The Information Commissioner’s Office (the ICO) has launched a public consultation on the new charitable purpose soft opt-in approach for direct marketing by charities. The consultation is open until 23:59 on 26 November 2025, and the responses will assist the ICO in updating its guidance on direct marketing and privacy and electronic communications.
The ICO is using the term the "charitable purpose soft opt-in" to reference the new rules for charities which will be inserted into Regulation 22(3A) of the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (PECR), by section 114 of the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025. This section (and therefore the charitable purpose soft opt-in) is not yet in force, but the ICO anticipates that it will be in January 2026.
There is currently a soft opt-in for electronic marketing under PECR in Regulation 22(3), which the ICO has said it will refer to as the "commercial soft opt-in" in its updated guidance. The commercial soft opt-in only applies to marketing of products or services in certain circumstances. Therefore, it may apply to a charity to the extent that the charity sells products and services (and where the requirements in Regulation 22(3) of PECR are met) but it does not extend to electronic marketing where it is to further a charity’s charitable purposes, in those instances, charities currently have to rely on obtaining specific consent.
The new Regulation 22(3A) will enable charities to send or instigate the sending of electronic mail for the purposes of direct marketing regarding the charity’s charitable purposes where (in summary):
- The sole purpose of the direct marketing is to further one or more of that charity’s charitable purposes;
- The charity obtained the contact details of the recipient in the course of the recipient (i) expressing an interest in one or more of the charity’s charitable purposes at that time, or (ii) offering or providing support to further one or more of those charitable purposes; and
- The recipient has been given a simple means to refuse the use of their contact details for direct marketing at the time they were initially collected, and where they did not initially refuse, at the time of each subsequent communication.
Charities should also be aware that they will not be able to use the charitable purpose soft opt-in to send electronic marketing to people whose details they have collected prior to Regulation 22(3A) coming into force. Therefore, if they decide to rely on the charitable soft opt-in, they will need to ensure they can track who gave consent to the direct marketing and who will be sent such marketing using the soft opt-in.
The consultation is a key opportunity to contribute to how the guidance on the charitable purpose opt-in forms. If you would like to take part in the consultation, you can do so here.
The ICO has also published guidance on planning ahead for the charitable purpose soft opt-in here.
Rachel Wright