Vodafone, T-Mobile, O2, Orange, Virgin Mobile and Tesco Mobile have already agreed that by the end of January their customers will be able to call the DWP's 0800 benefits and pensions lines without charge.
But work and pensions minister Jim Knight has confirmed that the department expects the "remaining 24 or so" mobile operators to join the agreement by April 2010.
"With this agreement we have achieved a significant step towards making a reality of our policy of free calls to our 0800 claims lines for all our customers," he added in response to a parliamentary written question from Labour MP John Battle on 27 January 2010.
About 15% of the 60m calls made each year to the DWP's 70 freephone
helplines are from mobile phones. Several mobile operators normally charge more for calls to 0800 numbers than to standard geographic numbers.
Knight said the department is also exploring the use of text messages as a way to cut callers' phone bills.
"As part of that work we will consider whether text messaging is a suitable way of customers requesting a call back," he said. "In the meantime, where a customer is calling either our 0800 or 0845 services asks us, or raises concerns over the cost of the call, we will offer to call them back."
Staff
You have characters left
Please read our community standards.
Closing this window without pressing "Post your comment" will result in your words being lost.
Are you sure?
Thank you for your comment. This has been submitted for moderation.
Your comment has been successfully posted.
Sorry, something has gone wrong and this action cannot be completed. Please try again later.