It is our strong view that the firm stand taken by NHS England on the question of delayed compliance with the contractual terms covering use of 084 telephone numbers should prevent practices drifting into a fifth year of non-compliance with requirements that came into effect on 1 April 2010.

The necessary change of telephone number takes only a few weeks to arrange, however a total of 1 year's grace was granted, so that practices could perhaps make more extensive changes to their arrangements.

Following our announcement of the debate and the issuing of a briefing in this blog posting, the debate took place and the proceedings are recorded here.

This news release introduces the term "Telephone Tax", and explains how the Telephone Tax applies in relation to government policy and other activity.

As advised in our media release, the move from 0845 to 0300 was completed on 26 November.
It is now being publicised and discussed.
Click on the items below (including the link within the animated Google ad).

See the news release for details of how Gloucestershire NHS has finally moved into compliance with the Directions to NHS bodies of December 2009, whilst allowing its contracted GPs to remain in breach.

John Healey MP has secured a written answer from a DWP Minister confirming that the DWP uses 130 different 0845 telephone numbers to benefit from Service Charges paid by those making enquiries. The release gives a breakdown and lists the services subject to a charge for enquiries. These include: The Pensions Service, Jobcentre Plus and all of the Allowances paid to those in need - Attendance, Disability Living, Maternity, Winter Fuel.

This is no longstanding legacy situation, as also included are the newly introduced Benefits Cap and the Employment and Support Allowance, which replaces Invalidity Benefit.

This comes at a time when a government consultation on plans to prohibit businesses from using customer enquiries phone numbers which include a Service Charge to the benefit of the person called is coming to a close. See - Consultation … closes on 1 November.

When these two items are taken together, they show a “re-balancing of the economy” that some may find distasteful. Consumers of private sector services are to be protected from being subjected to Service Charges, whereas those requiring the services of the state continue to be subjected to fees.