Business & Technology
UK consumers screen calls amid contact centre trust gap
MaxContact has published research showing that UK consumers are increasingly screening calls from unknown numbers and ignoring legitimate business contacts, highlighting a widening trust problem for contact centres.
The study surveyed 1,000 UK consumers who had interacted with a contact centre in the previous 18 months. It found that 69% always or often screen calls from unknown numbers. Half had ignored a message from a legitimate company because they assumed it was fraudulent, while only 22% strongly agreed they could tell when an unexpected company contact was genuine.
Those habits are already having consequences for consumers as well as businesses. Among respondents who said they had ignored a legitimate call, 77% reported a real consequence, including missed payments, appointments or service interventions.
The figures suggest the breakdown in engagement often happens before a conversation begins. For contact centres, that raises questions about outbound calling performance and whether organisations can still rely on phone contact in sectors where scam concerns have changed customer behaviour.
Sector differences
Some industries face more resistance than others. Loans, credit and debt management firms were the most avoided, with 37% of consumers saying they would be least likely to answer a call from that sector.
Insurance ranked next at 25%, while technology, telecoms, retail and eCommerce each recorded avoidance levels of 22% to 23%. Banks and building societies performed better, with 16% of consumers saying they would be least likely to answer calls from those organisations.
The variation suggests trust is shaped not only by general concern about scams, but also by the type of business making the call. Firms in more sensitive sectors may need clearer ways to identify themselves and explain the purpose of their contact before customers will engage.
AI disclosure
The research also examined how consumers view the use of AI and automation in customer contact. It found broad acceptance of the technology in principle, but strong demand for transparency when it is used.
According to the survey, 88% of UK consumers said it is important for companies to clearly disclose when AI is being used. Another 87% said they believed they had interacted with AI or automation during a recent contact with a company.
Within that group, 22% said they were sure or fairly sure they had interacted with AI without realising it at the time. The report suggests undisclosed automation may add to the same uncertainty that is already leading many people to ignore unexpected calls and messages.
The issue is becoming more important as businesses use a wider mix of automated and human-led contact across customer service, collections, support and account management. If consumers are unsure who is contacting them, or whether the interaction is genuine, they may opt out before any issue can be resolved.
Ben Booth, chief executive officer of MaxContact, said the findings should prompt a rethink across the sector.
“This data should make every contact centre leader pause. Consumers broadly trust the sectors they deal with, but that trust doesn’t translate into picking up the phone. The clear differences between the sectors confirm that the problem isn’t just sentiment; it’s the inadvertent signals being sent out. If consumers can’t tell the difference between a legitimate call and a scam, outbound strategies will struggle to deliver,” Booth said.
The survey points to a broader operational problem rather than a simple reputational one. If customers routinely ignore contact attempts, unresolved issues may build up and organisations may need to spend more to reach the same people through other channels.
That could be especially relevant in areas such as financial services, insurance and utilities, where firms may need to contact customers about payments, policy changes, service problems or urgent account matters. In those cases, low answer rates may create commercial and compliance risks as well as customer service delays.
Booth said uncertainty, rather than hostility, was driving much of the behaviour.
“This trust gap is something that needs to be rectified. It’s the culmination of consumer frustration, the prevalence of scams, and the use of AI, and consumers don’t know who to trust anymore. It’s not hostility, but uncertainty that is resulting in the call screening barriers, which is why we need to address this as a matter of urgency,” Booth said.
The study was commissioned by MaxContact and conducted as an independent survey of UK adults aged 18 and over. All respondents had interacted with a company contact centre through at least one channel in the previous 18 months.
“The Trust Gap is a solvable problem – but only for businesses willing to treat trust as an operational priority, not a brand one. That means being transparent about how you use AI, giving consumers clear signals of legitimacy before you dial, and recognising that the channel choices you make send a message before a word is spoken. The contact centres that will win in 2026 are the ones that earn the right to be answered,” Booth said.
Ten Seconds Yunnan Rice Noodle in New Inn Hall Street was inspected by Oxford City Council on May 26.
Inspectors subsequently handed the Chinese restaurant a rating of two out of five, meaning “improvement necessary”.
According to the report, received by the Oxford Mail after a Freedom of Information request submission, officers identified a series of concerns, including evidence of mouse activity.
The report states that mouse droppings were found throughout the business in two food storage rooms and the bar area.
In one of the storage areas, mouse activity was present where noodles were kept in plastic carrier bags and potatoes and onion were left in the open.
Inspectors said pest-proofing measures were “not great” and identified a hole beneath a sink in the bar area which could potentially allow pests to enter the premises.
In the report, the inspector said: “At the time of the inspection, I observed a number of historic mouse dropping in both the food storage areas.
“The most recent pest control report mentions no mouse activity in any of the food storage areas.
