H&L Business Consulting Ltd (company) has been fined £80,000 by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) for sending a total of 378,538 text messages to people without their consent.
Background
H&L Business Consulting Ltd, an IT consultancy company based in Cumbria, sent thousands of unsolicited marketing texts during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic between January and July 2020.
The ICO reports that the text messages stated the following:
“Get Debt FREE during the Lockdown! Write off 95% of ALL DEBTS with ALL charges and fees FROZEN. Government-backed. Click Stop 2optout” (sic)
“Get Debt FREE during the Lockdown! Write off 95% of ALL DEBTS with ALL charges and fees FROZEN. Government-backed. Click Stop 2optout” (sic)
The company specifically referred to “lockdown” and sought to take advantage of the pandemic. The messages also referenced a Government-backed debt management scheme, however, the company was not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to provide regulated financial products or services.
This led to more than 300 individual complaints against the company and the ICO pursuing an investigation.
Role of the ICO
The ICO is the UK’s independent regulator for data protection and information rights law. It is responsible for upholding information rights in the public interest and its responsibilities span across a number of pieces of legislation. The ICO can take action to change the behaviour of organisations and individuals that collect, use, and keep personal information. This includes non-criminal enforcement and criminal prosecution.
What are the rules?
The Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) give people privacy rights in relation to electronic communications and this includes marketing calls, emails, texts, or faxes.
In summary, the rules restrict unsolicited marketing by any of the above methods. The rules are stricter when it comes to marketing to individuals and state that an organisation will need specific consent to send unsolicited direct marketing in any of these forms.
An unsolicited message is any message that has not been specifically requested by the recipient. This means that even if a customer has ‘opted in’ to receive marketing generally, a message will still be deemed as unsolicited. A message will only be solicited for the purposes of the rules if the information contained is actively requested.
This does not mean that all unsolicited marketing will be unlawful. However, any unsolicited marketing messages will need to comply with PECR in order to be classed as lawful.
ICO’s decision
Following the outcome of the investigation, H&L Business Consulting Ltd was fined £80,000 for sending unlawful and unsolicited marketing messages. The company was also issued with an enforcement notice which has ordered it to stop sending unlawful marketing messages.
Andy Curry, ICO Head of Investigations, commented on the conduct of the company and its director:
“H&L Business Consulting Ltd sought to capitalise on the COVID-19 pandemic by sending thousands of unwanted text messages directly referencing lockdown, targeting people that may be feeling vulnerable due to the health crisis. This resulted in more than 300 complaints from the public who said they felt anxious and annoyed by those messages.”
Comment
This case is a clear example of the firm stance taken by the ICO against organisations that fail to comply with the rules in respect of marketing material.
Where there has been a clear and severe breach of the relevant legislation and an organisation is not taking its responsibilities seriously enough, the ICO will take appropriate enforcement action against them.
How can we help
Shrdha Kapoor is a Trainee Solicitor in our Dispute Resolution team.
If you have any questions concerning the subjects discussed in this article, please contact Shrdha or another member of the team in Derby, Leicester, or Nottingham on 0800 024 1976 or via our online form.
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