Cybersecurity Policy Report, U.K.’s ICO Fines Home Improvement Companies Over Marketing Calls, (Jul 9, 2026)

By Tony Foley

The United Kingdom’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has levied fines totaling 370,000 pounds sterling ($496,000) against home improvement companies for unlawful marketing calls to people who had not asked to be contacted.

The companies, Thermotech Wall, Loft Surveys Ltd., and Jacksons Marketing Ltd., shared the same director and made calls concerning loft insulation, home surveys, and government grants, according to an ICO news release. In both instances, the companies made hundreds of thousands of calls to numbers registered with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS), in many cases using robocall software operated through overseas calling centers. Complainants described receiving multiple calls daily, even after explicitly asking for them to stop, and said they often were left distressed and frightened by the volume and nature of the calls. In addition, ICO’s investigation uncovered WhatsApp messages between the company director and the call centers in which he encouraged the centers to call numbers listed on the TPS.

ICO issued monetary penalty notices against Thermotech and Jacksons Marketing levying fines of 240,000 pounds ($322,000) and 130,000 pounds ($174,000), respectively. Additionally, each company received an enforcement notice ordering them to stop making marketing calls without consent.

"These companies targeted some of the most vulnerable in our society—they called older people and those who had clearly asked to be left alone, leaving them frightened to answer their own phones. That is completely unacceptable,” said Andy Curry, ICO’s head of investigations. "We will not hesitate to take action against those who exploit people in this way, and we will follow the evidence wherever it leads—including to those who try to evade accountability by creating new companies when complaints mount up."

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