Cabinet Office Minister David Ashford has told Tynwald the government wants to remove the provision of free phone calls to some services.
Calls to several government and health and social care services were made free for an initial period in December 2022.
The most controversial of those amongst members was the decision to axe free calls to GP surgeries with Ramsey MHK Lawrie Hooper and others branding it a “cost cutting exercise”.
While Speaker Juan Watterson said the government was seeking to bend the will of Tynwald through a statement.
Mr Ashford however said while he has sympathies with sentiments, he did not agree and said there is no evidence it will impact on the most vulnerable people, calling it “extremely low risk”.
He added that the issue will be subject to a vote later this year and will save around £320,000.
Maintain
While the free calls will end to some services, they will be retained for services where the most vulnerable people are likely to call, such as those which assist with homelessness.
Mr Ashford said: “We will be looking to focus the phone numbers that are free to call on those services that are shown to be the most critical to those vulnerable in our society.
“These free phone lines are for critical services such as mental health, safeguarding, Social Security, homelessness and housing.”
Additionally, a new free phone line will be created to support the homelessness pathway.
Criticism
Despite this, the government faced significant criticism from backbench members and MLCs.
Onchan MHK Julie Edge said the government was not taking all the statistics around vulnerable people into account and said it should “not be taking something away from our most vulnerable without the correct facts, figures and information”.
Mr Ashford however said the government had spoken to the service operators and identified which areas would best protect the most vulnerable while making the saving.
He added that the motion will be brought to Tynwald in the autumn.
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