If you're preparing for an employment tribunal or dispute, your employer must disclose far more than your official HR file — most people never ask for the rest.
Launch Verified Employment RequestEven informal channels count as your personal data if you're identifiable in them — these are very rarely handed over voluntarily.
Notes taken outside the formal appraisal process are still disclosable if they reference you.
Internal discussions about a decision affecting you are commonly missed in a first, informal request.
Background-check providers, reference requests, and payroll processors your data may still sit with.
A generic DSAR template asks for "my personal data" in general terms — which lets an employer legitimately hand over just the official HR file and call it complete. Getting the informal material requires the request to specifically and correctly name these categories, and to be identity-verified so the employer can't legally pause the clock on ID grounds alone.