Some small charities in the sector admit that they are unsure whether or not they are compliant with the new GDPR standards (General Data Protection Regulations) which came into force at 12:01 am on Friday May 25.

These require organisations to ensure that they have consent to directly contact those who are not currently dealing with them, such as potential customers, subscribers or donors. They also give these groups the right to know what data is held on them and what use it is put to, as well as the right to be able to easily unsubscribe from contact lists, a right that also applies to customers.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has been at pains to reassure organisations that the Draconian fines quoted in some media of up to 20 million euros, or 4% of turnover, whichever is the greater, apply to persistent lawbreakers, rather than those who seek advice from ICO on how to comply, and then act on it.

The new regulations have seen lots of organisations seeking permission to carry on emailing, and given lots of victims the chance to not respond and thus conveniently unsubscribe, actions that an email from the Labour Party claimed would “ruin Jeremy Corbyn’s birthday”.