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'Misleading' benefit advice site that charges £11 just to check a form
Unsuspecting parents are in danger of being ripped off by an £11 charge for online child benefit applications and up to 5p-per-minute telephone calls for advice that is available free elsewhere. Premium-rate telephone number operator Digital Select Ltd - recently fined £50,000 by regulator PhonepayPlus after an investigation into its expensive lines - offers rudimentary advice on its official-looking Child Benefit Information website. Thanks to its paid-for sponsored web link, it appears above HM Revenue & Customs as the top-ranking website on a Google search for child benefit and, with its ".org" address, looks official.
However, pages are peppered with prompts to apply online via a "submit and send" service - a simple checking and completion stage for which it charges £11.44. It then says it will return the form to you for printing and to send to the benefit office yourself.
The homepage also offers an 0844 number, charging users up to 5p a minute - of which it takes a share of the revenue - that goes straight through to the government's child benefit helpline. The official government number is 0845 302 1444 which charges between 0.5p and 2.5p per minute, or parents can call on the landline 0161 210 3086. To add to the confusion, the Child Benefit Information website has, for 12 months, been mistakenly included on a London borough of Camden advice leaflet handed out to thousands of parents registering their child's birth.
Camden's.....
leaflet tells parents they can "fill in a child benefit claim form accessed [from] the child benefit website child-benefit.org.uk ... print it out ... to send to the child benefit office." In light of Cash's disclosure, a council spokesman says Digital Select's website inclusion was a "mistake" and taken down in error by a staff member who hadn't checked its authenticity. "The local authority will no longer insert the leaflet as part of its literature," she says.
Digital Select refused to comment to Cash about its website or call charges. But it did make a statement to the BBC earlier this year, after complaints from Watchdog viewers triggered the earlier investigation - and subsequent fine - by regulator PhonepayPlus into the £1.50-a-minute number that Digital Select was operating at that time.
"Digital Select Ltd works with Information Providers and Phonepay Plus (the regulator) to ensure all services are fully compliant with the regulator's Code of Practice, which includes checking that all content, promotional material and pricing information is clear and up-to-date," the company told the BBC.
"Consumers are informed of all costs involved before calling and also immediately upon connection to any premium rate number. If they do not wish to pay the stated amount, they simply end the call."
An HMRC spokeswoman said it would "advise customers to visit our webpages instead of phoning a company like this. The information is free and easy to understand".
• The HMRC website is at: hmrc.gov.uk/childbenefit
s.dunn@observer.co.uk
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media 2009
DO NOT CALL THIS NUMBER - 0844 496 8888 or use this site Child Health Benefit - Office, Application, Enquiry, Amount, Guardians Allowance, Extensions, FAQ's it is not an official site and they charge you premium rate calls and £11 for ''checking'' your form.
USE THIS NUMBER - 0845 302 1444 or 0161 210 3086 and THIS SITE - Claiming Child Benefit : Directgov - Money, tax and benefits
Unsuspecting parents are in danger of being ripped off by an £11 charge for online child benefit applications and up to 5p-per-minute telephone calls for advice that is available free elsewhere. Premium-rate telephone number operator Digital Select Ltd - recently fined £50,000 by regulator PhonepayPlus after an investigation into its expensive lines - offers rudimentary advice on its official-looking Child Benefit Information website. Thanks to its paid-for sponsored web link, it appears above HM Revenue & Customs as the top-ranking website on a Google search for child benefit and, with its ".org" address, looks official.
However, pages are peppered with prompts to apply online via a "submit and send" service - a simple checking and completion stage for which it charges £11.44. It then says it will return the form to you for printing and to send to the benefit office yourself.
The homepage also offers an 0844 number, charging users up to 5p a minute - of which it takes a share of the revenue - that goes straight through to the government's child benefit helpline. The official government number is 0845 302 1444 which charges between 0.5p and 2.5p per minute, or parents can call on the landline 0161 210 3086. To add to the confusion, the Child Benefit Information website has, for 12 months, been mistakenly included on a London borough of Camden advice leaflet handed out to thousands of parents registering their child's birth.
Camden's.....
leaflet tells parents they can "fill in a child benefit claim form accessed [from] the child benefit website child-benefit.org.uk ... print it out ... to send to the child benefit office." In light of Cash's disclosure, a council spokesman says Digital Select's website inclusion was a "mistake" and taken down in error by a staff member who hadn't checked its authenticity. "The local authority will no longer insert the leaflet as part of its literature," she says.
Digital Select refused to comment to Cash about its website or call charges. But it did make a statement to the BBC earlier this year, after complaints from Watchdog viewers triggered the earlier investigation - and subsequent fine - by regulator PhonepayPlus into the £1.50-a-minute number that Digital Select was operating at that time.
"Digital Select Ltd works with Information Providers and Phonepay Plus (the regulator) to ensure all services are fully compliant with the regulator's Code of Practice, which includes checking that all content, promotional material and pricing information is clear and up-to-date," the company told the BBC.
"Consumers are informed of all costs involved before calling and also immediately upon connection to any premium rate number. If they do not wish to pay the stated amount, they simply end the call."
An HMRC spokeswoman said it would "advise customers to visit our webpages instead of phoning a company like this. The information is free and easy to understand".
• The HMRC website is at: hmrc.gov.uk/childbenefit
s.dunn@observer.co.uk
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media 2009
DO NOT CALL THIS NUMBER - 0844 496 8888 or use this site Child Health Benefit - Office, Application, Enquiry, Amount, Guardians Allowance, Extensions, FAQ's it is not an official site and they charge you premium rate calls and £11 for ''checking'' your form.
USE THIS NUMBER - 0845 302 1444 or 0161 210 3086 and THIS SITE - Claiming Child Benefit : Directgov - Money, tax and benefits
