The Department of Work & Pensions has announced that calls to claim benefits and pensions from mobile phones would be made free from the beginning of next week.

The DWP has signed an agreement with Orange, O2, Vodafone, Tesco Mobile and Virgin mobile to end charges to their customers for mobile calls to make initial claims for benefits and pensions.

Calls to claim benefits and pensions use 0800 numbers which are pricey from mobiles.

Work & Pensions Secretary Yvette Cooper said that they did not want to penalize pensioners when they require claiming benefits just because they call from a mobile phone.

As per an estimate, mobile phone calls account for around 15 per cent of the sixty million phone calls made to 0800 numbers each year.