101 non-emergency calls are now free

[Chris_K]

Hey everybody,

This week the Home Office announced that calls to the 101 non-emergency service would be made free as of April 1st. See below a small section taken from the official announcement on Gov.uk:

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The Home Office

From tomorrow no member of the public should have to pay for 101 non-emergency calls to the police.

Currently callers to the 101 number are connected to their local police force, or a force of their choice, and charged 15p a time.

The vast majority of people will be able to use the service free of charge from tomorrow. However, from 1 April to 1 July there remains a chance that users of small operators will be charged for using the 101 service. The Home Office will be urging those providers to refund their customers.

In May last year the Home Office announced it will invest £7 million a year to make the service free, which receives around 30 million calls annually.

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[jonsie Level 94: Supreme]

Long overdue

[MI5 Level 94: Supreme]

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@jonsie wrote:

Long overdue

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Seconded

[Cleoriff Level 90: Eminent]

Good Job !

[Mi-Amigo Level 36: Perceptive]

About time. Most welcomed.

[jul17]

I called 101 yesterday to report some non social distancing behaviour and I'm sure I was charged for it as my balance went down.  I'm on pay-as-you-go.  Has O2 definitely implemented this as of 1st April?  I can't get in touch with them to check my call charges.

[MI5 Level 94: Supreme]

It should have been for the major networks but O2 are running slowly at the moment so may take a few days to catch up.