Shame on the RSPCA

ON day two of our shocking revelations about charities’ misuse of personal data, the Mail Investigations Unit exposes how the RSPCA hires companies to run secret wealth checks on its supporters.

Under the euphemism ‘legacy predictor modelling’, the idea is to assess how much donors are likely to bequeath.

The RSPCA protests it is entitled to share donors’ details if they don’t opt out of the ‘relevant consent statement’.

But leave aside that these tick-box opt- outs are hidden in barely legible print. How many would consent to have their details shared, if they knew they would be used in this underhand way?

Indeed, how many animal-loving donors would want any part of their money spent on running secret wealth checks?

The last thing this paper wants is to discourage donations. But until we have clear rules, properly policed, this is what charities risk bringing on themselves. IN a breakthrough for the Mail’s Betrayal of the Brave campaign, Armed Forces Minister Penny Mordaunt has met three former service chiefs pressing ministers to give asylum to our troops’ Afghan interpreters. Yes, this is progress, but the lives of these courageous men and their families are in daily danger from the Taliban. Words won’t save them. But action can. We owe it to them. AS a proportion of its £115.4billion budget, the mere thousands that the NHS lavishes on patients’ holidays, pedalo rides, summer houses, art classes, kitchen equipment and iRobot vacuum cleaners may be barely noticeable. But as an illustration of the public sector mentality (‘it’s only taxpayers’ money, so who cares?’) it’s beyond price.