Pharoah Technology · UK GDPR Articles 37–39 DPO service
Your appointed Data Protection Officer, on demand.
A qualified DPO appointed on your ICO Register entry. AI-augmented privacy programme. Quarterly board reports. Article 38 independence preserved. From £449/month — versus £200–£1,500 for the human-only incumbents.
Free Article 37 necessity check
Do you actually need a DPO?
Most UK SMEs don't know if Article 37 applies. Six questions, sixty seconds, no card. We'll tell you whether you're mandated, advisable, or in the clear — and what the consequences are either way.
The three patterns we see
Why most SMEs end up without a DPO when they need one
Article 37 isn't optional for the orgs it applies to. The market gap is structural — incumbents are priced for mid-market, not 14-person health-tech SaaS.
DPO Centre, Bulletproof and GRCI Law all start in the £350–£700/mo range for the credible tier. For a 14-person SaaS that's the difference between two engineers and three. So the appointment gets postponed — until the NHS supplier portal asks.
Series A diligence increasingly asks "who is your DPO?" — and "the founder, sort of" is no longer an acceptable answer. The question lands two weeks before close. Solicitor onboarding takes six. Pharoah DPO's appointed-on-day-one model is the answer.
Cookie consent. DSAR backlog. Subject complaint. The ICO doesn't always lead with a fine — they often lead with an informal enquiry asking who is responsible for data protection. "We don't have one" is the worst answer.
What you get
A real qualified DPO, on call, with AI doing the heavy lifting
The named individual on your ICO Register entry. The board-pack arriving every quarter. The DSAR that gets answered within 30 days without your team touching it.
Named DPO Appointment
A qualified individual (IAPP CIPP/E or equivalent) appears on your ICO Register entry. Article 37 satisfied · Article 38 independence preserved · Article 39 tasks under their accountability.
DSAR Inbox
Data subjects submit requests via your privacy page. AI triages, drafts, DPO signs. 30-day clock managed. Adopts the OpenDSR open standard for cross-vendor interop.
DPIA Scaffolding
CNIL-methodology risk matrix. Article 36 prior-consultation flag when residual risk is high. DPO reviews and signs — never auto-signed.
Quarterly Board Reports
Article 38(3) reporting to highest management level. KPIs, incidents, supplier privacy due diligence, recommendations. AI-generated, DPO-signed, board-ready.
Breach Hotline + ICO Liaison
Incident reported · ICO 72h clock managed · DPO leads regulator liaison · Pharoah Cyber Essentials and Supreme Capital handle tech + insurance in parallel.
ROPA Maintenance
Article 30 record of processing activities, kept current quarterly. Fides-taxonomy-aligned categories. Defensible audit trail.
Output
Your privacy programme, visible at board level
One record answers the question every supplier portal, VC and regulator asks: who is your DPO, and is the programme actually running?
Pharoah pricing
Pharoah Data Protection Officer service
£449 per month
Billed monthly through Stripe checkout: card, Bacs Direct Debit, Revolut Pay or Klarna, where eligible.
Buy now — £449/monthBuying for a company? Annual invoicing and purchase orders are agreed at quote — ask us.
FAQ
The questions everyone asks
Straight answers on the appointment, the independence rules, and the AI.
Is the appointed DPO a real person or "an AI"?
A real qualified individual. Their name and contact details appear on your ICO Register entry. They carry Article 38 accountability. AI augments their work (DSAR triage, DPIA scaffolding, board-pack generation) — but the named human reviews and signs every regulator-facing output. That's the whole point of the Article 38 framework.
How do you justify £449/mo when DPO Centre charges £350+?
Throughput. AI handles the DSAR triage, DPIA scaffolding, ROPA refresh, board-pack drafting — work that takes a human-only firm hours per task. The named DPO reviews and signs. A trained QA reviewer stamps. The unit economics work at £449/mo because the AI takes 70%+ of the elapsed time off the DPO's plate. Same regulatory outcome at materially lower price.
What happens to Article 38 independence?
Article 38(6) says the DPO must not have conflicting other duties. Our independence firewall checks this at appointment and quarterly. Commercial incentives inside the platform (e.g. Supreme Capital insurance referrals) are firewalled from the DPO function — the DPO has no commission on them. We publish our Article 38 framework on request.
Does the appointment really go on the ICO Register?
Yes. As part of onboarding we sync the appointed DPO's name and contact details to your ICO Register entry within 5 working days. If you don't have an ICO registration yet, we walk you through the £40–£2,900/yr (annual) ICO Data Protection Fee process at the same time.
What if we get a breach?
Your DPO leads the ICO 72-hour notification process — that's an Article 39 task for them. Pharoah Cyber Essentials pairs a trained QA reviewer + a Supreme Capital broker on the technical and insurance response. You get a coordinated response, not three uncoordinated phone trees.
Can I keep my existing privacy lawyer?
Yes. Article 37 is the appointed DPO role, which is separate from external legal advice. Most customers retain a privacy lawyer for litigation, contracts and regulatory advice — and use Pharoah DPO for the day-to-day DPO function (DSAR, DPIA, breach, board reporting).
Get started
Get appointed in 5 working days. Stop deferring it.
Free Article 37 check. £449/mo to start. Named DPO on your ICO Register. Article 38 independence preserved by design.