By answering a few questions, the tool aims to bring the relevant guidance together in one place. It has been designed with small organisations in mind, who might have less time and resources. However, it is available for anyone to use – whether the organisation is a sole trader, start-up, a small or medium sized organisation, or a charity, group or club.

Last year, the ICO took action against Money Bubble Ltd and Breathe Services Ltd, both based in Greater Manchester. The companies were fined a total of £290,000 and issued with enforcement notices after an ICO investigation found they’d collectively made in excess of 4.5 million nuisance phone calls to people who’d opted out of receiving marketing calls.

A fine totalling £150,000 was additionally issued to two companies, Quick Tax Claims Limited, and National Debt Advice Limited, for sending in excess of 7.5 million spam text messages to people resulting in over 70,000 complaints – 93 per cent of which stated there was no ‘opt out’ option. During this investigation, it transpired that both companies had purchased personal information from third-party suppliers that did not obtain valid consent.

ICO’s head of business services, Faye Spencer, said: “Direct marketing can be a great asset to any organisation when it’s done correctly and lawfully. This new tool, coupled with our privacy notice generator launched last year, aims to make data protection compliance simple and stress-free for all organisations.

“We’d love for you to try the direct marketing advice generator for yourself, and fill in the feedback form when you’ve used it. We want to make sure all our products and services meet the needs different types of organisations, and your feedback is invaluable in helping us to do this.”