Welcome.

A little more information on the company/organisation/gov department, etc helps us a lot when trying to look for alternatives.  Things like address, website address, geographical fax number, etc as mentioned here and in red when posting.

Fortunately, I was able to find www.nhsstudentgrants.co.uk.

As you mention the number 01253 655655 now asks you to ring their 0845 number but I tried numbers from 01253 655656 all way upto around 01253 655 688 but all were engaged.  Now this was just now and earlier on this morning which is extremely unlikely to be busy at these times therefore the reason is most likely that the call centre staff have put their telephone equipment to 'Busy/Not available' this stops calls getting to them and ringing the 0845 confirmed they were closed.

Therefore, I'd recommend trying numbers from 01253 655 656 to 01253 655 688 first thing on Monday morning (if possible) or another time when they are likely to be open and ideally not busy.

I couldn't find any true geographical alternative but apart from the above I did notice they use a geographical fax number of 01253 774490.

Therefore, if the above numbers are always engaged then you also try ringing some numbers in the neighbourhood of 01253 774490 (eg. 01253 774491, 01253 774495, 01253 774480, etc).

In the meantime over the next few days I shall request their geographical number under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act (assuming they come under the FOI act which they should do if they're government funded).  This unfortunately may take around a month for them to process and (hopefully) provide me with the geographical alternative but could be lot less or even longer in some cases if they start being funny, etc.  If I do get their geographical this will be added to the database.

Good luck and let us know how you get on with the above numbers.

I have sent off an FOI request for the geographical alternative to their helpline.

Further info on this and their reply when it arrives can be read here.

Phil. So what is the alternative geo number to
0845 358 6655 then?

So are you saying that the 0845 number definitely does not have a 01253 geographical number that it piggy backs on to .

Hi Phil,

There is an underlying geographical number behind it.

I did an FOI request for it and was told there was an 01253 geographical number behind it but they are trying to withhold it so I've asked for an internal review.

Details I've managed to find (with a bit of searching) are that it is outsourced to a company called Paymaster.  Calls are not handled at the h/o of PayMaster and a google search revealed PayMaster has an address of Hesketh House, 200-220 Broadway, Fleetwood, Lancashire, FY7 8LG.  This is also the address of the NHS Pensions Agency (the agency responsible for student grants).  Therefore they are based with the NHS Pensions Agency.

It is common for staff to think there is only an 0845/0870 number and no geographical exists.  This isn't true and there is a geographical number behind it.

Easiest way to find out is what is the internal number of the main students helpline that other staff would put the call through to if the call was answered by pensions side of things and not student grants?

The chances are the number for Student Grants is 01253 77xxxx (xxxx being the extension number of the main helpline).  It may not be 77 before that though.

People are kept in a queue for a long time at a cost of 3ppm from a BT landline and upto 40ppm from a payphone or mobile.  If students rung a geographical using Call18866/1899 they would only pay 3p for the call regardless of the length of time they were spent in the queue.

Quote:
I specifically mentioned 77 as their geo fax number is 01253 77x.

Just like to say thanks for trying to sort this out.

I have managed to get my grant at long last (so thank you Phil, manager of Student grants), I had to keep phoning the 0870, as I  ran out of money, and needed to contact them ASAP.

My phone bill was rather high this month, even though I am with Homecall.

Anyway keep up the good work.

Cheers