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The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has pledged to continue its fight against cold call crooks pestering some of the UK’s most vulnerable people.

It comes as the ICO, charged with regulating the rules around electronic marketing, announces it has fined nuisance marketing firms the equivalent of nearly £10,000 a day* in 2016.

Stephen Eckersley, ICO head of enforcement, has vowed to continue the regulator’s crackdown on companies behind cold calls and spam texts.

He said:

“Our helpline staff hear first-hand the level of distress cold calls can cause. The rules around marketing messages are there for a reason.”

So far in 2016 the ICO has issued fines totalling £1.5m to companies behind nuisance marketing. Those firms were responsible for more than 70 million calls and more than 500,000 spam text messages.

Mr Eckersley said:

“We have acted on information provided by the public and specifically targeted companies that phone people in the middle of the night, ask to speak to deceased relatives or ring repeatedly after being asked to stop.”

Fines this year include:

• A £350,000 fine for a firm responsible for over 46 million automated nuisance calls.
• A £50,000 fine for a company which sent more than 500,000 texts urging people to support its campaign to leave the EU.
• A £250,000 fine for a claims management company that made 17.5 million calls asking people if they had suffered hearing loss at work.

The ICO has received more than 93,000 complaints so far in 2016 from people who’ve received nuisance calls and texts.

Mr Eckersley said:

“People reporting their nuisance marketing concerns to us are vital to our work. Those reports inform our investigations and help us stop the firms bombarding the public with troublesome calls, texts and emails. We’ve already got further fines in the pipeline and with your help we can take more action.”

Complaints showed how much distress cold calls can cause:

“I am disabled.  I don't very often get calls on my landline, so it means I have to get up and walk to the phone, which causes me inconvenience and pain - frustrating when it’s a nuisance advertising call that I didn't want anyway.”

“My husband has dementia and could agree to anything if I wasn't there to take the call.”

“The most annoying and disgusting thing was the time of the call in the early hours of the morning. It woke everyone in the house including young children. It caused me a lot of anxiety as I do not receive calls at that time of day unless it is an emergency or bad news. A family member is currently seriously ill and I immediately thought the worse.”

“They called at half 3 in the morning! I have a sick grandfather dying of cancer, and it was assumed things had taken a turn for the worst. This is a TPS registered number.  I hate getting these calls at the best of times.  Now they're ringing at utterly ridiculous times.” 

Regulating the law around marketing calls is one of the roles of the ICO. It listens to concerns raised by individuals about nuisance calls, provides advice to organisations and takes enforcement action against those that break the rules.

Unwanted calls, texts and emails can be reported via the ICO’s online reporting toolsor by calling 0303 123 1113.

*Actual figure is £9,488. Calculation based on total fines for PECR offences in 2016 divided by number of working days so far in 2016.

Notes to editors

1. The Information Commissioner’s Office upholds information rights in the public interest, promoting openness by public bodies and data privacy for individuals.
2. The ICO has specific responsibilities set out in the Data Protection Act 1998, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000, Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) 2004 and Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003.
3. The ICO can take action to change the behaviour of organisations and individuals that collect, use and keep personal information. This includes criminal prosecution, non-criminal enforcement and audit. The ICO has the power to impose a monetary penalty on a data controller of up to £500,000.
4. The Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) sit alongside the Data Protection Act. They give people specific privacy rights in relation to electronic communications.
   • There are specific rules on:
     • marketing calls, emails, texts and faxes;
     • cookies (and similar technologies);
     • keeping communications services secure; and
     • customer privacy as regards traffic and location data, itemised billing, line identification, and directory listings.
   • We aim to help organisations comply with PECR and promote good practice by offering advice and guidance. We will take enforcement action against organisations that persistently ignore their obligations.
5. Civil Monetary Penalties (CMPs) are subject to a right of appeal to the (First-tier Tribunal) General Regulatory Chamber against the imposition of the monetary penalty and/or the amount of the penalty specified in the monetary penalty notice.
6. Any monetary penalty is paid into the Treasury’s Consolidated Fund and is not kept by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
7. To report a concern to the ICO telephone our helpline 0303 123 1113 or go toico.org.uk/concerns.