Policing.uk

Is it illegal to record a conversation in the UK?

No, not in most circumstances. In England and Wales, you can lawfully record a conversation you are part of without telling the other person. However, recording a conversation you are not part of may breach the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000.

The law

  • Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, Section 1. Offence to intercept communications without lawful authority. Exception where interceptor is a party to the communication.
  • Data Protection Act 2018, Schedule 2, Part 1. Domestic purposes exemption: processing personal data for purely personal or household purposes is exempt from most DPA requirements.
  • Human Rights Act 1998, Article 8 ECHR (Schedule 1). Right to respect for private life. Recording private conversations of others may engage Article 8.

What to do

  1. You may record a conversation you are part of without telling the other person.
  2. Do not record conversations between other people that you are not part of.
  3. If using a recording as evidence, be aware that a court may exclude it if obtained in a way that violates Article 8 rights.
  4. For workplace recordings, check your employer's policy: some contracts prohibit recording without consent.
  5. If you believe your conversation has been unlawfully recorded, contact the Information Commission (to which the functions of the Information Commissioner transferred on 30 September 2026) or a solicitor.

In detail

The law in England and Wales differs significantly from many other jurisdictions on this point. There is no general requirement for "two-party consent" when recording a conversation. If you are a party to the conversation, you can record it without informing the other participants.

The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) and the Investigatory Powers Act 2016 regulate the interception of communications. Under RIPA s.1(1), it is an offence to intentionally intercept a communication in the course of transmission. However, RIPA s.1(2) provides an exception where the interceptor has the consent of the sender or recipient, or has reasonable grounds for believing they have such consent. Since a party to a conversation is both sender and recipient, recording your own conversation falls outside the interception offence.

The Telecommunications (Lawful Business Practice) (Interception of Communications) Regulations 2000 further permit businesses to record calls for purposes including quality control, training, and regulatory compliance, provided certain conditions are met.

The Data Protection Act 2018 and UK GDPR apply to recordings that identify individuals. If you record someone, you are processing their personal data. For purely personal or household purposes, the domestic purposes exemption applies (Article 2(2)(c) UK GDPR). For business or professional purposes, you would need a lawful basis for processing.

Recordings made lawfully are generally admissible in court proceedings. In family law cases, covert recordings are routinely admitted where they are relevant. In employment tribunal cases, recordings of meetings and conversations are commonly used as evidence.

The position changes if you are secretly recording a private conversation between other people without being a participant. This could amount to unlawful interception under RIPA or a breach of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to respect for private life).

Updated 16 October 2026: the office of Information Commissioner was abolished and its functions transferred to the Information Commission on 30 September 2026 (Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, ss.118 and 119, commenced by SI 2026/1015; consequential amendments by SI 2026/386).

Related questions

Last updated 16 October 2026. Reviewed 16 October 2026