Budget 2015: £3.5m to protect vulnerable consumers from nuisance calls

The government has announced £3.5m to help tackle nuisance calls as part of the final budget of this parliament.

The news follows changes to the law that could force companies behind cold calling to pay fines of up to £500,000 for repeat offences.

The money will be divided as follows:

• £1.5 million ‘challenge fund’ to design inexpensive call blocking technology, such as Truecall
• £1 million to promote existing systems to reduce and report nuisance calls
• £0.5 million for local authorities to trial call blocking technology
• £0.5 million for additional research into nuisance calls, to help understand them better.

DMA executive director Chris Combemale said: “This is a welcome announcement, and will do much to reinforce the work we have done already to help vulnerable consumers.

“We believe that responsible marketing means respecting the individual. This means telemarketers spotting vulnerable consumers at the earliest opportunity to ensure they do not mis-sell products or cause any unnecessary distress.

“New technologies developed under this initiative will help consumers filter out unwanted calls, and will be a welcome addition to the work we have been doing. We think the consumer should be at the centre, and this will help give the consumer more control.”