Dozens of companies including national leisure centre chains are reviewing or pulling facial recognition technology and fingerprint scanning used to monitor staff attendance after a clampdown by the UK's data watchdog. In February, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) ordered a Serco subsidiary to stop using biometrics to monitor the attendance of staff at leisure centres it operates and also issued more stringent guidance on the use of facial recognition and fingerprint scanning. The ICO found that the biometric data of more than 2,000 employees had been unlawfully processed at 38 centres managed by Serco Leisure to check their attendance using facial recognition technology and in two cases via fingerprint scanning systems. Serco was given three months by the ICO to make its systems compliant and has said it will fully comply within that period. In light of the ICO decision, a number of other leisure centre operators and companies are either reviewing or stopping use of similar biometric technology to monitor staff attendance.