ICO fines two companies £225,000 for PECR breaches

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has again targeted companies that do not honour individuals’ opt out from marketing calls through the Telephone Preference Service.

Nationwide Energy Services has received a penalty of £125,000, and We Claim You Gain £100,000 - both companies are part of Save Britain Money Ltd. These companies’ behaviour prompted some 2,700 complaints to the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) or reports to the ICO. The ICO has set up an online reporting tool for this purpose, and is currently investigating another 10 companies for potential PECR breaches. The ICO has received over 200,000 responses since the survey was set up in March last year.

ICO Director of Operations, Simon Entwisle, said: “While we’re pleased with our success to date, there is still more we can do, and we welcome discussions in the House of Commons last week around ways to improve the law around unwanted marketing calls and texts. We’d like to see it made easier for us to issue penalties to companies who are breaking the rules. Similarly, everyone involved seems to agree that the rules on how consumers give their consent to receive calls needs to be clearer.”

The monetary penalty notice, issued 18 June, will be added to here.

PL&B 26th Annual International Conference 1-3 July in Cambridge will have a session by David Smith, Director of Data Protection at the ICO entitled “ICO’s enforcement practice now and preparing for the future”.