One billion nuisance calls a year in the UK: Firms must act on this 'plague'

A government task force has related that company bosses must be held responsible for the 'distress' caused by an overload of nuisance calls.

17:36 08 December 2014

One billion nuisance calls are made a year in the UK in what a government task force has described as a "plague" upon the nation.

Panel chair Richard Lloyd, executive director of consumer body Which?, said: “Consumers have suffered nuisance calls and texts for far too long.

"They are often confused or misled by requests for consent to being contacted, so today we set out recommendations to introduce tougher rules as well as more action from businesses, industry regulators and the Government.”

The report suggests that the industry regulator, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), should have new powers to charge high level executives within the companies in question to account.

The Nuisance Calls Task Force also revealed that most consumers don't realise that they have given their consent to be contacted by these companies.

Between April and June this year alone, the Information Commissioner’s Office received 18,594 complaints for live calls and 22,072 for automated messages.

Ed Vaizey, Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries, hinted that the Government is aiming at “lowering or removing the legal threshold before firms could be hit with fines of up to £500,000”.