Cold-calling by claims management firms and others is set to be investigated after the telecom regulator's "shocking" survey. A consumer group has described as "shocking" a regulator's report which identified alarming levels of nuisance calls by claims management companies (CMCs). Ofcom said it was planning to formally investigate the industry - best known in recent times for its fierce expansion under the Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) mis-selling scandal - but it needed further evidence. Its survey found consumers were being plagued with "annoying" and often "distressing" nuisance phone calls - averaging over two per week - and the name of the company calling was only identified in one in five conversations.

The research, which was carried out by the regulator over a month, showed that a quarter of people who took part reported receiving more than 10 nuisance calls over the period. The bulk related to PPI. A spokeswoman for Ofcom said it had written to the Ministry of Justice to draw attention to the extent to which PPI claims appear to be driving nuisance calls. Ofcom's director Claudio Pollack said: "Two nuisance calls a week is too many and this detailed research will help us understand the root cause of the problem. "We will use the full range of our powers to tackle abandoned and silent calls but this is a complex area that requires joint action from a number of different agencies and Government."....Read more here