The Two-Hour Test: What to Check Before Paying for Data Removal
Most of the analysis comparing data removal services is written by people who have never run the two-hour test. They compare features, prices, dashboard designs, and review scores. None of that tells a specific UK director whether the service will address the specific sources currently publishing their data.
The two-hour test does.
It costs nothing. It requires no subscription. And it produces the only piece of information that actually matters: whether your problem is upstream, downstream, or both.
The Setup
You need: an incognito or private browsing window, a blank spreadsheet or notepad, a timer, your Companies House company number or name, and two hours of uninterrupted time.
Do this on a device that is not logged into any of your professional accounts. You want to see what someone who knows nothing about you would find, not a personalised search result.
Block One: Search Yourself (30 Minutes)
Open incognito mode. Run each of these searches in sequence. For each, document the first three pages of results.
Your full name in quotation marks. Your full name plus your company name. Your full name plus your postcode or town. Your company registered name. Your job title plus company name. Your email address if it is publicly listed anywhere.
For each result that contains your personal information, assign it to a category: official record, including Companies House and government registers; electoral register derived, including people-search sites that show your address; social platform, including LinkedIn, company website mentions, and alumni pages; job board or careers site; press, news, or industry coverage; broker or people-search site not already covered; domain or technical record.
Count how many results in your top three pages fall into each category. Record the specific site URLs.
Time: 30 minutes. Output: a tagged list of every meaningful result with category labels.
Block Two: Check Upstream Sources (30 Minutes)
Go to the Companies House search at find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk. Search your company. Check every officer record, including historical records for yourself. Check the persons with significant control register. Check the registered office history.
Note: is there a residential address anywhere in these records? If yes, this is upstream exposure. A subscription service cannot fix it.
Check whether you are listed on the open electoral register. The simplest way is to contact your local council’s electoral registration office and ask. Alternatively, if you see people-search results containing your home address matched with your name from a non-Companies House source, the electoral register is a probable contributing source.
Note: is your home address appearing from electoral register derived sources? If yes, this is upstream exposure. A subscription service cannot fix it.
After Block Two, you know whether your most visible exposures are upstream or downstream. That is the most important fact for the purchasing decision.
Time: 30 minutes. Output: a clear note on which of your top results are upstream (official records) and which are downstream (broker derived).
Block Three: Submit Priority Requests (30 Minutes)
For the downstream broker and people-search results you identified in Block One, pick the top three by prominence in search results. These are your highest-priority targets.
Download the ICO’s template letter for the right to erasure. Adapt it: include Article 17 UK GDPR reference, identify the specific data categories you want removed, request confirmation of deletion and disclosure of any third parties who received the data.
Submit by whatever channel the site provides: online form, email, or postal address. Document every submission: site name, date, method, confirmation received if any.
Set calendar reminders: day 14 to check status, day 28 to send a chaser if no response, day 30 for the legal deadline.
For any upstream sources identified in Block Two, note the official process: Companies House suppression application if applicable, or council opt-out for electoral register. These go on your action list for a separate session.
Time: 30 minutes. Output: three removal requests submitted and tracked, official source actions identified.
Block Four: Evaluate Any Service You Are Considering (30 Minutes)
For each data removal service you are evaluating, find their published broker list or coverage documentation. This may require looking at their help documentation rather than their marketing page.
Match your top search results from Block One against the service’s documented automated coverage. Be specific. A result from a UK people-search site is only relevant if that specific site appears in the service’s automated list, not just in their general geographic claims.
For each site in your top results, note: in automated coverage, in manual custom coverage only, or not covered.
For any service claiming UK coverage, ask them directly by email before subscribing: which specific UK people-search sites and data brokers are in your automated removal list? How frequently are removal requests sent? What evidence do you provide that a removal was confirmed?
Time: 30 minutes. Output: a coverage match table showing which of your specific exposures the service would address.
Reading the Result
After two hours, you have four pieces of information that no comparison website provides.
Which specific sites currently show your personal data. Which are upstream official records the service cannot address. Which are downstream broker copies potentially addressable by a service. Whether the specific service you are considering covers the downstream sources in your actual top results.
Four possible conclusions.
Your primary exposure is upstream. Fix it directly. A subscription adds limited value until you do.
Your primary exposure is downstream and the service covers your specific sites. A subscription may provide genuine value, particularly for the recurring removal cycles.
Your exposure is both upstream and downstream. Fix upstream first. Then evaluate whether a subscription addresses the remaining downstream exposures.
Your primary broker exposures are not in the service’s automated coverage for your region. The subscription will not solve your main problem. Either find a service with better UK coverage or continue with direct erasure requests.
The Ongoing Obligation
Running the two-hour test is not a one-time exercise. Run it every 90 days regardless of whether you subscribe to a service.
The upstream sources keep publishing. The broker machine keeps refreshing. A search result that was absent three months ago may be present today. A reappearance after confirmed removal is information about which upstream source is still active, not a failure of the process.
90-day rechecks are the maintenance schedule. Set a recurring calendar event.
How to Turn This Into a Competitive Advantage
For MSPs and advisers, running the two-hour test with a client as a guided exercise is a high-impact, low-cost engagement. The result, a personalised exposure map with upstream versus downstream categorisation, is concrete and immediately actionable. Most clients will not have done this. The adviser who does it with them provides something both useful and memorable.
How to Sell This to Your Board
The two-hour test produces the minimum information needed for an informed board conversation about director data removal.
It answers: what are we exposed on, which exposures can a subscription address, and which require direct action through official channels? That is a board-level question with a board-level answer. The test is the cheapest governance action in this entire series. It costs two hours.
What to Do This Week
- Block out two hours this week and run the test. Do not delegate Block One. You need to see the results yourself.
- Fix anything upstream that you find in Block Two.
- Submit the Block Three erasure requests and set the calendar reminders.
- If you are evaluating a service, complete Block Four before making any purchasing decision.
- Set a 90-day recheck date in your calendar before you close the spreadsheet.
| Source | Article |
|---|---|
| Companies House | Companies House search |
| Companies House | Remove your home address from the Companies House register |
| ICO | Electoral register opt-out guidance |
| ICO | Right to erasure detailed guidance |
| ICO | Your right to get your data deleted |
| NordVPN | Incogni vs DeleteMe coverage comparison |