UK cold calling rules: TPS, CTPS and Ofcom

Who sets the UK cold calling rules

Two regulators matter here, and they cover different things:

PECR stands for the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003. It's the law behind the marketing call rules. The ICO enforces it and can issue fines and enforcement notices.

TPS and CTPS screening under PECR

The Telephone Preference Service (TPS) is a free register where people can opt out of unsolicited live sales and marketing calls. The Corporate Telephone Preference Service (CTPS) is the same idea for businesses and organisations.

Under PECR, you must not make a live marketing call to a number registered on the TPS or CTPS, unless that person or business has told you they're happy to receive marketing calls from you. In practice that means:

• Screen every list before you call it. Against both the TPS and the CTPS, because you're often calling a mix of sole traders, partnerships and limited companies.
• B2B calls aren't exempt. A lot of people think business-to-business cold calling is a free-for-all. It isn't. Businesses on the CTPS are covered.
• Sole traders can be on the TPS. Their business number might be registered as an individual.
• Re-screen regularly. Numbers get added to the registers all the time. A list screened months ago isn't a clean list today. The ICO's guidance explains how often you should be checking.
• Bought lists don't move the responsibility. If you buy or rent data, you're still responsible for the calls you make with it.

These rules are about live marketing calls. Automated recorded marketing messages are a different, much stricter matter: under PECR they generally need the person's specific prior consent. And some sectors, like claims management and pensions, have tighter rules again. If that's you, read the ICO guidance before you dial anything.

Do-not-call lists and objections

Separate from the TPS, anyone can tell you directly not to call them again. Once they do, you must stop calling them for marketing. That means you need your own do-not-call list (sometimes called a suppression list), and it has to actually work:

• Record the objection straight away, during the call, not on a sticky note.
• Suppress the number across every campaign and every caller, not just the rep who took the call.
• Check new lists against your do-not-call list as well as the TPS and CTPS.
• Never delete do-not-call entries when you clean your data. That's the one list you keep.

Say who you are, and show your number

On a marketing call you must say who's calling. If the person asks, PECR says you must give them a valid business address or a freephone number they can contact you on.

Caller ID matters too. Under PECR you mustn't hide your number on marketing calls, and Ofcom's rules and guidance on Calling Line Identification (CLI) say the number you show must be a valid number that people can call back. When someone calls it back, it should get them through to you or to a way to opt out, not a dead line or an endless hold. Showing a misleading or fake number is a quick way to get in trouble.

Ofcom's rules on abandoned and silent calls

This bit matters if you use an auto-dialler, a system that rings numbers before a rep is free. Sometimes the dialler connects a call and there's no agent to take it. The person picks up to silence or a hang-up. Ofcom treats that as persistent misuse of the network, and its policy sets out what it expects. The key points:

The simple version: if you dial faster than your team can answer, people get silence. Ofcom doesn't like silence. A good dialler should cap your abandoned call rate automatically, rather than relying on someone watching a spreadsheet.

Calling hours: good practice

There isn't one legal calling window for general marketing calls in the UK. That doesn't mean anything goes. Calls early in the morning, late in the evening, or on Sundays and bank holidays are far more likely to annoy people and lead to complaints, and complaints are what bring regulators knocking. Some sectors, like debt collection, have their own rules about when contact is reasonable.

Good practice for most businesses:

• Stick to sensible working hours on weekdays. For B2B, that's when the decision-maker is at their desk anyway.
• Think about who you're calling. A restaurant owner at 12:30 is mid-service. A builder at 7am is driving.
• Set the limits in your dialler, so nobody calls outside them by accident.
• Don't hammer the same number. A sensible cap on attempts per lead looks better and works better.

Your data: UK GDPR still applies

When you're calling individuals, including sole traders, you're processing personal data. UK GDPR expects you to have a lawful basis (often legitimate interests for B2B marketing), to tell people where you got their details if they ask, and to keep the data accurate and secure. Companies House director names are public, but how you use them still has to be fair. The ICO has guidance on direct marketing that covers all of this.

UK cold calling compliance checklist

1. Check whether your sector has extra rules (claims, pensions, financial services, debt).
2. Screen every list against TPS and CTPS before calling, and re-screen regularly.
3. Check every list against your own do-not-call list.
4. Record objections during the call and suppress them everywhere.
5. Say who you are on every call. Have your address or a freephone number ready.
6. Show a valid caller ID that people can call back.
7. If you use an auto-dialler: keep abandoned calls to no more than 3% per campaign per 24 hours, play an information message, and keep records.
8. Set calling-hours limits and attempt limits.
9. Train your callers, and write the rules into your scripts.
10. Read the current guidance on ico.org.uk and ofcom.org.uk at least once a year.

How I can help

I'm the founder of Patchline, a cold-calling CRM I built because I was tired of sales teams juggling spreadsheets and hoping they were compliant. Patchline finds UK leads by trade and town with Companies House director names, screens against TPS and CTPS, limits calling hours, has Ofcom auto-dial guard rails, and dials from the browser. It starts from £59 per seat per month, with a minimum of 3 seats. You can try the live demo. If you need your calling data linked into other systems, see my integrations service, and for less admin all round, read how to automate small business admin.