Telephone Preference Service rules for businesses that make UK sales calls

What the TPS and Corporate TPS cover

The rules sit in the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (PECR). Regulation 26 sets up a single register of numbers whose subscribers have said they don't want unsolicited marketing calls (PECR regulation 26). That register comes in two parts. The TPS is for individuals, which the regulations define to include an unincorporated body of individuals, so sole traders and ordinary partnerships outside Scotland are on the TPS side. Companies, Scottish partnerships and other bodies with a legal identity of their own are corporate subscribers (PECR regulation 2). They register in writing on the Corporate TPS, and get a written reminder each year that the number is listed.

So a business number can be on the register. If you sell to businesses, screening only against the TPS leaves half the job undone.

The rule for live sales calls

Regulation 21 bans making, or instigating, unsolicited direct marketing calls in two cases: to a line whose subscriber has told you not to call, and to a number on the register (PECR regulation 21). The first one doesn't depend on any register. If someone asks your agent to stop, that number is off your list from then on.

The word "instigate" matters. If you pay an agency, a lead generation firm or an offshore team to make calls for you, the rule reaches you as well as them.

How often to screen against the TPS

The law gives callers 28 days. You aren't in breach for calling a number that had been on the register for less than 28 days on the day of the call. After that, you are. In practice that means screening every list no more than 28 days before you call it, and screening again before each new campaign if the list is older.

Here's how it plays out. Say you screen a list of 5,000 numbers on 1 March and your team works it through the month. A person on that list registers on 3 March. From 31 March their number has been listed for 28 days, so a call to them that day is a breach even though your screen was clean. Re-screen before the 28 days run out, or stop calling the list.

When consent overrides the TPS

A TPS number can still be called if the subscriber has told you that, for now, they don't object to your calls on that line (regulation 21(4)). They can withdraw that at any time, and you must stop when they do. The wording is about calls "by that caller", which is why consent collected by someone else for a vague list of partners is a weak thing to rely on. Keep a record of who agreed, to which business, and when.

Calls you can't make cold at all

Two kinds of call are banned without prior agreement, whether or not the number is on the TPS. Calls about claims management services need the person to have told you beforehand that they consent to such calls from you (PECR regulation 21A). Calls about pensions can only be made by an authorised firm or a scheme's trustee or manager. Even then they need consent, or an existing client relationship where the person was offered a simple way to opt out (PECR regulation 21B).

Recorded marketing messages have their own rule. A call that plays recorded matter through an automated calling system needs the person's prior consent, and the caller must show a number (PECR regulation 19). Screening against the TPS doesn't make it lawful.

Show your number and say who you are

Every direct marketing call, solicited or not, must either let the caller's number display or show another number you can be contacted on (regulation 21(A1)). On a live call your agent must give the business name, and an address or a free number if the person asks (PECR regulation 24). A withheld number on a sales call is a breach on its own.

Ofcom's rules on silent and abandoned calls

Ofcom deals with a different problem: how your calls behave. Under the Communications Act 2003, misuse means using a network in a way that causes someone needless annoyance, inconvenience or anxiety. It becomes persistent when it's repeated enough to show a pattern or recklessness (Communications Act, section 128). Ofcom can fine up to £2,000,000 (section 130).

Its statement of policy on persistent misuse sets out how it applies this to silent and abandoned calls from diallers (Ofcom). If your team uses a predictive or power dialler, read it with whoever configures the dialler. It's a separate test from the TPS, and a clean list doesn't help if the dialler drops calls.

Fines and enforcement

The ICO enforces PECR. Since 30 September 2026 it has been the Information Commission, but it's still called the ICO (Lewis Silkin). The maximum PECR fine used to be £500,000 (Mills & Reeve). The Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 raised it to £17.5 million or 4% of global annual turnover, whichever is higher (Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, Schedule 13; Lewis Silkin). The new enforcement powers apply to breaches from 5 February 2026 (SI 2026/82).

The ICO does fine for TPS breaches. In March 2026 it fined a Birmingham pendant alarm company £100,000 for more than 260,000 unsolicited sales calls to TPS numbers (ICO).

If your team calls the UK from abroad

The rules are about calls to UK lines and the business behind them. Where your agents sit doesn't change any of the above, and because the regulations cover anyone who instigates the calls, you can't hand the risk to a provider. Agree who screens, how often and against which lists, and ask to see the records.

Our own outbound teams are in South Africa, which shares the UK working day. They work in your CRM, so your screened lists, your do-not-call list and your consent records are the ones they call from. You can read how our telesales and outbound teams work, or how we set up teams for UK businesses.

A compliance checklist for an outbound team

• Screen every calling list against both the TPS and Corporate TPS registers no more than 28 days before the calls go out, and again before each new campaign.
• Keep your own do-not-call list of everyone who has told you to stop, and screen against it too. A request to stop beats any earlier consent.
• Record consent to call a TPS number: who gave it, to which business, when and how. Remove the number the day they withdraw it.
• Check the product. Claims management calls need prior consent, and pension calls need consent or an existing client relationship, whatever the register says.
• Don't use recorded messages for marketing unless the person agreed to recorded calls from you.
• Show a number on every call that people can call back on, and have agents give the business name on every call.
• Set your dialler so it doesn't create silent or abandoned calls, and read Ofcom's statement of policy before you change those settings.
• If another company makes the calls for you, give them screened lists, ask for their screening records, and put both in the contract.

This is a summary of the regulations, not legal advice. If your campaign touches pensions, claims or recorded messages, get advice before you dial.

Questions

How do I register with the TPS?

Register online at tpsonline.org.uk or call 0345 070 0707. It's free, and it takes about a month to start working (BT). Businesses that call are allowed 28 days to catch up with the register.

Is TPS screening a legal requirement?

The law doesn't say "screen". It says don't call a number that has been registered for 28 days or more without that person's say-so. Screening a list within 28 days of calling is how callers make sure they don't.

Can I cold call a business number in the UK?

Yes, if it isn't on the Corporate TPS or TPS, the business hasn't told you to stop, and the call isn't about claims management or pensions. Sole traders and ordinary partnerships register on the TPS, so check both.

Next step

If you're planning outbound calling into the UK, book a call with me. Bring the lists you'd call and how you screen them today, and we'll go through how our team would work them.