Data protection scofflaws failed to pay £2m in fines from UK watchdog – and 68% of penalties are still outstanding

2020-11-05 12:15

Scofflaws have failed to pay nearly £2m in fines handed out by the UK Information Commissioner's Office over the past 18 months, according to new research.

"The ICO continues to struggle to effectively collect the fines that they issue," sighed The SMS Works co-founder and director Henry Cazalet in a blog post about the regulator's woes.

An ICO spokeswoman conceded that enforcement of fines against nuisance-call firms was proving difficult, telling The Register: "Many nuisance-call companies fined under the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations go into liquidation. While in some respects, a firm going into liquidation marks a frustrating end to our investigations, it's worth noting that when nuisance-call companies go out of business, they stop making calls. And that's a successful outcome."

She added: "Since January 2019, nine fines have been paid, seven fines are in the process of being recovered and five are under appeal. Over the same period 16 directors have been disqualified for 94 years and a sole trader also signed a Bankruptcy Restriction Undertaking for six years in connection with ICO fines."

Otherwise, the data obtained by The SMS Works showed that the introduction of GDPR had led to fines declining: there were 89 fines handed out in 2017-18, compared to the post-GDPR period of 2019-20 where only 29 were handed out.

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