Outbound Dialler with Built-In TPS/CTPS Screening: How It Works, What to Look For, and 2025 Compliance Stats

What TPS and CTPS Actually Are (and Why Your Dialler Must Check Both)

The Telephone Preference Service (TPS) is the UK's official opt-out register for consumers who don't want unsolicited marketing calls. As of July 2026, 17.2 million UK telephone numbers are registered on TPS — that's roughly one in four UK phone numbers.

The Corporate Telephone Preference Service (CTPS) does the same for businesses. Currently 1.08 million corporate numbers are registered. Unlike TPS (which is permanent unless the subscriber removes themselves), CTPS registrations expire annually and must be renewed, which is why you'll see monthly fluctuations in the register size.

Under the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR), making live marketing calls to numbers registered on either service — without explicit prior consent — is illegal. The ICO recommends re-screening every 28 days, because the registers change daily. A number that was clear last month may be registered today.

Real-Time API vs Monthly Batch Upload: Why It Matters for Compliance

Here's where most contact centre platforms fall short. Many diallers offer TPS "screening" as a monthly CSV upload: you download a snapshot of the register, import it into your system, and suppress those numbers until next month.

That approach has three fatal flaws:

1. Stale data. A consumer registers their number on the TPS on the 5th of the month. If you downloaded the list on the 1st and won't refresh until next month, you're exposed for up to 30 days.
2. No audit trail. When the ICO investigates, saying "we checked the list last month" won't cut it. You need timestamped evidence showing you verified this specific number within 28 days of this specific call.
3. Manual overhead. Someone has to remember to download, upload, and map the CSV. Human error, sick days, and handover gaps guarantee compliance lapses.

Speed comparison: a modern TPS API (such as TPSCheck or Data-8) returns results in under 200ms. Batch processing a 10,000-number list via API takes seconds, not hours. The performance penalty is negligible, and the compliance benefit is absolute.

Vendor Comparison: Real-Time TPS/CTPS Screening Capabilities

The New Risk: 2025 Compliance Stats and Penalty Increases

The stakes just got significantly higher. The Data Use and Access Act 2025 (Royal Assent June 2025) raised the maximum PECR penalty from £500,000 to £17.5 million or 4% of global annual turnover — whichever is greater. That aligns PECR fines with GDPR levels.

Recent Enforcement Actions (2024–2025)

• Energy Prices Direct Limited (Glasgow): £160,000 fine for 704,501 unlawful calls to TPS/CTPS-registered numbers between January 2024 and January 2025. The ICO found the company purchased call data without verifying screening, and employees falsely claimed they weren't making sales calls.
• Ice Telecommunications Ltd: £80,000 fine for illegal spam calls made without TPS screening.
• Average fine size (2024–25): £120,000 for serious violations involving hundreds of thousands of calls.
• 60%+ of ICO nuisance call complaints involve numbers registered on TPS/CTPS that were called anyway.

Under the old regime, a £500k cap meant some large operators treated fines as a cost of doing business. At £17.5 million, no contact centre can afford non-compliance.