Now you can finally banish charity junk mail

Thanks to the Mail, from tomorrow you can sign up to a new free service that blocks letters, calls and emails ...

FROM tomorrow, you will be able to ban charities from pestering you to donate cash.

The Mail has exposed how some charities have hounded elderly and vulnerable people with countless letters, calls, texts and emails.

Now, the Fundraising Regulator has introduced a free service that allows members of the public to bar specific charities from contacting them.

Here, we explain how it works.

WHAT IS IT AND WHY WAS IT LAUNCHED?

THE FUNDRAISING Preference Service is a website that allows you to stop marketing calls, emails, texts and letters sent to you from a selected charity.

It was launched by the fundraising watchdog in response to public fury over the aggressive cold-call tactics used by many charities.

The Mail revealed that some were working with unscrupulous data firms to buy and sell huge contacts lists so that they could flood people with unsolicited marketing communication.

The new service is also a response to outrage over the case of Olive Cooke, a 92- year- old poppy seller who was hounded by charity fundraisers before her death. An inquest concluded Mrs Cooke, from Bristol, took her own life in 2015 after suffering from breast cancer and depression.

But her death also shone a light on fundraising tactics after it emerged she had been bombarded with around 270 letters from charities every month, as well as phone calls.

HOW DOES THE NEW SCHEME WORK?

YOU CAN demand your name, address, telephone number and email address is removed from charities’ contact lists.

Log on to fundraisingpreference.org.uk and fill out your details. Charities will need your name and address as a minimum to find you on their lists.

You can select which types of communication you wish to opt out of, including letters, emails, phone calls or texts — or all four. You can only block up to three charities at a time. If you want to unsubscribe from more, you will need to fill out the form again.

With more than 160,000 charities registered with the Charities Commission, it would take a long time to remove your name from every charity’s list.

However, charities will generally only have your details if you have previously donated or agreed to receive marketing from them, so it is unlikely you would need to contact dozens of them — unless you are very generous.

Once the form is complete, your data will be passed on to the charities you named through a secure, password-protected online portal.

WHY CAN’T I BLOCK ALL CHARITIES?

THE regulator initially looked into a blanket ban. However, it decided that most people were happy to be contacted by charities they supported.

It also listened to concerns from charities, which felt a complete block was a step too far. Gerald Oppenheim, the director of policy at the Fundraising Regulator, says: ‘Charities may not all like the new service but they have accepted it. They recognise that this is about consumer consent and protection.

‘The Daily Mail did a lot to raise public awareness of fundraising practices which put people under undue pressure to donate. The system needed to change, and this is part of that.’

WHAT IF SOMEONE IS NOT ONLINE?

THERE will be a phone number you can call, which will be announced on Thursday. Or you could ask someone who is online to fill out the form for you.

If an elderly or vulnerable person is not in a position to ask for help, but you are worried they are being bombarded with communication, you can fill out a form on their behalf. You will be asked for your details as well, and a letter will be sent to the person informing them they’ve been removed from a list.

HOW SOON WILL THE MAIL STOP?

A CHARITY has 28 days to process a request. Then, if communication continues, the regulator will send a reminder. If the charity persists, the regulator can report it to the Information Commissioner’s Office, which can issue fines of up to £25,000 for misuse of data. To resume communication, just contact the charity.

CAN I OPT OUT FROM A CHARITY I SUPPORT?

YES, even if you have a direct debit with the charity, you can still opt out of marketing communication. The direct debit will not stop and the charity can still contact you about payment issues.

IS THERE ANY MAIL THAT ISN’T COVERED?

IT WILL not prevent charity mail which does not have your name on it and is instead generically sent to ‘the householder’.

This is because these letters do not target you specifically. It also cannot stop people from coming to the door fundraising.

Andrew Hagger, personal finance expert, says: ‘This is an excellent idea, albeit long overdue. If people wish to give to charity they will do so as and when they wish, and shouldn’t be hounded by commission hungry sales people.’

HOW DO I STOP OTHER JUNK MAIL AND CALLS?

THE Telephone Preference Service is free and enables you to opt out of many unsolicited sales and marketing calls. Visit tpsonline.

org.uk or call 0345 070 0707. The free Mail Preference Service removes your name and home address from many marketing industry lists. Visit mpsonline.org.

uk or call 0207 291 3310. Royal Mail’s free Door-to-Door Opt-Out stops unsolicited, unaddressed mail. Call 0345 266 0858 or log on to royalmail.com.

BT’s Call Protect Service, free to BT customers, combats nuisance calls. See bt.com (0800 328 1572). l.eccles@dailymail.co.uk