How to stop those annoying nuisance phone calls

More than 1 billion nuisance calls are estimated to be made every year, and the practice is causing some people considerable distress, the expert report said.

Complaints to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) reached 18,594 for live calls and 22,072 for automated messages between April and June 2014. Most focused on accident claims, payday loans and debt management.

The Nuisance Calls and Task Force on Monday issued guidelines for companies and governement to help reduce the number of unwanted calls and texts received by consumers.

Read the ICO guidelines here: Nuisance Calls and Texts Task Force Recommendations

The guidelines suggest businesses make the issue a board-level matter, and ministers review the ICO’s powers to hold executives to account if their company fails to comply with the rules, updating the law if needed.

But what can you do to stop the calls that keep on coming?

Opt out

Telesales calls are unwanted sales calls from a real person. They should not be made to anyone who has registered with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) or the Corporate Telephone Preference Service (CTPS), unless they have told the caller that they wish to receive such calls from them.

The TPS is free to use and is a register which records your preference not to receive unsolicited sales or marketing calls. If you have registered with the TPS and still receive unwanted calls, you can make a complaint to the TPS and it will investigate.

Automated calls are pre-recorded marketing messages that are played when you answer the phone. If you are receiving calls that ask you to phone a premium rate number (one beginning with 090) you can contact PhonepayPlus. They regulate products or services that are charged to users’ phone bills or pre-pay accounts.

Silent or abandoned calls are calls when you answer the phone and there is no-one there. If you are receiving silent calls, you can get more advice from Ofcom on 020 7981 3040.

Report the call

You can complain about a company or a number making nuisance calls and texts to several organisations including the TPS, your phone operator, Ofcom (which covers silent and abandoned calls) andthe ICO.

You can also use consumer website Which? to direct you to the right regulator for your complaint.

Look out for tick boxes

If you are registered with the TPS, third parties are not allowed to call you but some companies still do so. Third-party marketing is when your details are sold on to numerous other companies for marketing purposes.

Look out for tick boxes that request consent for your details to be passed onto third parties. If you do not want other companies to contact you, make sure you have not ticked the box.

If you have consented to receive marketing from a specific company, then this organisation is allowed to call you – even if you have registered with the TPS. But companies must stop calling you if you explicitly ask them to.

Block the number

Phone companies offer a number of services that can help block nuisance calls. Some of these services are free but for some, monthly charges can apply and may vary depending on what package you are signed up to.

Systems cost between £40 and £120 and can be very effective. In a recent trial by Trading Standards, the trueCall system blocked 98 per cent of unwanted phone calls. For more information on the different types of services available, take a look at Ofcom’s guide on phone company services.