Telephone Preference Service (TPS) Registrations Reach New High

The numbers of both UK home and business phone numbers registered with the Telephone Preference Service, or TPS, has reached a new high. Nearly 18 million UK addresses have now registered a home telephone number with the TPS, and almost 2 million businesses are registered with the CTPS, the business version of the register.

The TPS, which is run by the direct marketing industry, acts as a central register of numbers whose owners have chosen not to receive unsolicited sales and marketing phone calls, sometimes known as cold calls. Both consumers and businesses can register with the TPS or CTPS, free of charge.

The increase in TPS registrations increases pressure on any organisation that uses the telephone for commercial purposes. If a business calls a TPS or CTPS registered number on an unsolicited basis, it is in breach of the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003, which states that it is unlawful to make unsolicited direct marketing calls to individuals who have indicated that they do not want to receive such calls. If found to be in breach of these regulations, the business could face legal action and even a £5000 fine.

To help protect businesses which need to use the phone for business Selectabase provide a number of low cost solutions to help callers check the phone numbers in their database against the latest versions of the Telephone Preference Service suppression file, which is updated monthly.

Organisations using the phone can check phone numbers against the latest TPS register before they call individually at www.tpscheck.co.uk, or check larger lists of numbers with Easycheck software.