TPS vs blocking spam calls — what actually helps in the UK?
How the Telephone Preference Service cuts legal marketing, why scam callers ignore it, and how community lookups fit in.
Try the SMS checker or number lookup with any message or contact you are unsure about.
Does registering with TPS stop scam calls? (common UK question)
The TPS tells legitimate UK companies not to cold-call you for sales. It does not block criminals — they do not follow the rules.
You should still register (it is free) because it cuts real businesses; it is not a scam filter.
“I’m on TPS but still get ‘HMRC’ robocalls” — why that happens
Illegal dialers spoof numbers and ignore lists. Blocking one number does not stop the next variant.
A crowdsourced lookup (like Hush) helps when the same number is reused across victims.
Practical stack for fewer nuisance calls
Register TPS, use your phone’s built-in “silence unknown callers” if you can miss unknowns, and look up repeated unknowns on Hush before you answer or call back.
Report persistent scam numbers so the community score stays current.