Mike's story
“Mike is a joiner by trade but has cancer and is unable to work. He used all his mobile phone credit trying to make a claim for Incapacity Benefit, and didn’t even get to speak to anyone. He says he waited for over 10 minutes before the credit ran out.”

65 Citizens Advice Bureaux in Northern England have been co-operating on a campaign to reduce the cost of calling government on a mobile. The campaign's report is published next week. It makes a couple of recommendations which, though modest and inexpensive, could make CAB clients' lives a great deal easier.

• We call for government 'freephone' helplines to participate in the Telephone Helplines Association scheme, which makes freephone numbers free to call from most mobiles.
  
  
• We also suggest government 084/087 helplines transfer to using 03 prefixes, which would make them cheaper to call from most mobiles.
  
  (We also ask government to consider funding charities like CABx to make the transition to 03 numbers. Many bureaux, which are all independent charities largely staffed by volunteers, would not be able to afford the transition costs without specific funding.)
  

MP John Battle has put down a Parliamentary motion supporting the recommendations [EDM 1576: [url]http://tinyurl.com/hungupedm[/url].

We hope interested members of the public will write to their MP to ask them to sign the EDM.

The report, 'Hung UP', is published next week, and you can see an advance copy at www.leedscab.org.uk/forms/hungupreport.pdf

We get the impression that this is a 'winnable' campaign, but needs further public pressure. An earlier attempt at solving this issue by the Social Security Advisory Committee failed, because its efforts were insufficiently publicised.

WHAT CAN I DO?
Please, please, if you think this is an important issue, write to your local MP to say so, and ask them to sign Early Day Motion 1576, 'The Financial Cost of Contacting Government'. Ask your friends to do the same!

Tom Royston
Leeds CAB

NB. All client names have been changed in our report to preserve confidentiality.

There's a piece on the CAB campaign in today's Observer:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2009/jun/14/0845-pushing-poor-people-debt

Thanks for this Tom. I will have a read of it in full and post my thoughts.

The issue applies equally well with public telephone boxes, as they too charge a far higher rate to 0845/0870 numbers than they do to 01/02/03 ones. However, freephone (0800/0808/0500) calls are free from them.

I see that it does get a mention and that there are issues with using them.

From BT Payphones, 0844/0845/0870 numbers cost 20pence per minute and 01/02/03 numbers cost 1 pence per minute. The minimum call charge is 40 pence with a 20 pence call set-up fee.

So the first 40 pence pays for one minute to a 0844/0845/0870 number and 20 minutes to a 01/02/03 number.

Additional time is purchased in 10 pence units. So for 0844/0845/0870 this will buy 30 seconds and for 01/02/03 this will buy 10 minutes.

The Guardian report contains the following statement from DWP  ::):


Quote:

A spokesman for the Department for Work and Pensions, which runs the Crisis Loan Claim Line and other benefits helplines, says: "All calls to claim working age benefits use 0800 numbers which are usually free to our customers from landlines. Our 0845 numbers are charged at the standard rate, but we will always call the customer back, if they ask, to cut the cost to them."

Our local CAB transferred from geographic to 0844, thus making the CAB clients pay more to contact the CAB for advice.  CAB clients would probably either dial from payphones or mobile so would pay at highest rates. Surely this is an organisation which is trying to help people on limited incomes, and should not be using non-geographic numbers for contact.

redant wrote on Jun 14^th, 2009 at 8:14pm:

Our local CAB transferred from geographic to 0844, thus making the CAB clients pay more to contact the CAB for advice.  CAB clients would probably either dial from payphones or mobile so would pay at highest rates. Surely this is an organisation which is trying to help people on limited incomes, and should not be using non-geographic numbers for contact.

Indeed. CAB's use of such numbers flies in the face of this report!

BTW, Citizen's Advice is discussed on this forum here.

The Horsham, West Sussex branch has a 0870 number there is another number which may or may not be useful

Administration Tel: 01403 261 916
Fax: 01403 218 548

Advice
Tel: 0870 1264080

See here..

http://www.horshamcab.org.uk/where&when.htm

Looks like MoneySavingExpert.com has pulled the threads started on this topic.  :-?

