Enforcement action

Quick Tax Claims Limited

15 October 2024, Monetary penalties

An ICO investigation revealed that Quick Tax Claims Limited had sent 7,863,547 unlawful text messages over the course of a month, resulting in 66,793 complaints – 93% of these stating there was no ‘opt out’ option. During the investigation, the ICO found that the company had purchased personal information from third-party suppliers that did not obtain valid consent. This led to the ICO issuing Quick Tax Claims Limited with a £120,000 fine.

National Debt Advice Limited

14 October 2024, Monetary penalties, Finance insurance and credit

National Debt Advice sent 129,902 unsolicited direct marketing text messages to individuals in breach of regulation 22 of PECR resulting in over 4,000 complaints to the 7726 spam reporting service. The company was fined £30,000 and issued with an enforcement notice.

WerepairUK Ltd

10 October 2024, Monetary penalties, Marketing

WerepairUK Ltd made 42,688 marketing calls to individuals in breach of regulation 21 of PECR. The company has been fined £80,000 and issued with an enforcement notice.

Service Box Group Limited

10 October 2024, Monetary penalties, Marketing

Service Box Group Limited made 5,361 marketing calls to individuals in breach of regulation 21 of PECR. The company has been fined £40,000 and issued with an enforcement notice.

Police Service of Northern Ireland

03 October 2024, Monetary penalties

The Police Service of Northern Ireland has been fined £750,000 for infringing Articles 5(1)(f), 32(1) and (2) of the UK GDPR between 25 May 2018 and 14 June 2024.

Coastal Windows & Conservatories (UK) Limited

15 August 2024, Monetary penalties, Retail and manufacture

Coastal Windows & Conservatories Limited made over 18,000 unsolicited marketing calls between 1 January and 1 June 2023 to numbers registered with the TPS. The ICO and TPS received numerous complaints from people variously saying they had not consented to receiving such calls or received repeated calls despite requests to stop.

The Central Young Men’s Christian Association

30 April 2024, Monetary penalties, Charitable and voluntary

The Central YMCA sent an email to individuals participating in a programme for people living with HIV using “CC” rather than “BCC”, revealing the email addresses to all recipients. 166 individuals could be identified or potentially identified from their email address. As a result, it could be inferred that these individuals were likely to be living with HIV. The Central YMCA have been fined £7,500 and issued a reprimand.

Outsource Strategies Ltd

23 April 2024, Monetary penalties

Outsource Strategies Ltd made 1,346,503 unwanted marketing calls between 11 February 2021 and 22 March 2022 to numbers registered with the TPS. The ICO received 74 complaints from people variously saying they received repeated calls despite requests to stop and that the callers were aggressive.

Dr Telemarketing

23 April 2024, Monetary penalties

Between 11 February 2021 to 24 January 2022, there were 80,240 connected calls unsolicited direct marketing calls being made to subscribers who were registered with the TPS and who had not notified DRT that they were willing to receive such calls, and two complaints being submitted as a result. Calls were about the Irish Lottery. DRT stopped engaging with the Commissioner part way through the investigation and failed to provide a satisfactory explanation for the Lotto Express calls involved in the contravention.

Pinnacle Life Limited

07 March 2024, Monetary penalties, Finance insurance and credit

Between 5 May 2021 to 5 May 2022, there were 47,998 connected calls unsolicited direct marketing calls being made to subscribers who were registered with the TPS and who had not notified Pinnacle Life Limited that they were willing to receive such calls, and four complaints being submitted as a result.

Ministry of Defence

26 February 2024, Monetary penalties, Central government

The MOD sent emails inadvertently using the “To” field rather than the “BCC” field. 265 unique email addresses were disclosed in breach of GDPR Article 5(1)(f). The MOD were fined £350,000.

L.A.D.H Limited

19 January 2024, Monetary penalties, Finance insurance and credit

L.A.D.H Limited sent 31,329 direct market text messages to individuals in breach of regulation 22 and 23 of PECR. The company was fined £50,000 and issued with an enforcement notice.

Poxell Ltd

16 January 2024, Monetary penalties

Poxell first came to the attention of the Commissioner in April 2022 as part of an investigation formed to assess and analyse complaint trends in relation to the energy and home improvements sector. The investigation established that between 31 March 2022 and 20 July 2022, Poxell made 2,647,805 unsolicited direct marketing calls in breach of regulations 21 and 24 of PECR. The above resulted in 413 complaints to the ICO and TPS reporting tools. Individuals stated calls were about energy products, specifically driveway repairs, windows, doors and insulation. Several complainants reported that they had not consented to receive calls which were persistent in nature, one individual stated they had received over 40 calls, and they thought calls may be a scam.

Skean Homes Ltd

16 January 2024, Monetary penalties

Skean first came to the attention of the Commissioner in 2022 as part of an operation formed to assess and analyse complaint trends in relation to the energy and home improvement sector. The Commissioner identified a number of complaints against "Eco Hub", "Driveway Solutions" and "Eco Driveways", in which complainants stated that the calls were promoting energy grants for resin driveways. The investigation established that between 2 March 2022 and 31 May 2022, Skean instigated 614,342 unsolicited direct marketing calls in breach of regulations 21 and 24 of PECR. The above resulted in 31 complaints to the ICO and TPS reporting tools.

Grocery Delivery E-Services UK Ltd t/a HelloFresh

12 January 2024, Monetary penalties, Retail and manufacture

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has fined food delivery company HelloFresh £140,000 for a campaign of 79 million spam emails and 1 million spam texts over a seven-month period. The marketing messages were sent based on an opt-in statement which did not make any reference to the sending of marketing via text, and which was also bundled with an age confirmation statement which was likely to unfairly incentivise customers to agree. Customers were also not given sufficient information that their data would continue to be used for marketing purposes for up to 24 months after cancelling their subscriptions.