A corporate subscriber is the PECR term for an organisation with its own legal identity, such as a limited company, a limited liability partnership or a government body, that holds the email account or phone line you are contacting. The opposite is an individual subscriber: a private person, a sole trader or a partnership without separate legal status. The difference decides whether you need consent before sending marketing emails.
How the corporate subscriber rule works
The Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) govern electronic marketing in the UK. Their consent rule for marketing emails and texts protects individual subscribers: you need their prior consent, or the soft opt-in for existing customers, before you email them marketing.
Corporate subscribers sit outside that consent rule. You may send marketing emails to people at their work addresses without prior consent, but two conditions still apply. You must identify yourself clearly, and you must give a valid address where the recipient can opt out. Once they do, you must stop.
| Recipient | PECR status | Consent needed for marketing email? |
|---|---|---|
| Someone at a limited company or plc | Corporate subscriber | No, but identify yourself and offer an opt-out |
| Someone at an LLP | Corporate subscriber | No, on the same conditions |
| A Scottish partnership | Corporate subscriber | No, on the same conditions |
| A government department or other public body | Corporate subscriber | No, on the same conditions |
| A sole trader | Individual subscriber | Yes, or the soft opt-in |
| An ordinary partnership in England, Wales or Northern Ireland | Individual subscriber | Yes, or the soft opt-in |
Corporate status does not switch off UK GDPR. A named work address such as tom.evans@company.co.uk is personal data, so you still need a lawful basis, usually legitimate interests. You must tell the person where you got their details and respect their right to object to direct marketing.
Why it matters for a UK business
For B2B firms, this rule is what makes cold email workable at all. A recruitment agency, software supplier or commercial cleaning firm can write to people at target companies without asking permission first, which is not possible in consumer marketing.
Getting the classification wrong is where businesses come unstuck. Many small UK firms are sole traders or ordinary partnerships, and emailing them without consent breaks PECR in exactly the way an email to a consumer would. The Information Commissioner’s Office enforces PECR and has fined companies for unsolicited marketing.
Common mistakes
- Assuming every business address is fair game. A plumber trading as a sole trader is an individual subscriber.
- Treating “it’s B2B” as an exemption from UK GDPR for named contacts.
- Hiding the opt-out, or asking people to reply with a reason before you remove them.
- Failing to share opt-outs between tools, so someone who objected to your outreach later lands on the newsletter.
- Assuming the same exemption covers phone calls. Calls follow separate rules, including screening against the Corporate Telephone Preference Service.
How to act on it
Add a “legal form” field to your prospect data and complete it before anyone is emailed. Companies House shows whether a business is a limited company or LLP; if it is not listed, assume a sole trader or partnership and treat the contact as an individual subscriber. Put your full business name and a working way to unsubscribe in every email, and add every objection to a suppression list used by every system that sends email for you.
Keep a short legitimate interests assessment on file and review it when your outreach changes. If B2B outreach is part of a wider plan, my digital marketing strategy work covers which channels to fund and how to stay within the rules.