AI receptionists in the UK: what they cost and the rules that apply

By Ranjit Bhinge, founder of Blur Studio · Updated October 24, 2026 · 7 min read

Short answer: An AI receptionist answers your business phone, answers common questions, books appointments and passes calls to staff. UK options include Fasthosts, which lists plans from £39 a month, and Moneypenny, which quotes on request. Before you switch one on, tell callers that calls may be recorded and handled by AI. Check that its outbound calls and texts follow PECR and Ofcom rules.

You're a UK business owner trying to work out whether an AI receptionist is actually legal here.

I'm Ranjit, and I run Blur Studio: 15+ years building software, 120 apps taken live, and clients who have gone on to raise $10M+. I build AI systems and processes that help businesses do a lot more with a lot less time. I also work differently from most of what else is out there, more on that further down this page. Say hello.

What does an AI receptionist do for a UK business?

The software speaks to callers in a natural, human-sounding voice. You give it your opening hours, services, prices and common questions. It then handles callers the way a trained receptionist would.

On a typical call, it can do these jobs:

Answer questions: It covers opening hours, prices, parking, and what you do and don't offer.
Book appointments: It checks your diary and books a slot, if it connects to your booking system.
Take messages: It writes down the caller's name, number and reason, then emails or texts you a summary.
Transfer calls: It puts urgent callers through to the right person.
Cover busy times: It answers several calls at once, at night, at weekends and on bank holidays.

For example, a caller rings a physio clinic at 9 pm with a bad back. The AI asks a few questions, books the first slot the next morning and texts a confirmation. The clinic team sees a summary when they log in.

What AI receptionist options are there in the UK?

Plenty of AI receptionists sell to UK firms. Some are built by UK telecoms and hosting firms, and some are US tools priced in dollars. The two UK providers below show clear details on their own sites as of October 2026.

Fasthosts AI Receptionist

Fasthosts lists three plans:

Plan	Price	What it adds
Lite	£39 a month	24/7 answering, FAQ answers, call forwarding and emailed call summaries
Plus	£69 a month	Everything in Lite, plus appointment scheduling
Unlimited	£99 a month	Everything in Lite, plus appointment scheduling

Fasthosts says these prices apply after an introductory offer. Each plan has a one-month free trial and no fixed contract. Fasthosts also says it does not record calls and keeps only the call summary and basic call data. It says customer data is not used to train AI models.

Moneypenny

Moneypenny offers a telephone answering service run by people, an AI receptionist and an outsourced switchboard. Its pricing page does not list prices. You call or fill in a form, and its team gets in touch about what would suit your business.

Booking and job software with AI built in

Check your current software first. Ask whether your booking, practice or job software sells its own AI phone add-on. A built-in tool books straight into your diary, which saves a lot of setup work.

How does AI compare with a human receptionist in the UK?

A full-time receptionist is a real cost. The National Living Wage is £12.71 an hour from April 2026 for workers aged 21 and over. At 37.5 hours a week, that comes to about £24,785 a year. Employer National Insurance, pension and holiday cover come on top.

An AI receptionist on the plans above costs £39 to £99 a month. It answers every call, all day and night. It cannot greet visitors, read a worried caller's mood well or fix a tricky problem.

Many firms end up with a mix. A person handles the front desk in office hours, and AI takes overflow, lunch breaks and out-of-hours calls. My guide to virtual and AI receptionists compares the options in more detail.

What UK rules apply to an AI receptionist?

UK GDPR and the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025

A caller's name, number and reason for calling are personal data. UK GDPR applies to all of it, including call recordings and transcripts. So you need a clear purpose, a privacy notice that mentions the AI, and a contract with your provider that covers how they handle data.

The Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 updated UK GDPR. The ICO says all of the Act's data protection provisions were in force by 19 June 2026. The same Act turned the regulator into the Information Commission on 30 September 2026. It still goes by ICO, which now stands for the Information Commission's Office. If your privacy notice names the "Information Commissioner", update that wording. One change widens the lawful bases for significant automated decisions about people. Those decisions still need proper safeguards, and the wider rule does not cover special category data such as health details. A receptionist that only books slots rarely makes that kind of decision. One that turns callers away based on their answers might.

Recording calls

Under the Investigatory Powers Act 2016, the 2018 business regulations let a firm record calls on its own system for set purposes. These include establishing facts, checking that staff meet standards and checking compliance with rules. One condition is that the business makes all reasonable efforts to tell everyone who uses the system that calls may be intercepted.

In practice, start each call with a short message. Say that the caller is speaking with an AI assistant and that the call may be recorded. Then explain recordings in your privacy notice and set a time limit for keeping them.

Ofcom rules on automated calls

Ofcom's persistent misuse policy covers automated systems that make outbound calls. Ofcom expects these points:

Abandoned calls: No more than 3 per cent of live calls on each campaign over 24 hours.
Information message: If no agent is free, play a short message within two seconds of the call being picked up or the person starting to speak.
Caller ID: Show a number the person can call back.
No quick repeats: Do not call a number again within 72 hours after an abandoned call unless an agent is sure to be free.

If your AI only answers incoming calls, these rules matter less. They matter a lot if you plan to use AI for outbound reminders or sales calls.

