101 Calls: Fees and Charges

(asked on 11th April 2019) - View Source

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the potential benefits of removing the 15 pence service charge on 101 calls so that non-emergency phone calls to the police are free of charge.


Answered by
Nick Hurd Portrait
Nick Hurd
This question was answered on 24th April 2019

Calls to 101 cost 15p from a mobile device or landline phones, from anywhere in the country and regardless of duration. Calls are free from payphones.

The public have always paid to contact the police by telephone for non-emergencies and the 15p charge per call is a transparent rate that fully funds the 101 non-emergency service. Police non-emergency numbers (such as 0845 numbers) which were used before 2011 could cost members of the public up to 40p per minute. While it may not be an option for everyone, the public can also report non-emergency crimes online via forces’ websites, free of charge.

The Home Office is supporting the digital transformation of policing through programmes such as the Digital Policing Portfolio (DPP), led by the NPCC. Within the DPP, the Digital Public Contact programme aims to provide appropriate digital channels for the public to report and track crime online, facilitating greater public-police interaction in real time.

Reticulating Splines