Auto Dialer UK Guide to TPS Screening, PECR and Ofcom Silent-Call Rules

This is general information, not legal advice. Compiled from PECR, ICO guidance and an Ofcom statement on 4 October 2026; no PECR fine figure is given because the ICO's own pages differ.

Auto dialer UK law under PECR

The Auto Dialer sits on the live side of the line that the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 draw. Regulation 19 deals with automated systems whose calls carry "sounds which are not live speech", and marketing by that route needs the subscriber's consent. Every call this app makes connects a person talking, so the live-call rules in regulation 21 are the ones that apply. A number registered with the TPS or the Corporate TPS may not receive an unsolicited marketing call, and nor may anyone who has asked you to stop, except where that subscriber has specifically agreed to hear from you. Regulation 21 has no exemption for existing customers, unlike the US auto dialer rules or the Canadian rules. Calling a number listed for less than 28 days is not yet a breach. The caller's number must not be withheld; a SIM-based call shows the mobile number of the person calling. UK readers may know the product category as a dialler, a spelling covered on dialer or dialler.

Auto dialer UK rules by TPS status and number type

Auto dialer UK calling day

A UK team using The Auto Dialer can fold the rules into a routine like this:

1. Screen the list against the TPS and CTPS before import, and note the screening date in the list name.
2. Import the screened file; the app drops duplicate numbers and handles the +44 country code as it imports.
3. For any registered number you still intend to call, record where the specific consent came from in a custom field, with the source tag set.
4. Open each call by saying who is calling and on whose behalf. If asked, give a contact address or freephone number.
5. When someone says stop, set a "Do not call" status and add the number to excluded numbers before the next call.
6. Re-screen lists you keep using, because new registrations become binding after 28 days.

PECR, as read for this page, sets no calling hours, so pick sensible ones yourself and say them in your written procedure. Retry settings that keep repeat calls modest are on the auto redial page.

Auto dialer UK and Ofcom silent calls

Ofcom's persistent misuse statement of 20 December 2016 tells callers plainly not to make silent or abandoned calls, and Ofcom's penalties for doing so can reach £2 million. Silent calls are a by-product of dialing ahead of free agents, which is what a predictive system does. A one-line dialer cannot produce them, because the caller is the one placing the call. If you are weighing a predictive setup for a UK floor, read predictive dialer and abandoned call rate first.

Auto dialer UK example

Invented round figures to show the routine, not a client's data.

A lettings manager in Leeds wants to call 400 landlords about a new management package. Screening finds 120 on the TPS and 30 companies on the Corporate TPS. Of those 150, 20 ticked a box on the agency's website agreeing to calls, so they stay, with the consent recorded on each lead; the other 130 come off. That leaves 270 to call across two callers, around 135 each, at 45 a day, three days of calling. Two landlords ask not to be called again; both go straight to excluded numbers.

Auto dialer UK limits

The Auto Dialer does not check numbers against the TPS or CTPS, does not store consent signatures and cannot run recorded campaigns. For a cold B2C campaign into the UK, a platform with TPS screening built in is the better buy. The do not call list guide lines up the other national registers, Australia's rules sit on the dialer for Australia page, and the five-country overview is at auto dialer legality by country.