The ICO has fined the Conservative Party £10,000 following complaints from 51 people who had not consented to receive them, from more than 1.1 million sent in July 2019. The ICO has just concluded the investigation, and it cited poor record-keeping.
However, whilst the investigation was continuing, the party sent out more than 23 million more mails in December 2019 and the ICO’s Director of Investigations said
“It’s really concerning that such large scale processing occurred during the ICO’s ongoing investigation and before the Conservative Party had taken all the steps necessary to ensure that its processing, and database of people who would receive emails, was fully compliant with the data protection and electronic marketing regulations.”
It’s vitally important that you record people who unsubscribe, and ensure that information is transferred when when you change email providers, unlike in this case.
You can read the full ICO ruling here.