Text relay helps people with a hearing or speech difficulty make and receive phone calls. Your phone provider must give you access to an approved text relay service. In the UK, this service is provided by Relay UK.
To contact the emergency services using text relay, dial 18000. You can also use Emergency SMS or 999 BSL.
Check our text relay advice
- What is text relay?
- How do I use text relay if I have a hearing or speech difficulty?
- Make it easier for people to call you using text relay
- How do I call someone who uses text relay?
- How much does it cost to make a text relay call?
- Do banks and other businesses have to accept calls via text relay?
What is text relay?
Text relay helps people with a hearing or speech difficulty use phone calls. It converts speech into text and text into speech. A relay assistant joins your call to type what is said, read aloud what is typed, or both.
You can use text relay in three ways:
- Type and read
- Speak and read
- Type and listen, for people with speech difficulties
When you use text relay on an internet-connected device, such as a smartphone, tablet or computer, you can hear the other person’s voice and read the text at the same time. This can help the conversation flow more naturally. Textphones continue to work, but do not have as many features as the Relay UK app.
How do I use text relay if I have a hearing or speech difficulty?
To use text relay on a smartphone, tablet or computer, download the free Relay UK app. You can get this on the Relay UK website, Google Play or the App Store.
To make a call using text relay on a textphone, dial 18001 followed by the phone number you want to call. For emergency (999) calls, dial 18000 and you will be connected directly.
You can make a text relay call using different types of device.
- On a smartphone, you can make the call and read the captions on the same device.
- On a tablet or computer, you will need to use a separate phone for the phone call, and link the phone number you are using with the app. There is information on how to do this on the Relay UK website
Make it easier for people to call you using text relay
You can get a TextNumber from Relay UK. This is a regular-looking phone number that brings the relay service into the call automatically when someone calls you.
You can give your TextNumber to anyone you want to be able to call you easily: family, friends, colleagues, your doctor, or a tradesperson. They don’t need special equipment, to set anything up in advance or to use a prefix. It can help if when you answer the call you start by saying something like, “one moment please, I am reading text on this call” so the other person knows there may be a short pause before you reply.
How do I call someone who uses text relay?
TextNumbers start with 03306 or 07777. If you dial one of these numbers, a relay assistant will automatically join the call. If the text relay user’s number does not start with either of these, you can dial 18002 followed by the full phone number (including the dialling code) to bring a relay assistant into the call.
How much does it cost to make a text relay call?
Relay UK is free to use, and text relay calls cost no more than a standard telephone call. If you have inclusive calls or a call allowance, relay calls should be included. Because text relay calls take longer than voice calls, disabled users are also entitled to a special tariff to compensate them for the extra time taken.
You will need an internet connection if you want to use the Relay UK app, but the app is designed to use very little data.
Do banks and other businesses have to accept calls via text relay?
Businesses and organisations that are not familiar with text relay may ask if it is safe to accept your relay calls. You might wonder whether they have to accept them.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission said that a refusal to take calls from disabled people involving a third party could be a breach of the Equality Act.
“A bank has a policy not to accept calls from customers through a third party. This could amount to indirect discrimination against a disabled person with a learning disability who may use a support worker to call the bank. The right sort of approach is to make sure the customer’s records show anyone who deals with them that they may be communicating using a support worker. This is also likely to be a reasonable adjustment.”
‘What equality law means for your business’, Equality and Human Rights Commission 2018
The Information Commissioner has also provided relevant advice:
“The GDPR [General Data Protection Regulation] does not prevent individuals from contacting organisations using services such as textphone, NGT [text relay] or even using a sign language interpreter. The matter at hand is not one of consent, but that the organisation should have appropriate security in place to protect against unauthorised or unlawful processing of personal data, as outlined in Article 5, principle (f) of the GDPR.
The same level of security should be in place for a customer using the above services as for one who is not. The organisation must have appropriate processes in place to authenticate the customer, regardless of if they are using one of the above services, before processing any personal data.”
Letter to UK Council on Deafness from the Information Commissioner’s Office, October 2018