, including any provider we link to. Nothing here excludes or limits liability that cannot lawfully be excluded — including liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for fraud — and nothing affects your statutory rights as a consumer. See the full disclaimer at /disclaimer/.

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