A flagship government scheme to clean up call centres and crack down on nuisance calls has been branded an “abject failure” after just THREE companies signed up to it.
The programme was launched amid a huge fanfare by culture minister Ed Vaizey a year ago in the hope companies would rush to be branded with a kitemark endorsing best practice and reinforcing their credentials as a company that does not harass customers.
But the fact just three call centre companies have signed up to the Government’s Telephone Preference Service (TPS) Assured scheme in the last year has been branded shambolic.
And, in an embarrassing twist, not a single government call centre is among those to have signed on the dotted line.
Lib Dem MP Mike Crockart, who chairs Westminster’s all party group on nuisance calls, said while it clearly “seemed like a great idea…it has clearly been an abject failure”.
“If the carrot isn’t working then it’s time for the government to wave a stick,” he said. “The problem is the stick’s not yet big enough and that needs to be sorted quickly.
“It’s clear the government needs to set an example by signing up to best practice itself and then quickly cracking down on offenders by getting the level of harm to be proven down to a realistic level.”
The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) who set up the scheme in an effort to help telemarketing companies who claimed their reputation was being ruined by the rogue firms have expressed disappointment that of the hundreds of call centre operators across the country just three have bothered to sign up or felt they could reach the standards required to be certified as TPS Assured.
Mike Lordan, the DMA’s director of external affairs, said: “We created TPS Assured for telemarketers to show that they work to the very highest standards of best practice.
“The scheme received great political support when it launched, and it has been widely praised as one effective way to tackle nuisance calls. To date, though, there has been limited take up.”
The Sunday Post has battled for nuisance calls to be curbed since launching our campaign in 2012.
The government has also missed a string of its own targets to tackle nuisance calls and spam texts.
In a Commons debate earlier this year, Vaizey promised to meet with the All Party Parliamentary Group on nuisance calls, led by Edinburgh MP Crockart, monthly but so far no meetings have taken place.
Quarterly round tables with representatives of the telecoms industry also haven’t happened and a promised consultation over lowering the threshold for action against cold callers from proving they are causing “substantial damage or distress” to causing “nuisance or annoyance” has not taken place.
Quizzed about the issue in the Commons last week the Prime Minister conceded: “I have had pressure for more to be done.”
The Sunday Post has fought tirelessly to rid householders of the scourge of nuisance calls since launching our campaign in 2012. We’ve highlighted the problems that allow dodgy firms to make money out of people’s misery and named and shamed the worst offenders.
Nearly 20,000 readers signed our petition to end cold-calling, which we presented to 10 Downing Street.
Then, ministers promised action but we are still waiting to see what they will deliver.
A spokesman for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport said: “We know how much people hate nuisance calls and that’s exactly why the Government has taken action.”
Enjoy the convenience of having The Sunday Post delivered as a digital ePaper straight to your smartphone, tablet or computer.
Subscribe for only £5.49 a month and enjoy all the benefits of the printed paper as a digital replica.
Subscribe