A UK-based pensions firm has been fined £40,000 ($52,855, €46,864) by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) for sending nearly two million direct marketing emails without consent.
The non-departmental government body, which looks to uphold information rights in the public interest, found that Grove Pension Solutions was responsible for sending 1,942,010 emails between October 2016 and October 2017.
It said the firm had instructed a marketing agent to use third-party providers to carry out campaigns that advertised the company’s services, which contravenes the law that organisations cannot “generally send marketing emails unless the recipient has given them their consent to receive them”.
Andy White, director of investigations and intelligence at the ICO, said: “Spam email uses people’s personal data unlawfully, filling up their inboxes and promoting products and services which they don’t necessarily want.
“We acknowledge that Grove Pension Solutions took steps to check that their marketing activity was within the law but received misleading advice.
“However, ultimately, they are responsible for ensuring they comply with the law and they were in breach of it.
“The ICO is here to provide businesses with guidance about electronic marketing and data protection free of charge.
“The company could have contacted us and avoided this fine.”
Fell foul of regulations
Grove Pensions Solutions received specialist advice from a data protection consultancy, as well as independent legal advice, about the use of hosted marketing.
However, the advice “proved to be inaccurate” and the ICO found that the marketing activity “fell foul of the regulations”.
The ICO is also in charge of the enforcing the government’s newly-introduced cold calling ban on pensions, which came into effect on 9 January 2019.
Companies that make unwanted and unsolicited phone calls to people about their pensions may face enforcement action, including fines of up to £500,000.
