How to avoid paying 55p per minute to call the Universal Credit 0345 helpline...

Ian011

epm-84 wrote: »

I got 0300 mixed up with the recently made defunct 0500 numbers. Regardless of that many people pay a price per minute call to phone numbers starting 03 opposed to having it as part of an allowance.

Easy mistake to make and one of the reasons why Ofcom has been working to "simplify non-geographic numbers". You're not the first to associate 0300 numbers with 0800 numbers and won't be the last.

Common UK phone numbers now occupy four distinct groups:
- inclusive or geographic rate: 01, 02, 03
- inclusive or mobile rate: 071-075, 077-079
- free-to-caller: 080 (and 105, 111, 112/999, 116)
- premium rate with additional Service Charge: 084, 087, 090, 091, 098 (and 118).
The more rare 055, 056, 070 and 076 ranges are very much non-standard. An Ofcom review is awaited to tidy the remaining anomalies.

All this thread is about is to check how much you are paying for calls to 01, 02 and 03 numbers (and, for that matter, 071-075 and 077-079 numbers) and check that it is the cheapest rate. Anyone spending more than £9 in a month from a landline or more than £10 to £15 in a month from a mobile is likely paying too much for their calls.

epm-84 wrote: »

Your response to any criticism of the charges for the phone number seems to be 'almost everyone is on a subscription with an allowance' and you ignore the people who aren't.

Landline providers can confirm that "high 90s percent" of calls are made as part of an inclusive allowance. First introduced in 2004, this is now the "normal" way we pay for calls from landlines.

The whole point of this thread is for people who pay a per-minute rate to check if they would be better off with an inclusive allowance. Some will, some won't - but if they don't check they will never know.

epm-84 wrote: »

It's worth remembering the majority of those who aren't on a subscription with an allowance are those who usually don't make many calls or those who wouldn't pass a credit check for a phone contract, which are two categories unemployed people are likely to fall in to.

Indeed, but see earlier comments about the breakeven point where an inclusive allowance becomes cheaper. It can be surprisingly low.

There are some pay-as-you-go mobile providers offering low per-minute rates. These include Three at 3p per minute, ASDA at 8p per minute, 1p mobile at, err, 1p per minute, and several others. Very low users should be on one of these deals. If they suddenly need to make more calls or longer calls the charges will not be punishing.

epm-84 wrote: »

It's entirely plausible for someone to usually make 10-15 minutes of outgoing calls per month. For such people a contract with unlimited minutes is not a financially sensible option unless they use a lot of mobile data or send hundreds of texts. However, if on occasions they have to phone the Universal Credit helpline and have to spend 40 minutes on the phone they then have to spend a lot to phone the helpline and it's hardly worth taking out a long term contract for the purpose of phoning one number they won't need to call once they get a job. For those people the best PAYG mobile plan for calling numbers starting 03 would be the most appropriate option.

A low user paying 35p or 45p per minute for pay-as-you-go calls may feel that they aren't bothered about looking for a cheaper rate as they only spend "a couple of quid per month". If they suddenly need to make a lot of calls, the rate is £20 to £27 per hour. At that point, a switch to a 3p or 8p per minute deal would save a lot of money as would a change to, say, a £10 pay-as-you-go bundle with hundreds of minutes and texts included.

If a pay-as-you-go provider offers two options for a £5 top-up ...
- 50p per minute or 50p per text (giving just 10 minutes or 10 messages), or
- 200 minutes and 300 texts
why would anyone who intends to use their phone be choosing the first option?

This thread is merely intended to reach those people who are unaware of their options. Paying a high rate for calls to the Universal Credit helpline is not inevitable; it's an 03 number and is charged the same as calling an 01 or 02 number. The call charges are set entirely by the caller's landline or mobile provider. Most do little or nothing to steer callers on to the best deal.

annandale

This information won't reach the people who are most affected by calling the universal credit helpline. Giving out information on a money saving site is preaching to the converted tbh.

The Scottish social security helpline is going to be free. Unfortunately uc is still reserved.

