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Title: Operators waive charges on 0800 benefit calls Post by: mobaholic on January 20, 2010, 02:38:21 PM Deal sealed with Government to make 0800 benefit and pensions calls free Six operators have cut a deal with the Government to allow free calls for people using their mobiles to claim benefits and pensions. As of yesterday O2, Orange, Tesco Mobile, T-Mobile, Virgin Mobile and Vodafone will no longer charge their customers for calls to the Department's 0800 Benefit Claim lines. Currently, 12% of UK households use only mobile phones and do not have a landline. The deal with the Department of Work and Pensions sees the end to charges for mobile calls to around 70 of its 0800 Benefit Claim numbers. The numbers include those used to make initial benefit and pensions claims and to request emergency payments, such as crisis loans. Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Yvette Cooper said: ‘We don't want people who lose their jobs or the poorest pensioners to be penalised when they need to claim benefits just because they call from a mobile phone. Lots of people need to use mobiles rather than landlines. That's why we've been working hard to get this deal to make sure people don't lose out.’ The DWP estimate there are around 60 million phone calls made to its 0800 numbers each year. Around 15% of calls - amounting to nine million - are from mobile phones. See:- this (http://www.mobiletoday.co.uk/Mobile_Exec/Operators_waive_charges_on_0800_benefit__calls.aspx?fragment=&SearchType=&terms=). |