A charity contacted the DPC seeking advice on a query they had received from a parent asking whether they could request the erasure of their child’s personal data. The data in question dated back several years when the child was a minor. However, the child was now an adult, and the parent, who was their guardian at the time, wanted to know if they could still request that the data be erased.

The DPC advised the charity that, under section 29 of the Data Protection Act 2018, a child is defined as an individual under the age of 18. This meant that, as the individual was now over 18, they were considered an adult and, therefore, had the full legal capacity to exercise their own data protection rights, including the right to request erasure of their personal data.

The DPC also clarified that while the parent could no longer directly request  the erasure of the data on behalf of the now-adult child, the affected individual could choose to provide their parent with a signed letter of authority. This was an option that could be drawn to the attention of the now-adult child and their parent. Such a letter of authority would allow the parent to act on their behalf in making the data erasure request. The DPC reminded the charity that it was their responsibility to verify and ensure that any such request was valid under the circumstances.

The charity thanked the DPC for their response and confirmed that they would share the information with the individual who had initially contacted them. This guidance helped to ensure that both the individual’s rights and the role of the charity were clearly understood, while also acknowledging the potential complexities involved in handling requests from parents of adult children.