Cost of Telephoning the Government a Disgrace!

Wyre Forest Citizens Advice Bureau is on the warpath about the high cost of telephoning government departments and thinks it is an unnecessary burden on vulnerable, hard-pressed, families.

Kate Bennett, the Wyre Forest CAB manager said: “Last month nearly a quarter of our calls were to government departments.  Landline calls to government  ‘08’ and ‘03’ numbers are expensive but when ‘phoned from a mobile, they are an exorbitant cost which hard pressed families cannot afford as many only have mobiles.  As families face debt problems, it is critical that they can afford their mobile access”.

She went on: “Last month it took a member of our staff 47 minutes to achieve an outcome for tax credits which is a crazy length of time for anyone to have to wait to talk to someone in a government department.  Aside from the cost in manpower, the landline call cost £4-27.  We made calls to tax credits which took over an hour and a half; calls to the Inland Revenue took nearly two hours, and just two calls to the Department of Work and Pensions took over half an hour.  Mobile ‘phone companies are quick enough to suspend service to families when part of the cost of phoning, assuming that they have time, is caused by the delay in getting through to government departments.  When someone can’t get through, they will become frustrated and, eventually, such frustrations are taken out on elected representatives such as councillors and MP’s.”

Wyre Forest CAB is deeply concerned about families in debt and is campaigning to raise awareness of the problems that people are facing in real life so divorced from Whitehall departments.

You can contact Wyre Forest Citizens Advice in a variety of ways for free and impartial advice on debt and a range of other issues as follows:

Website Advice: www.adviceguide.org.uk

Free Telephone Advice: 0300 330 0650 (from a mobile) 844 4111 303 (from a landline)

Appointments at Wyre Forest Bureau: 01562 60194

Readers who submit articles must agree to our terms of use. The content is the sole responsibility of the contributor and is unmoderated. But we will react if anything that breaks the rules comes to our attention. If you wish to complain about this article, contact us here