Nuisance phone calls face crackdown

Taskforce sets out recommendations to combat the problem.

The government’s Nuisance Calls Task Force has set out recommendations to help tackle the "everyday menace" of unwanted calls.

The panel, chaired by Which? executive director Richard Lloyd, is part of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s Action Plan on nuisance calls. 

Key recommendations from the group include more accountability for senior executives, and lowering the threshold to take enforcement action for companies that breach the rules.

Nuisance calls

Between April and June this year there were over 40,000 complaints to the Independent Commissioner's Office (ICO) about unwanted phone calls.

These tended to be about accident claims, payday loans, debt management and, increasingly, energy efficiency schemes like the Green Deal.

The taskforce found many people did not know they had given consent to be contacted by these companies.

Recommendations

The taskforce has set out 15 recommendations aimed at businesses, industry bodies, regulators and the government to help tackle the problem of unwanted calls and texts.

It says companies should treat compliance with the rules on consent to direct marketing as a board level matter, with senior level executives held to account for breaches, which may require a change in the law.

Meanwhile, organisations that undertake marketing activities should ensure any customer details (known as 'leads') they buy have been fairly and legally obtained and hold a clear record of consent to receive further marketing.

They also need to make it easier for people to opt out and for those that use third-party consent leads to uphold the six-month time limit for use as a minimum standard.

The group has also called on the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to work with other regulators to understand issues which cause harm and identify action to remedy problems.

It also says the ICO should develop best practice guidelines for the public, including clarifying the wording for how people opt in and opt out of being contacted for marketing purposes.

The group also wants increased regulatory powers to extend the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) to include firms selling on personal data, not just those that conduct direct marketing.

Plus it wants to lower the threshold for the ICO under PECR to take enforcement action so that they don't have to find evidence of harm, but just prove a company has breached the rules. It also wants better enforcement action against companies which call people registered with the Telephone Preference Service, which is supposed to prevent unwanted calls.

And the group has called on the Government to lead a business awareness campaign to ensure companies know their responsibilities when it comes to making marketing calls and texts.

Other measures suggested include:

• the Government working with the industry to get businesses to send their caller IDs so that people can easily report any nuisance calls to regulators;
• provide spam filtering technology on mobiles to stop unwanted texts;
• develop a short-code that people can dial after receiving an unwanted call that sends information to the regulators and network operators.

How to stop nuisance calls

If you are being bombarded with unwanted calls check out our guide: How to stop junk mail and unwanted telephone calls.

More on nuisance calls:

The most common cold calls

Cold calls: how to stop unwanted phone calls

BT6500: new phone that automatically blocks unwanted calls