The ICO has warned employees that sharing personal data that they have access to as part of their job is illegal in some circumstances, as it contravenes section 55 of the Data Protection Act 1998. This comes after a recruitment manager pleaded guilty to the offence because he had disclosed some applicants’ personal information to a third party employment agency. It was found that he had not obtained consent from the people whose personal information was shared nor did he have valid grounds to disclose it. He was fined a total of £994 to be paid within seven days.