The Information Commissioner’s Office 25-year battle against rogue marketers is still failing to silence the barrage of nuisance calls and texts, with 2023 on course to see a 60% rise in complaints to nearly 80,000 – equivalent to 220 every day of the year.
The ICO first started regulating telemarketing in 1999, when it came a statutory requirement for companies to check phone numbers against the Telephone Preference Service after it was included in the Privacy & Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR).
The law was later expanded to cover unsolicited SMS and email marketing.
It had been hoped that the ICO’s crackdown had finally made some headway when figures showed complaints had dropped by 57% to 51,608 in 2022, although some industry experts maintained this was simply a “freak” year.
And it seems they were right to be cautious as the number of complaints for 2023 has hit an average monthly rate of nearly 6,600, reaching 65,988 by October 2023 – the last available figures from the ICO – and on course for 79,200 for the full 12 months.
Even so, an analysis by cyber security and data protection consultancy CSS Assure, has revealed that the ICO ordered 17 businesses to pay £1.6m in fines for breaches of PECR during 2023.
Three marketing firms were fined a combined £310,000 for making a total of 483,051 unsolicited marketing calls to businesses and sending 107 million spam emails to jobseekers; two energy firms were fined a combined £250,000 for bombarding people and businesses on the UK’s ‘do not call’ register with unlawful marketing calls; a business support consultancy was fined £30,000 for sending 558,354 direct marketing SMS messages without valid consent; and an appliance service and repair company was fined £200,000 for making more than 1.7 million unsolicited direct marketing calls.
In the final six months of the year, 10 companies were collectively fined more than £800,000 for sending a total of 4,698,841 unwanted text messages, 39,906,342 emails, and making 1,937,028 nuisance phone calls.
By comparison, in 2018/19, the ICO issued 23 monetary penalties totalling £2,053,000, while in 2017/18, the ICO issued 26 fines totalling £3,280,000.
However, CSS Assure director of information security at technology Charlotte Riley warned: “The fines imposed last year on businesses for unsolicited calls and text messages, and spam emails, as well as firms for disregarding the ‘do not call’ register, demonstrate the significant impact of invasive marketing practices.
“These penalties send a clear message that companies must respect individuals’ privacy preferences and refrain from bombarding them with unwanted communications.”
Others remain sceptical. One industry source said: “The sad fact is that, despite the ICO’s wide-ranging powers, those nuisance calls, texts and emails still keep coming, with complaints back on the rise.
“The regulator may well have fined 17 businesses but the penalties are not only getting smaller, they are still proving hard to collect.
“PECR was overhauled back in 2018 to make directors personally liable for fines of up to £500,000, yet as far as I am aware, not a single person has been prosecuted.”
Related stories
Three whacked as ICO rogue call crackdown continues
Five more rogue call firms fined but the war rages on
‘Shameful’ Brighton firm whacked for illegal call blitz
‘Freak reduction’ sees PECR moans drop by three-fifths
Will tougher fines bring victory in nuisance call war?
