The Information Commissioner’s Office, the data regulator, has fined marketing firm MCP Online Ltd (MCP) £55,000 for making nearly 21,000 unsolicited calls about pensions to consumers.

Between 1 January and 28 September 2022, MCP, of Wenlock Road, north London, made 20,939 unwanted direct marketing calls to people who were registered with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS), the ICO said.

The ICO said MCP is also believed to have sent over 92,000 SMS text messages.

The ICO said it was against the law to make a "live marketing call" to anyone who is registered with the TPS unless the individual has informed the specific organisation that they do not object to receiving calls from them. 

A number of people made complaints to the ICO. One complainant, who received repeated calls from MCP, said: “The caller was unapologetic and didn't have a clue what the TPS register is.”

MCP made thousands of marketing calls to consumers about pensions over a nine month period. It is not clear what the nature of the calls was.

MCP was one of three companies fined at total of £170,000 this week for illegal direct marketing under the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR).

Debt management company, Digivo Media Ltd, which traded as Rid My Debt, was fined £50,000 for sending more than 415,000 text messages, which were delivered from 24 March 2021 to 7 September 2021.

The third company fined for a breach of PECR was Argentum Data Solutions Ltd, a data processing and hosting provider for organisations to send direct marketing SMS messages. Argentum was fined £65,000 for both sending and allowing third parties to send more than 2.3m direct marketing text messages without valid consent. The messages promoted a range of services including car finance compensation claims, boiler replacement schemes and housing repairs.

None of these messages identified the sender of the message or gave people the opportunity to opt out of future marketing communications, also a breach of PECR.

Andy Curry, head of investigations, at the ICO, said: “We’re working to stop these unscrupulous companies who use predatory marketing communications to target people who are, or who may be, at the most risk of harm. 

“High-pressured sales calls pushing financial products can cause real distress and harm to the people on the receiving end. That’s why we support the government’s recent consultation calling for a ban on cold calling for consumer financial services and products, and believe this could help reduce the amount of these predatory marketing calls.”