From the Guardian.

"Universal credit system will be claimed either online or by ringing an 0345 number, which costs 45p a minute from mobile or 12p a minute from landline"

See: http://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/feb/17/iain-duncan-smith-refuses-to-set-...

Wrong 

The Guardian misrepresents the situation with Universal Credit.

Initial claims for Universal Credit cannot be made by telephone, only online or through a special face-to-face process.

The telephone line is another DWP enquiry line.


The call costs are copied from the false information provided on gov.uk.

Whilst a large majority of callers incur no call charge when calling a 03 number, those who incur the penalty charge for "out of plan" calls do find themselves paying up to 45p per minute from a mobile and a lot more than 12p per minute from a landline. Landline penalty charges include a call set-up fee, which is disregarded by the information given.

The official information also fails to make reference to inclusive call plans - despite the fact that this is how the overwhelming majority of calls actually made to 01/02/03 numbers are paid for.