Banning Nuisance Calls: The ICO's Fight Against Unwanted Communications

The ICO is reminding consumers to report nuisance calls, texts and emails they receive. It is illegal for organisations to contact people registered with the Telephone Preference Service without their explicit consent. To address this, the UK government has proposed banning cold calls on financial products and services. The ICO has the power to issue fines up to £500,000 against organisations making these unwanted contacts. Since April 2022, more than £2.4 million in fines have been issued as a result of single complaints reported by consumers, and the government is seeking to increase the maximum fine to £17.5 million as part of its data protection reforms.