Call for fairer charges to Government helplines (From The Advertiser Series)

Call for fairer charges to Government helplines

12:10pm Thursday 9th July 2009

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PEOPLE in Wear Valley are missing out on benefits because they cannot afford to contact free Government helplines from their mobile phones.

The Wear Valley Citizens Advice Bureau is urging the Government to introduce fairer call charges to its helplines, which can cost up to 40p a minute to contact from a mobile tariff.

The bureau claims the high call charges are causing clients to get into debt, miss out on vital benefits, and are leaving people unable to notify the Government of changes in their circumstances.

A report issued last month, entitled Hung Up, revealed clients without access to landlines are having to pay up to 40p a minute to contact Government helplines starting with 0845 or 0870 dialling codes, which would be low cost or free from landlines.

It also stated that callers were often kept on hold for a long time, resulting in expensive phone bills and argued that the Government was unfairly penalising mobile phone users with low incomes.

Dawn Kirsopp, advice services manager from Wear Valley CAB, said the campaign urged the Government to introduce the low cost 0300 dialling code for all its benefit helplines, which is free from many mobile phone tariffs.

“While 08 numbers were acceptable a few years ago when almost everyone had a landline, they are now unfair and cause hardship because most people only have mobile phones. Calls to Job Centre Plus, for example, are notoriously long and can last for up to 40 minutes. That builds up to a lot of money. The CAB is becoming a place where clients come to be connected to these services.”

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