What did the Contact Centre & Telemarketing Council do recently?

1) The Contact Centre & Telemarketing Council (CCTC) are meeting with ‘Which?’ magazine in January to discuss their campaign on nuisance calls. Are there questions you would like us to ask them?

2) Members of the CCTC met with the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) in November and there were a number of outputs.

a) ICO looking at how Funeral Plan companies manage data.
b) ICO mentioned that Reactiv Media (who were mentioned in Channel 4 ‘Dispatches’ programme) have appealed against their fine.
c) Ahead of the EU Data Regulation, the ICO is seeking government approval to go after Directors if a company liquidates before paying fines.
d) ICO are to go out to India very soon to look at call centres and how UK data is gathered.
e) Optical Express; the Court decision was that it was not for ICO to prove there wasn’t opt-in, but for Optical Express to prove there was.

3) Members of the CCTC also met with the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) in October.

a) MOJ are currently auditing all Data suppliers along with the ICO.
b) MOJ found meeting rewarding and wanted further advice on doctoring call recordings and original opt-ins.
c) The MOJ Claims Regulation website has live updates on current investigations and enforcements (see https://www.claimsregulation.gov.uk/enforcement.aspx). CCTC will check it monthly to see if DMA members are listed. The investigations relate to data, upfront fees, compliance handling and TPS number usage.
e) MOJ want to make the meeting more regular and proposed a quarterly update, whether in person or via conference call.

4) The second piece of research into inbound & outbound telemarketing (plus integrated communications) has been finalised with Granby Marketing. It goes live in December and will close in January 2016. Results will be released in early 2016 to complement those published in 2014.

5) As part of CCTC employability initiative, the CCTC has compiled a list of all the job roles available in contact centres. We plan to approach people from across the industry who have made a career in contact centres for testimonials. The materials produced will be shared with Kate Burnett (IDM) for use in the Student Competition and Summer School.

6) Elaine Lee chaired the vulnerable webinar on the 28 November with content from BarclayCard and Age UK. There were 210 pre registrations, 193 live viewings and 20 questions. Average scoring and feedback overall was very good.

Chris Stransom (CCTC) has done a video around the vulnerable initiative and it will be on the DMA website soon.

CCTC are planning to go back to the DM Foundation to apply for more funding for the initiative and take the training and content around the UK.

7) Three regulation matters were brought to the attention of CCTC. The first is changes to the Institute of Fundraising Code of Practice came into effect on 2 November 2015.

a) Prohibiting organisations from being able to sell an individual’s personal data to a third party.
b) Making it clear that no individual should ever be subject to undue pressure to donate, or be subjected to unreasonably persistent approaches.
c) Requiring fundraisers to make telephone calls from identifiable numbers, and to end the call when asked.
d) Restricting fundraisers from making more than three financial asks during a telephone call.
e) Requiring telephone agencies carrying out fundraising calls on behalf of a charity to have an up-to-date TPS Assured certification or be in the process of applying.
f) Emphasising the responsibilities of organisations to monitor and ensure compliance of any third parties or agencies.
g) Further clarifying the legal requirements on solicitation statements (including lottery tickets).

The second is the ICO Civil Monetary Penalty Notice issued against the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). It illustrates the need for outsourced service providers to take appropriate security measures otherwise their clients are at risk of enforcement action.

Thirdly, the ICO issued another set of civil monetary penalties; Nuisance Call Blocker Ltd has been fined £90,000 and Telecom Protection Service Ltd received an £80,000 fine. UKMS Money Solutions Limited (UKMS) were also fined £80,000 (PPI SMS), Oxygen Ltd were fined £120,000 (lead gen company).

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Next meeting is 13 January 2016. If you work for a DMA member organisation and would be interested in observing a Council meeting, then please get in touch by calling 020 7291 3300.