Ever since the Data Protection Act was introduced in 2018, compliance with Data Protection laws and the importance of a person’s privacy has never been so prevalent.
Many of our previous blogs look at the fines handed out by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and Court for non-compliance and it can be said that these fines are significant in value. For that reason, it has never been more important for charities to comply with Data Protection laws, particularly because any breach resulting in a fine would limit their ability to function and meet their aims.
The Fundraising Regulator has now identified that a large number of charities continue to breach Data Protection laws by failing to pay attention to the Fundraising Preference Service (FPS). Similar to the Telephone Preference Service, the FPS allows individuals to prevent contact from being made with charities they do not wish to hear from. The FPS includes all charities registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales. By failing to comply with the FPS, charities may contact individuals who have opted out from being contacted and therefore act in breach of the Data Protection laws.
Any charity in breach of the FPS may be reported to the ICO for further investigation. It is likely that the ICO would order the charity to comply with the FPS and issue a fine against that charity. Not only will this result in bad publicity for the charity involved, but any fine would also take funds away from a charity pursuing its purpose, which can be significantly detrimental for those smaller charities. Another consequence available would be action being taken by the Charity Commission.
The Charity Commission governs all charities registered with them and has a range of penalties available against charities acting outside of their powers or failing to comply with the commission. A breach of Data Protection laws is likely to be viewed as a governance issue by the commission and they may be forced to take enforcement action. Enforcement action could include, but is not limited to, the following:
- restricting the transactions that a charity may enter into;
- appointing additional trustees;
- ‘freezing’ a charity’s bank account;
- suspending or removing a trustee; and/or
- appointing an interim manager.
Comment
It is paramount that charities comply with the FPS and other data protection laws in order to avoid action being taken by either the ICO, Courts, or Charity Commission. If you are registered with the Charity Commission it is advised you review your charity’s compliance with the FPS and ensure any requests made have been followed up.
How can Nelsons help?
Stuart Parris is an Associate in our expert Dispute Resolution team.
If you require any advice concerning the subjects discussed in this article, please do not hesitate to contact Stuart or another member of the team in Derby, Leicester, or Nottingham on 0800 024 1976 or via our online enquiry form.
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