Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Government Helplines: Low-income Households

Thursday 14 July 2022 · 2 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 0 Partly answered 2 Not answered 0

Key points

  • The Government monitors call demand and increases staffing during surges.
  • The Department for Work and Pensions uses only freephone numbers for its services.
  • The Home Office answered 77% of calls to its helplines over the weekend of 1 July.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Kate Green Lab
Taxation
Context

The cost of calling government helplines can be prohibitive for individuals with low incomes, affecting their ability to access necessary services.

Question

What assessment has been made of the potential impact of the cost of phone calls to Government helplines on low-income households?

Answer from Michael Ellis

The Government are committed to answering calls from the public in a timely manner. Where Departments are experiencing surges in demand, performance is being monitored and staffing is being increased. For example, for the weekend of 1 July, the Home Office answered 77% of calls to its helplines within 30 seconds, with an average wait time of one minute and nine seconds.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The answer did not address the specific issue of call costs for low-income households.

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Q2 Kate Green Lab
Economy Benefits & Welfare
Context

Women eligible for Healthy Start vouchers, who are on low incomes, face prohibitive call costs to access services intended to help them. This raises concerns about the effectiveness of government helplines in reaching those in need.

Question

By definition, women eligible for Healthy Start vouchers are on low incomes, but the cost of making calls to the helpline at local rates is prohibitive for many, contributing to the cost of poverty. Will the Minister undertake to speak to Health colleagues to see what can be done to minimise the cost of that helpline and, more generally, look at the cost of calls to helplines across Government that are specifically designed to enable people on low incomes to reach the services and benefits intended to help them?

Answer from Michael Ellis

We are always looking at these matters. The Department for Work and Pensions reviews the forecasted telephony demand and plans its resourcing accordingly to keep wait times down. All DWP customer telephone lines are freephone numbers. Separately, I should say that the DWP is digitising key parts of its service to increase efficiency.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The answer did not address the specific request for action on call costs and did not provide a commitment to speak with Health colleagues.

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