A company has been fined £130,000 after it made over 100,000 cold calls about pensions.
The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) issued the fine to Swansea based company CPS Advisory Ltd under a law brought in to stop scammers defrauding people out of their pensions.
During an investigation, the ICO found that between 11 January 2019 and 30 April 2019, the company had made 106,987 calls to people without lawful authority.
The ICO also found that the company was not a trustee or manager of a pensions scheme, was not authorised by the FCA and the evidence that it provided did not satisfy the ICO that valid consent had been obtained.
The Information Commissioner decided that this represented "a significant intrusion into the privacy of recipients of such calls".
Andy Curry, ICO head of investigations, said: "Unwanted pension calls can cause real distress and even significant financial hardship to often vulnerable people, who can end up losing their hard-earned pension pot to scammers.
"This company clearly flouted the law when they should have known better.
"Businesses making direct marketing calls are responsible for understanding their responsibilities under the legislation, ignorance is no excuse."
This comes after the law changed last year to limit who can call people about their pensions.
The new law states that companies can only make calls to people about their work or personal pensions if the caller is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) or is the trustee or manager of a work or personal pension scheme, or if the recipient of the call consents to calls or has an existing relationship with the caller.
The change was brought in to prevent people becoming victims of scams and potentially losing their pensions.
Under the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulation (PECR), businesses can face a fine of up to £500,000 from the ICO.
The Economic Secretary to the Treasury, John Glen, said: "Pensions cold calls are the most common method used to initiate pension scams, which can rob people of their hard-earned savings and ruin lives.
"That’s why we banned them.
"Today’s fine should act as a warning to others that pensions cold calling is unacceptable, and those found flouting the rules will be held to account."
