As businesses prepare for the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the new E-privacy Directive the costs of a data breach has been reinforced by the news that the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has fined 11 charities for misusing personal data.
The organisations included:-
The Royal British Legion
Macmillan Cancer Support
Cancer Support UK
Oxfam
and a host of other well-known charities.
The impact on those charities is not confined to the monetary fine (which was reduced to take into account the impact on donors to these charities) but has resulted in the Charity Commission taking steps. Currently the Charity Commission is assessing whether the Trustees of each charity have acted in accordance with their duties under charity law. The Charity Commission’s guidance to Trustees makes it clear that Trustees need to understand and comply with relevant data protection laws and requirements. The Commission has now met with all 11 charities and is actively engaged on work to lessen the likelihood of further such breaches in the sector.
For further information on Data Protection please contact Holly Dobson at [email protected] or at 0114 224 2121