PECR for marketing calls and texts

PECR sets the rules for marketing by phone, text and email. The ICO says an automated marketing call needs the person's specific consent to automated calls from you. General marketing consent is not enough, and neither is consent to live calls. Each automated call must give your name and a contact address or freephone number.

For live sales calls, screen numbers against the Telephone Preference Service first. For marketing texts, you need consent. The soft opt-in lets you text existing customers about similar products, as long as you give them a chance to opt out every time.

The penalties are serious. The Data (Use and Access) Act raised the maximum PECR fine from £500,000 to £17.5 million or 4% of global turnover, whichever is higher.

Which of these rules actually apply to you?

That is a lot of law for one phone system. Most small UK businesses only need to worry about a fraction of it. Here is a quick way to work out which parts matter for you.

Your AI only answers calls people make to you: UK GDPR and the recording rules apply to every business. PECR and Ofcom's outbound rules do not, because you are not calling anyone.
Your AI also calls or texts customers back, such as appointment reminders or missed-call follow-ups: a plain service message, like a booking confirmation the customer already asked for, sits outside PECR's marketing rules. Keep sales offers out of these messages unless you have separate marketing consent.
Your AI makes outbound sales or marketing calls: this is where PECR, Ofcom's persistent misuse policy and the Telephone Preference Service all apply together, and where the £17.5 million fine ceiling is actually aimed. Get this reviewed properly before you switch it on.
You handle health, legal or other sensitive data: the automated-decision provisions under the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 deserve a closer look, particularly if the AI ever decides who gets served and who does not, rather than just booking a slot.

For most trades and small firms, the real day-to-day requirement is the recording notice and a proper privacy notice, not the outbound rules.

How do you set up an AI receptionist well?

List your top 20 call reasons: Use your call logs or ask your team what callers ask most.
Write the answers in plain English: Keep each answer short and correct.
Set the handover rules: Decide which calls go straight to a person, such as complaints or emergencies.
Connect your diary or CRM: A CRM is the system that holds your customer records. Test real bookings before launch.
Add the recording message and update your privacy notice: Do this before the first live call.
Check where data is stored: Ask the provider which country holds recordings and transcripts.
Review calls each week: Read summaries for the first month and fix wrong answers quickly.

When should a UK firm build a custom AI receptionist?

A ready-made plan suits most small UK firms. A custom AI receptionist makes sense in the cases below.

Deep links to your own systems: The AI must book jobs in your job software, check stock or look up a customer's account.
Many tools that don't share data: Bookings, payments and customer records sit in separate apps.
Data you must control: You need recordings stored in the UK, in accounts you own, with your own retention rules.
Unusual call flows: Callers need triage questions, quotes or checks that standard tools can't follow.
Costs at scale: Per-line or per-minute fees grow fast across many branches.

How Blur Studio approaches an AI receptionist for UK firms

I'm a one-person studio based in Dubai, and I work remotely with business owners across the UK. When a firm asks me for an AI receptionist, I first check whether a ready-made tool would do the job. If it would, I say so.

If a custom build is the right call, I connect the AI to the diary, CRM or job software the firm already uses, and set it up to follow UK GDPR and PECR from the first call. The client owns the code and the accounts. For a bigger build, see my guide to bespoke software development in the UK.

Questions people ask

How much does an AI receptionist cost in the UK?

As of October 2026, Fasthosts lists AI receptionist plans at £39, £69 and £99 a month. Other providers, such as Moneypenny, do not list prices, so you contact them for a price. Custom builds cost more up front but can save on per-minute fees at high volume.

Is it legal to use an AI receptionist in the UK?

Yes, it is legal. You must follow UK GDPR for callers' data, tell callers that calls may be recorded, and follow PECR for any marketing calls or texts. Automated marketing calls need specific consent to that type of call.

Do I have to tell callers they are speaking to AI?

It is the safest approach, and it builds trust. The 2018 recording regulations also need you to make reasonable efforts to tell callers their calls may be recorded. A short message at the start covers both points.

Can an AI receptionist make outbound calls in the UK?

It can, but stricter rules apply. Automated marketing calls need specific consent under PECR. Outbound dialling systems must also follow Ofcom's rules on abandoned calls, caller ID and repeat calls.

Is an AI receptionist cheaper than a human receptionist?

For call answering alone, usually yes. The National Living Wage of £12.71 an hour makes a full-time receptionist cost about £24,785 a year before other staff costs. AI plans from Fasthosts cost £39 to £99 a month.

Does PECR apply to a simple booking confirmation text?

No. A plain confirmation of something the customer already asked for is a service message, not marketing. PECR's consent rules apply once the message promotes something, not to a confirmation or reminder on its own.

What happened to the ICO?

The Information Commissioner's Office formally became the Information Commission, still commonly called the ICO, with a board and chief executive rather than a single commissioner. If your privacy notice still names "the Information Commissioner", it is worth updating the wording.

Roughly what does this cost?

As a broad reference, fixes and finishes start at around $1,500, and new builds start higher, always a fixed price agreed in writing before I start, never an hourly rate. My AI app cost guide explains what actually drives a quote up or down.

Is my project too small for this?

No. Most of the owners I work with have no tech team at all, that is the whole point. If the smarter move is a cheap software subscription instead of custom software, I will tell you that on the first call, even though it means I do not get paid.