“All areas where food is prepared and stored must be kept clean and capable of being kept clean. This is so that pests are not attracted into your premises and the risk of food being contaminated by dirt is minimised.”
They advised the owner to remove all historic mouse droppings within the food business and continue to identify any issues of pest proofing within a month.
The business was instructed to remove the droppings and improve pest-proofing measures where previous temporary work had failed.
Food storage issues were also highlighted during the inspection.
In an “overfilled” fridge, officers found raw chicken stored above ready-to-eat foods, including uncovered beans and spring onions, which could cause cross-contamination leading to food poisoning.
That same fridge, which stored items such as cooked rice, chicken ballotine and prawns, was above the required eight degrees, raising concern about food poisoning.
A large number of food containers were also unlabelled, despite the food looking fresh.
The officer insisted a “robust system for ensuring adequate stock rotation” was implemented and recommended all food be kept in sealed, pest-proof containers.
No food-safe sanitiser or disinfectant were available on site, only a kitchen cleaner which they said did not provide adequate disinfection.
Despite the concerns, the report noted there had been a “huge improvement” in cleaning standards since the restaurant’s previous inspection.
The business also had a food safety management system in place and a pest control contract with Pure Pest Solutions.
The council has required a range of improvements, with compliance timescales ranging from one week to one month with a revisit inspection planned.
Oxford-based Peripear has secured an Innovate UK Women in Innovation Award and a £74,974 grant for its development of a wearable device designed to prevent perineal trauma during labour.
The funding will support continued product development ahead of the company’s planned first-in-human study.
Nina van Schaick, co-founder and COO of Peripear as well as a midwife who trained at Oxford Brookes, said: “I’m sure I wasn’t the only one to see this gap.
“I was incredibly lucky to meet my co-founder, Eviatar Natan, right as my frustration about the lack of translation of evidence into practice had peaked.
“There was a proven mechanism that could reduce injuries occurring in up to 90 per cent of vaginal births, and it was being left out of clinical pathways simply because no standardised tool existed to deliver it.”
Peripear is developing what it describes as the world’s first automated perineal thermotherapy wearable, designed to prevent perineal trauma during childbirth.
A perineal thermotherapy wearable is an emerging medical device.
It is a hands‑free warm compress device used on the perineum during the second stage of labour to reduce severe tearing and episiotomies while improving maternal comfort.
Ms van Schaick added: “I’m a farmer’s granddaughter, and when I started practising over 14 years ago, I asked: where is the tool I need to implement this evidence? I looked around and realised we were still asking clinicians to improvise.
“Peripear is what happens when the person who has lived the problem, both personally and professionally, meets the person who can help her build the solution.”
The company behind bikemaker Raleigh, which was founded 139 years ago and has supplied bikes to the UK’s cycling city of Oxford over the years, has filed to appoint administrators.
Accell UK and Ireland, part of Netherlands-based Accell Group, filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators as the wider group kickstarted insolvency proceedings.
This follows a difficult spell for Nottinghamshire-based Raleigh, which confirmed job cuts in 2024 before reporting a £30m loss in financial accounts published the following year.
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The boss of Accell said it was a “deeply sad and frustrating situation” and that it had “tirelessly explored” every option for the future of the cycling business.
The company bought Raleigh in 2012 for around 100 million US dollars (£74 million), adding to its roster of bike brands throughout Europe including Haibike, Winora and Ghost.
Raleigh was founded in Nottingham in 1887 and was well-known for its Chopper model, which featured extended handlebars and is now part of its “retro” range.
It no longer manufactures bikes from Nottingham, and its head office has moved to Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, while the company has shifted to selling electric bikes under Accell’s ownership.
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Accell went through a restructuring in February, securing additional funding from shareholders and lenders and reducing debts.
The group said it had since “explored every possible avenue” for its future, including discussions with potential buyers, but that it had not been possible to find a solution which means the business can continue operating.
It has therefore initiated insolvency proceedings in the Netherlands.
Accell’s chief executive Jonas Nilsson said: “This is a deeply sad and frustrating situation given all the hard work and everything we have achieved, with the support of shareholders and lenders, to restructure Accell’s operations and finances.
“It is an especially difficult moment for our employees, creditors, customers, suppliers, and partners.
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“Every realistic option for the future of the business has been tirelessly explored, and none have resulted in a solution to continue the Group in its current form.
“Our immediate focus is to support an orderly process, provide clarity wherever possible, and work with the relevant court-appointed administrators to preserve viable activities and employment where circumstances allow.”
At its 1970s height, Raleigh employed more than 13,000 people across the UK, with around 8,000 working at its various Triumph Road sites in Nottingham.
The former factory land later became the University of Nottingham’s Jubilee Campus.
Raleigh subsequently moved its headquarters to Church Street in Eastwood, before leaving that site and relocating to Durban House in 2024.
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