Up to 1 in 5 people are cold called every day

New research by National Accident Helpline (NAH) has found that British consumers continue to suffer from nuisance calls – with as many as 1 in 5 people being cold called at least once a day.

The research also outlines what group of people, from which region is most likely to be targeted.

It found that in the West Midlands, 50% of people aged over 65 were cold called every day.

The Government’s is planning to ban claims management companies (CMCs) from cold calling as part of the Financial Guidance and Claims Bill, but NAH has urged the Government to go further by calling for the gap in current rules to be closed by:

• Requiring the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) to ‘name and shame’ rogue law firms and take strong enforcement action against firms that accept leads generated through nuisance calls.
• Putting a stop to ‘phoenixing’ – where CMCs that have been forced to cease trading relaunch under a different name.
• Placing the Information Commissioner’s Office’s (ICO) direct marketing guidance on a statutory footing.

Simon Trott, managing director of National Accident Helpline, said:

“Cold calling continues to be a blight on the UK, with many people still being cold called every day.

“Scam cold callers are sometimes able to extort people’s personal information or bank details whilst on the line, defrauding consumers of their money. We have also seen evidence of cold callers encouraging consumers to bring fraudulent claims.

We believe that the public needs to be protected from this, and that’s why we are calling for the Government to implement our action plan, to end nuisance calls for good.”