Who: The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)
Where: United Kingdom
When: 28 April 2026
Law stated as at: 19 May 2026
What happened
The ICO has published final guidance on the “charitable purposes soft opt-in” provision following consultation. The new provision was introduced by the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 (DUA Act) which added regulation 22(3A) into the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (PECR). The change took effect on 5 February 2026.
Generally, under PECR, organisations must obtain individuals’ consent to send them marketing by electronic mail, such as emails or text messages. However, regulation 22(3) of PECR provides an exception to this requirement. This exception (commonly known as the “soft opt-in”) applies where a person provides their contact details in the course of buying (or negotiating to buy) something from a trader, and does not opt out of receiving marketing messages at the time of providing their details or subsequently. In those circumstances, the trader is permitted to send marketing messages by email for similar goods or services. The existing soft opt-in is limited to a goods or services context, but the DUA Act has now introduced a separate exception to allow charities to contact individuals about the charity’s charitable purposes.
To reflect this change, the ICO has updated its guidance on direct marketing using electronic mail which sets out how charities can use the provision and explains the requirements in detail.
The new exception allows charities to send electronic mail without people’s prior consent for marketing purposes provided a number of conditions are satisfied.
The only purpose of the marketing must be to support one or more of the charity’s charitable purposes. The ICO guidance gives examples such as asking for donations, encouraging volunteering and providing information about the charity’s mission-related activities.
The charity must have collected the person’s contact details when that person was showing interest in one or more of the charity’s charitable purposes at that time, or offering or providing support for one or more of those purposes. This applies if someone actively engages with a charitable purpose; for example, by asking for information about the work the charity does, donating to charity or volunteering to help. However, it would be unlikely to apply if a person just uses free guest Wi-Fi when visiting a charity-run café.
The person must have been given an easy way to “opt out” (free of charge except for the costs of sending the refusal), both when the details were first collected and, if the person did not initially refuse, with each future marketing message.
Why this matters
The charitable purposes soft opt-in gives charities a new route to send electronic marketing to supporters, provided they meet the conditions which are set out in PECR and further explained in the ICO guidance. However, the exception applies only to contact details collected on or after 5 February 2026, meaning it cannot be used retrospectively (that is where contact details were obtained before this date). Charities that also sell goods or services and wish to rely on both the existing commercial soft opt-in and the new charitable purposes soft opt-in must implement separate opt-out mechanisms for each, maintain clear records and offer recipients the ability to refuse each type of marketing in every subsequent communication.
