The elderly and vulnerable are being charged tens of millions of pounds each year to ring premium rate Government helplines, it can be disclosed. MPs have called for the “scandal” to end.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) uses 130 premium rate 0845 phone lines that charge taxpayers up to 40 pence a minute to ring from mobile phones, The Daily Telegraph can disclose. Lines that charge these fees include those for the Pensions Service and Jobcentre Plus. Just under 5 million people contacted the DWP’s seven most commonly-used 0845 lines in an eight week period earlier this year, according to information obtained under Freedom of Information (FOI) legislation. This means that around 32 million people ring these numbers over the course of a year. With an average call time of eight minutes, taxpayers are paying up to £100 million a year to use the services. John Healey, the Labour MP for Wentworth and Dearne, has called for a Commons debate on the premium lines, which he said are a “rip-off” and a “scandal”......Read more here: Elderly and vulnerable in Government phone rip-off 'scandal' - Telegraph