Respond to an Employee DSAR without expensive software or legal projects

Free search tools • No subscription • Pay only if needed

If you’ve just received an employee DSAR and don’t know where to start, this is designed for you.

Free local search tools to quickly find employee data across Windows Server/Laptop file shares and documents.

Add pay-as-you-go classification, redaction and response bundling only if needed - for files & emails — no subscription, no minimums, and no data leaving your environment during search.

Designed for UK employers dealing with an employee DSAR for the first time.

  • No subscription
  • No minimum fee
  • No onboarding or sales calls
  • Start immediately with the free search tool

Start with a quick triage — tell us when you received the DSAR, your deadline, and where data may exist.

Start DSAR Triage
Download Free Search Tool
Not sure where to start? Read our employee DSAR response guide

Who this is designed for​

This service is designed for UK organisations that have received an employee or ex-employee DSAR unexpectedly and need to respond quickly. Typical users include: • HR managers dealing with a dispute or grievance • Data protection officers responding to a DSAR for the first time • IT staff asked to search company file shares • Small or mid-size companies without dedicated DSAR software If this is your first serious DSAR, this toolkit helps you quickly locate, review and prepare the information that may need to be disclosed.

How DSAR.UK helps

❶ Search your file shares locally (free) Download the Windows tool and scan file shares, PSTs and folders under your control. No files leave your environment. ❷ Identify relevant documents Search inside PDFs, Word, Excel, email files and more to locate personal data quickly. ❸ Use optional redaction and classification tools For larger DSARs, process documents securely with pay-as-you-go tools. ❹ Produce a response bundle Export documents ready for DSAR response or legal review.

Pricing

The core file-share search tools are free to download and use. Advanced features such as classification, redaction and document bundling are optional and charged per page processed. • No subscription • No minimum fee • No onboarding costs Some DSARs only require the free tools. More complex cases typically cost £20 to a few hundred pounds depending on document volume. (our tools can handle very high volumes if required) You only use the paid tools if the workload requires them, or if it will save you substantial time.

Need quick guidance?

If you have just received a DSAR and are unsure where to start, you can complete the triage form and request a short call with our support team. We can help you: • understand where to search • estimate document volumes • decide whether manual redaction is practical • determine whether the DSAR.UK tools will help Initial guidance is free for UK employers and their HR or IT teams.

Start DSAR Triage

A common DSAR situation

You’ve just received a DSAR from a current or former employee. You now have a deadline to respond, and relevant information may be spread across file shares, folders, email exports and documents created over months or years. That can include Word documents, PDFs, spreadsheets, presentations and email files (Office/Microsoft365,PST,eml/msg files,etc.) — often stored in different locations and not organised for this type of search. Manually reviewing everything is time-consuming and risky, especially where third-party data needs to be identified and redacted. This is especially difficult if you haven’t handled a DSAR like this before. The DSAR.UK tools help you quickly locate relevant files and prepare them for review and disclosure.

Start by understanding what data exists

The first step in any DSAR response is establishing what information you actually hold and where it lives. You do not need to decide on a system or commit to a process to begin doing that.

Not sure where to start? Read our employee DSAR UK response guide
ORIENTATION

Establish scope before making decisions

Quickly search across selected data sources with our search tools to see what may fall within scope of the request. This replaces guesswork with evidence and helps reduce initial panic.

CLARITY

Understand what is actually relevant

Not everything surfaced needs to be disclosed. Our optional classification tools help separate personal data from irrelevant material and highlight areas of potential risk.

PROTECTION

Reduce the risk of over-disclosure

When personal data involves third parties or sensitive information, consistent redaction becomes critical. These steps exist to prevent accidental disclosure and downstream issues.

DEFENSIBILITY

Prepare a response you can stand behind

Where a full response is required, outputs can be prepared in a structured, review-ready format that evidences how the search and handling were carried out.

Why access is limited

This service is not publicly launched and is only made available for genuine, time-critical DSAR responses. Access depends on timing, scope, and the nature of the request.


Active DSAR required

Access is only considered where an employee or former employee DSAR has already been received and a response deadline exists.

Contact us if you'd like to ask about deadlines, time extension, or initial questions about what is required to be included/excluded in the response.

Employee DSARs only

This service is designed specifically for employer responses to employee or ex-employee requests.

It is suitable if your team available to respond is small, or you are in HR/IT, or if this is the first DSAR you're dealing with.

It is not suitable for customer DSARs or general compliance work.

Limited, situational access

Our DSAR Search and Response Tools are made available selectively while the self-service product is being finalised, based on urgency, scope, and operational fit.

You can request access.

Start by choosing your situation in the Response Triage below.

If you are responding to an employee DSAR now

You may be able to start using response tools immediately, even though the product is still being finalised. Start here ➜

Start with a quick triage — tell us when you received the DSAR, your deadline, and where data may exist.

Start DSAR response triage
We’ve received a DSAR