Decommissioning of 0845 numbers

From operational stakeholders:

A November 2013 Public Accounts Committee report about call costs to Government helplines highlighted the majority of calls to DWP were via landlines and 0845 calls tended to attract lower charges for these callers. Looking ahead, we expect to see an increasing percentage of callers using mobile phones as their preferred method of access in the telephony channel. Calls to 0345 numbers cost no more than a standard geographic call, and count towards any free or inclusive minutes in landline or mobile phone contracts.

As part of a decision to reduce the cost of accessing public services, from 15 April 2015, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Rt Hon Iain Duncan Smith, has requested the decommissioning of primary benefit 0845 enquiry line numbers

Primary benefit will be first of the enquiry lines in a programme, to trial and test the technicalities of this change, with a roll out to the remaining enquiry lines from 5 May 2015.

There is also a programme of work on-going to change call scripts and all forms and letters. Interactive Voice Recording (IVR) messages will be available to advise customers to call 0345 and that they will not have been charged for the call.


Effective Date | Service Line                                 Old Number       /        New Number
15.04.15 Primary Benefit                                   0845 608 8545 /  0345 608 8545
05.05.15 Jobcentre Enquiry Line                       0845 604 3719   /  0345 604 3719
05.05.15 PIP help line                                         0845 850 3322   /  0345 850 3322
05.05.15 State Pension & PC enquiries             0845 606 0265   /  0345 606 0265
05.05.15 DLA Helpline                                         0845 712 3456   /  0345 712 3456
05.05.15 Social Fund Enquiries                           0845 603 6967   /  0345 603 6967
05.05.15 Carers Allowance                                 0845 608 4321   /  0345 608 4321
05.05.15 NI Number allocation line                     0845 600 0643   /  0345 600 0643
05.05.15 State Pension forecasting                   0845 300 0168   /  0345 300 0168
05.05.15 International Pensions Centre             0845 601 0008   /  0345 601 0008
05.05.15 DM Recovery Service Line                   0845 850 0293   /  0345 850 0293
05.05.15 Attendance Allowance Helpline           0845 605 6055   /  0345 605 6055
05.05.15 Jobseeker Direct                                   0845 606 0234   /  0345 606 0234
05.05.15 Maternity Allowance Enquiry Line       0845 608 8610   /  0345 608 8610