New telecoms regulations could see charities which use automatic dialling technology fined up to £2m. 

An amendment to the Communications Act 2003 for persistent misuse of telecoms networks or services passed by parliament this week has seen the financial penalty for silent or abandoned calls rise from £50,000 to £2m.

The legislation could affect charities' fundraising efforts if they use automatic dialing systems or employ commercial companies that do. 

The increase, which brings the fine in line with Ofcom's other penalties, was welcomed by the communications regulator. 

Ofcom chief executive Ed Richards said: “Ofcom welcomes the decision to increase the maximum penalty to £2m for companies breaching rules on silent and abandoned calls.

“The increase reflects the potential seriousness of the harm caused to consumers by the unsolicited and intrusive nature of silent and abandoned calls and enables Ofcom to regulate these activities more effectively.”

Ofcom chairman Colette Bowe had herself called for stronger powers before parliament in January of last year. Research conducted by the regulator has shown that “over 70 per cent of consumers complaining about silent calls stated that they received two or more silent calls per day from the same company, often over a period of days or weeks”.

Ofcom monitors complaints, first stepping in with an informal approach, but where this is not effective, it holds the power to deliver a fixed penalty for repeated offence.

Persistent abandoned calling, where a connection is established but terminated by the caller when the call is answered, and silent calling, where a call is abandoned and the person called hears nothing on answering the phone and has no means of establishing whether anyone is at the other end, are both punishable by the fine. But so too are number scanning, withholding calling line identification facilities, using systems for dishonest gain, and misusing allocated telephone numbers. 

Louise Richards, director of policy and campaigns at the Institute of Fundraising, stated: “The Telephone Fundraising Code sets out the standards for telephone fundraising including that charities must avoid making silent calls. 

“We’d urge all charities to follow best practice in this area – and avoid a now sizeable fine - by referring to our Code when considering a telephone fundraising campaign.”