GDPR Online Training for SME Owners & Directors – Practical Compliance for Data Protection

If you run a business that handles personal data — and almost every business does — UK GDPR applies to you. The question isn't whether you need to understand it, but how quickly you can get up to speed without spending hours wading through guidance documents written for lawyers.

This course is designed for business owners and directors who need a practical working knowledge of data protection law: what it requires, what it means for how you operate, and what you need to have in place. It was written by a practitioner who has spent years helping SMEs implement data protection — not by a content agency working from a template.

Who Is This Course For?

SME owners and directors, founders, and senior managers who are responsible for compliance, customer data, or staff data handling. If you're at the point where you know data protection matters but you're not sure exactly what your obligations are, this course is the right starting point.

What You'll Cover

The course works through the core data protection principles and what they mean in practice, the legal bases for processing data and how to document them, individual rights including subject access requests, how to design compliant privacy notices, and what to do if something goes wrong and you're facing a data breach. Each section uses practical examples grounded in the realities of running a small business rather than corporate compliance scenarios.

What will I get from this?

Understand your legal obligations under UK GDPR as a business owner or director — in plain English

Know what documentation, processes and communications your business needs to have in place

Written by a practitioner with direct experience of helping SMEs implement data protection

Format

A series of short video modules with knowledge-check quizzes and a final assessment. The course takes around one and a half to two hours to complete and is accessible online at any time. A certificate of completion is provided on successful completion.

If you also want to train your wider team, our Introduction to Data Protection course covers the same fundamentals at a staff awareness level — the two courses work well together.