Petition · past parliament

Make it a Legal requirement for call centres to answer the phone in 5 minutes

Rejected 19 signatures

What the petition asks

Make It illegal for all call centres to Keep callers waiting for longer than 5 minutes on the phone unless they arrange a call back on the same day. Some Government departments and also private companies are keeping callers waiting for unreasonable periods, up to 2 hours is not unusual
This problem is frustrating and unacceptable. The time waisted by keeping consumers and customers on the phone for lengthy periods of time is not good practice. Many people end the calls prematurely because they have other things to do. It is also unfair to expect call handlers to deal with the many people who may be angry and frustrated by the time taken to answer calls. There can be added problems of battery life in mobile phones. where a battery could go flat before the call is answered. This problem affects millions of phone users in the UK so legislation should be made to make phone calls less stressful for all

Why it was rejected

It asked for something that is not the responsibility of the UK Government or Parliament.

Timeline

13 Mar 2021 Petition opened for signatures
16 Apr 2021 Rejected by the Petitions Committee

Key facts

Signatures 19
Status Rejected
Rejected 16 Apr 2021

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Source: the official petition page. Last checked 15 Jul 2026.