An interesting piece covering this on Working Lunch today.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00lbkyy/Working_Lunch_16_06_2009

Usual string of inaccuracies (e.g. 0800, 0845 and 0870 are all free from a BT landline!), but generally on the point.

SilentCallsVictim wrote on Jun 16^th, 2009 at 4:20pm:

An interesting piece covering this on Working Lunch today. http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00lbkyy/Working_Lunch_16_06_2009 Usual string of inaccuracies (e.g. 0800, 0845 and 0870 are all free from a BT landline!), but generally on the point.

How on earth are they "on the point"?

Nearly all of the info was incorrect; -
Call from a landline it is cheaper! depends on your provider as only BT are cheaper for daytime calls to 0845,(which was the main numbers they where referring to).
They also state; - "0800, 0845, 0870 numbers from a BT landline are free", they are not, (except for the 0800 number), unless you pay for BTs Anytime call package which will include,(not free), them in the charge, because most of the government agencies are only accessible during the day time, therefore for the majority of BTs customers they are never inclusive,(NOT free)!

Call from a payphone!! 20ppm! same as the Vodafone example they gave!

The report raises some interesting points. It does put the onus on the Government to move from 087 and 084 numbers to 03 ones and make "key" services free from mobiles through the THA scheme.

Whilst the Government is not without fault for using revenue sharing 084 and 087 numbers, calls to 03 numbers from mobile phones (particularly pay as you go ones) can be expensive, especially when they last 20, 30 or more minutes. There is an issue with the cost of access to telecommunications services for those on low incomes.

derrick wrote on Jun 16^th, 2009 at 10:01pm:

How on earth are they "on the point"? ... Call from a payphone!! 20ppm! same as the Vodafone example they gave!

The key points are that 0800 calls are not free from mobiles and that 084/087 numbers are more expensive from most phones.

The point about payphones is a bit of joke in itself, as the item reported that they are increasingly hard to find. It could have been made clear that this was only really with reference to the 0800 calls.

I hope we all view every media news item on every topic with an awareness that the degree of inaccuracy seen here is perfectly normal.

SilentCallsVictim wrote on Jun 16^th, 2009 at 11:49pm:

The key points are that 0800 calls are not free from mobiles …

One solution to this is to offer 0300 numbers alongside the 0800 ones and advising that they are cheaper for mobile users.

Source: Yorkshire Evening Post

http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/End-of-pricey-telephone-calls.6001107.jp

<<

End of pricey telephone calls?
Published Date:  21 January 2010

Pricey phone calls are a thing of the past – well almost.

Hung Up, a campaign by volunteers at Leeds Citizens Advice Bureau, has made it possible for 90 per cent of mobile phone users to call key government offices for free.

Until recently it cost up to 40p per minute – or £24 an hour – to call the Department of Work and Pensions' helplines from a mobile phone, even though they were 0800 numbers.

The DWP has now agreed with six of the major mobile phone operators to make calls to most of its 0800 numbers free.

But the deal comes at a price as Jobcentre Plus – a DWP agency – is replacing all local centre numbers with a central 0845 number by April.

Leeds CAB says the cost of calling government departments to access basic services such as benefits and crisis loans hits the most vulnerable people, who rely on mobile phones.

A DWP spokeswoman said that calls to JobCentre Plus offices are usually relatively quick queries, with many callers being being directed to another department number such as Jobseeker's Allowance, a Freephone number.

Chief executive Dianne Lyons believes there is a long way to go to make all key services accessible.

She said: "Other government departments may not have the same opportunity to negotiate with the phone companies, but it is vital that they continue to look at ways to reduce the cost of calling government, and therefore keep more money in the pockets of those who need it most."

John Battle MP (Leeds West) supports the Hung Up campaign. He said: "It shows what can be done when we work together to tackle injustice for the poorest.

"This development will mean that people on the lowest incomes will no longer be spending money they can't afford, simply to claim benefits.

"We particularly welcome the fact that it will now be free of charge to claim a crisis loan – which is critical for people in the most urgent need of a financial safety net."

Leeds CAB is now pushing for Revenue and Customs to make similar call charge cuts.

>>


See also:

http://www.moneynews.co.uk/7922/citizen-s-advice-bureau-responds-to-free-phone-calls-offer/