This page summarizes the law as of October 2026 to help you plan AI phone calls. It isn’t legal advice. Laws and how regulators apply them change, so check your use case with a lawyer before you start a campaign.
At a glance
Is AI cold calling legal in the United Kingdom?
Only with consent. Regulation 19(1) bans direct marketing by “an automated calling or communication system” unless the person you call “previously notified the caller” that they consent (Regulation 19(2)). An automated calling system can start a sequence of calls on its own and plays sounds that aren’t “live speech” (Regulation 19(4)). Who’s covered. Regulation 19 protects every subscriber. That includes consumers, sole traders, partnerships, and companies. The B2B guidance of the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) confirms that automated B2B calls need consent from the business. The consent must “specially cover automated calls from you.” Does an AI agent count? No court or regulator has ruled on conversational AI agents. The ICO calls a live call one “where a live person is speaking” (ICO). In September 2025, it fined two energy firms for “avatar” calls, where agents played recorded clips that responded to the person’s answers. The ICO treated these as automated calls (ICO). An AI voice isn’t live speech, so treat your AI agent as automated. Human in the loop. A human who presses Dial or listens in doesn’t change this. Only a person who does the talking makes it a live call.Cold calls by a human
Live marketing calls are opt-out under Regulation 21. You may call unless the number is on the TPS or CTPS, or the person or business told you not to call. Give your name, and an address or freephone number if asked (Regulation 24). Claims management and pension calls need consent even when a human calls (see Sector rules).Existing customers and callback requests
There’s no soft opt-in for calls, since it only covers email and text messages. Existing customers keep their TPS protection for live calls, and AI calls need their consent. When the person asked you to call, the call counts as solicited, and the TPS rules don’t apply to a human calling back (ICO). Regulation 19 still requires consent for AI calls. A callback request counts if it says an AI agent will call you about that topic.Do-not-call register: Telephone Preference Service (TPS) and CTPS
For B2B calls, screen against both registers, because sole traders and some partnerships use the TPS. The registers only matter for calls by a human. AI calls need consent anyway, and an objection always wins.
Consent for AI calls
Before you start, read Before you start outbound campaigns.
Tell callers they’re talking to an AI
The EU AI Act doesn’t apply to calls within the UK, and the UK has no AI statute. The May 2026 King’s Speech included no AI bill (Lewis Silkin). If you call people in the EU, the AI Act applies to you even from the UK, because the AI agent’s output reaches people in the EU (Art. 2(1)(c)). Article 50 then requires AI disclosure from August 2, 2026. No UK rule names AI disclosure, but these rules make it the safe choice:
An AI agent that pretends to be human risks a misleading action under the DMCC Act. In the avatar cases, the ICO stressed that the calls made people think they were talking to real UK agents. We found no Ofcom rule on AI disclosure.
Recommended introduction for outbound marketing calls. Replace the bracketed parts:
Call recording
Criminal law. Interception is an offence under section 3 of the Investigatory Powers Act 2016. It means making call content available to someone other than the sender or intended recipient (section 4). So recording a call you take part in usually isn’t interception. Businesses may also record on their own systems for listed purposes, such as establishing facts or checking standards. They must make “all reasonable efforts” to tell users that they record calls (Interception by Businesses Regulations 2018, regs. 3 and 4). Data protection. You need a lawful basis (UK GDPR Art. 6) and a notice at the start (Art. 13), not necessarily consent. Legitimate interests can work if you give notice and a way to object. The star key stops the recording and discards it, but the transcript stays. Voice as biometric data. A voice only becomes special category data when you use it to uniquely identify someone (ICO). Recording for quality doesn’t. botBrains stores recordings, transcripts, and call data in the EU.Caller ID and calling hours
Caller ID. Every marketing call must show your number or a number where people can reach you (Regulations 19(2)(b) and 21(A1)). Since January 29, 2025, UK providers block calls from abroad that show UK landline numbers. Exceptions include UK customers whose calls run through cloud services abroad (Comms Council UK). A July 2026 Ofcom statement extends this to UK mobile numbers. Calls from abroad that show one appear as withheld unless the provider can verify them. The caller sees your botBrains number, so ask botBrains for a UK number and test delivery first. Calling hours. We found no statutory calling hours. Firms regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) must call only “at an appropriate time of the day.” They must also state their name, firm, and purpose at the outset, and end the call when asked (COBS 4.8.3R). Ofcom can fine persistent misuse, such as silent or repeated calls (Communications Act 2003, s. 128). botBrains doesn’t enforce calling hours or screen numbers, so you schedule calls yourself. On voicemail, the agent hangs up without a message.Sector rules
Fines and enforcement
On September 30, 2026, the Information Commission replaced the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and took over its PECR powers (S.I. 2026/1015).
The Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 raised the PECR fines (Schedule 13, in force since February 5, 2026, S.I. 2026/82). It also counts unanswered call attempts as calls (Regulation 2). The ICO is reviewing its PECR guidance after these changes, so expect updates (ICO).
Recent cases: In September 2025, the ICO fined Home Improvement Marketing £300,000 and Green Spark Energy £250,000 for millions of avatar calls without consent (penalty notice). In August 2026, it fined Elderly Aids £190,000 for 758,053 live calls to TPS numbers (ICO).
Sources
- Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003, Regulations 2, 19, 21, 21A, 21B, 24, 26, and Schedule 1
- Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, sections 110, 115, and 118 to 119; commencement by S.I. 2026/82 and S.I. 2026/1015
- Data Protection Act 2018, s. 157; UK GDPR Art. 7
- Investigatory Powers Act 2016, sections 3 and 4; Investigatory Powers (Interception by Businesses etc. for Monitoring and Record-keeping Purposes) Regulations 2018, regulations 3 and 4
- Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, regulations 15 and 16
- Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, sections 226, 227, 182, and Schedule 20
- Communications Act 2003, sections 128 and 130
- ICO: Telephone marketing, Guidance on direct marketing using live calls, Business-to-business marketing, Using marketing lists, AI transparency, Biometric data
- ICO enforcement: avatar calls fines, September 2025, Home Improvement Marketing penalty notice, Elderly Aids, August 2026
- FCA Handbook, COBS 4.8
- Ofcom: Tackling scam calls from abroad; Comms Council UK on the 2024 CLI guidance
- Ofgem: npower investigation under Standard Licence Condition 25
- TPS, TPS licence prices, DMA: Preference services
- Lewis Silkin: King’s Speech 2026
- EU AI Act Art. 2, Art. 50, and Art. 99
Next steps
Phone integration
Set up your phone line, introductions, and outbound calls.
Calling laws by country
Compare consent rules for AI calls across the EU, the UK, and the US.