Free mobile calls for benefit claimants

From 18 January 2010, 6 of the biggest mobile phone network companies will no longer charge their customers for calls to the Department’s 0800 Benefit Claim lines.

Calls to claim benefits and state pension use 0800 numbers which are already free to customers using BT land lines and mobiles. But currently, people calling 0800 numbers from other mobile phone providers are charged for these calls.

DWP has now reached agreement with O2, Orange, Tesco Mobile, T-Mobile, Virgin Mobile and Vodafone to end charges to their customers for mobile calls to around seventy of its 0800 numbers. Customers of O2, Orange, Tesco Mobile and Vodafone will receive free mobile phone calls to these numbers from 18th January; those with T-Mobile and Virgin Mobile from 25th January.

The 0800 numbers concerned are those used by people making initial claims for Jobseeker’s Allowance, State Pension, Pension Credit and the Employment and Support Allowance, and to request emergency payments, such as crisis loans.

Together the six companies with whom the Department has now signed agreements cover over 90% of the mobile market in the UK.

The initial agreements will last for two years.

Are there customers who will not benefit immediately?
The scheme will be phased in by each of the companies over the next week or so, starting from 18 January. People whose mobile phone operators are not part of the initial agreement will not benefit from the scheme. However, the operators who have already signed up have over 95 percent of the mobile phone retail market. The Department has approached the remaining 5 percent with a view to reaching a similar agreement.

Will the scheme apply to calls from overseas, eg from other European countries?
No but there are a number of land line packages that allow people to call more cheaply from abroad.

How will customers know whether 0800 calls from their mobile networks are free or not?
Each mobile phone company has its own arrangements for making their customers aware of the charges and any changes to them. Source:- WCVA