Ian011

annandale wrote: »

This information won't reach the people who are most affected by calling the universal credit helpline. Giving out information on a money saving site is preaching to the converted tbh.

If the information reaches one person and saves them money, then it will have achieved more than simply standing by and doing nothing.

bloolagoon

Ian011 wrote: »

If the information reaches one person and saves them money, then it will have achieved more than simply standing by and doing nothing.

I thank you, I've been away from this forum for a while and was googling alternatives when directed here. Yes it should be free but it's not so you limit the damage.

Ian011

When DWP previously used premium rate 084 numbers, the emphasis was on finding an alternative number, usually one starting 01 or 02. That all changed on 17 March 2014. This is when DWP moved away from using premium rate 084 numbers.

Now that DWP uses ordinary geographic-rate numbers, the emphasis is on finding the cheapest provider and tariff for calling those 03 numbers. The cost is always the same as for 01 and 02 numbers. So what this is really all about is finding the best deal for ALL of your calls to 01, 02 and 03 numbers.

Ian011

At the Work and Pensions Committee hearing, David Gauke announced the Universal Credit Helpline 0345 number is changing to a free-to-caller 0800 number in the next month.

This will cost DWP up to 8p per minute for each incoming call, even in cases where callers can call 01, 02 and 03 numbers with no charges applied.

The announcement went on to say that all DWP lines will change to free-to-caller 0800 numbers by the end of the year. This represents a massive bonanza for telephone companies at the expense of the taxpayer.

It also does nothing to stop people paying too much for all of their other calls to UK landline numbers starting 01 and 02, non-geographic numbers starting 03 and UK mobile numbers starting 071-075 and 077-079.

Before 17 March 2014, DWP used premium rate 0845 numbers for helplines for existing claimants. After pressure from campaigners these were changed to inclusive 0345 numbers.

Since 2010, DWP has used free-to-caller 0800 numbers for new claims. This, however, was not done for new UC claims as these are made online. With so many people needing help with such claims and having to call to make an appointment. this was a terrible decision that will now be rectified.

It is also worth noting that 0800 numbers were not generally free to call from mobile phones. Between 2010 and 1 July 2015, DWP had to pay out around 40p per minute for all incoming calls to their 0800 numbers in order that the caller's phone provider not charge the caller for the call.

When 0845 numbers were in use for helplines for existing claimants, DWP benefited from a 2p per minute subsidy paid for by callers. This paid for the call-routing and call-forwarding and potentially made a revenue share payout of around 0.3p per minute available to DWP. Callers subsidising a service already paid for by taxation was abhorrent and had be changed.

The swap to 0345 numbers on 17 March 2014 meant DWP then had to start paying for the call-forwarding and call-routing facilities inherent in the use of a non-geographic number. This is believed to be around 0.5p per minute. Each benefit has a separate 0345 number.

When free-to-caller 0800 and 0808 numbers are used, the called party pays for those call handling facilities as well as having to pay out up to 8p per minute to the caller's phone provider.

annandale

It's the right thing to do. There are other dwp numbers that are free and this should be exactly the same.

The point is that people can be on hold for 20 minutes before an operator answers. And call backs don't always occur and neither do people automatically get any charges refunded

Should never have been an 0345 number in the first place

poppasmurf_bewdley

annandale wrote: »

It's the right thing to do. There are other dwp numbers that are free and this should be exactly the same.

The point is that people can be on hold for 20 minutes before an operator answers. And call backs don't always occur and neither do people automatically get any charges refunded

Should never have been an 0345 number in the first place

It was probably an 0845 number previously and the Government was under pressure to convert them to 0345 to make them cheaper or free to callers. Seems the Government can’t win whatever it does!

annandale

No it wasn't an 0845 number previously.

annandale

This isn't about winning. Universal credit is causing hardship to people. There are people who have been waiting five and six months for their universal credit payment to be processed leaving them at the point of eviction.

Where are these people supposed to get the money from to call an 0345 number given that there are no phones in job centres for claimants to use.

Some people might feel sorry for the government under these circumstances but I certainly don't.

At the very least there should be freephones in the job centres like there used to be. If there were there wouldn't have been as many problems in the first instance.