AI receptionist UK
While You Work is an AI receptionist built in the UK for small businesses. When you are on a job, with a client or driving, it answers in your business name, asks the questions you would ask and sends you the details within a minute. From £39 a month + VAT, no contract.
How it works
You keep your own number. One divert code on your mobile sends any call you have not picked up within 20 seconds to your receptionist. If you answer, nothing changes.
The caller hears your business name, is told they are speaking to an automated assistant and that calls are recorded, then gets asked what they need. Several people can ring at once and none of them waits on hold.
A plumber’s line asks whether water is coming through the ceiling. A driving instructor’s line asks about the provisional licence. The questions come from the set-up form for your kind of business, and it reads the phone number back so you are not ringing a wrong digit.
Name, number, where they are and what they need, by email. Anything you have marked as urgent comes by text straight away. The caller gets a text confirming you have their message.
What callers hear
Dan works on his own and is halfway through fitting a kitchen. His phone rings in his van. This is the call his receptionist takes.
Notice what it does not do. It does not guess a price for the job, because Dan has not given one, and it does not book a time. It gets enough for Dan to ring back with an answer, and it reads the number back.
Receptionist: Hi, you’re through to Dan Price Property Repairs. Dan’s on a job, so I’m the automated assistant taking the details for a call back. Calls are recorded so nothing gets missed. What’s your name?
Caller: It’s Priya. I’ve got a fence panel down after the wind and a gate that won’t shut.
Receptionist: Thanks, Priya. Is the garden secure at the moment, or is it open to the road?
Caller: It’s open at the side, but it’s not urgent. The dog’s staying in.
Receptionist: Understood. Whereabouts are you?
Caller: Kings Heath, B14.
Receptionist: That’s in Dan’s area. He’ll go through the cost when he rings you. What’s the best number for him?
Caller: 07700 900 274.
Receptionist: So that’s 07700 900 274. Is that right?
Caller: Yes.
Receptionist: Thanks, Priya. I’ll pass that to Dan now, and you’ll get a text to confirm.
What Dan receives: Priya, 07700 900274, Kings Heath B14. One fence panel down after wind, side gate will not shut. Garden open at the side, caller says not urgent.
Limits
An AI receptionist is only useful if you can trust what it says in your name. These are the rules it follows on every call. How callers’ details are handled is set out on AI receptionists and UK GDPR.
| It will not | What it does instead |
|---|---|
| Quote a price you have not given it | If you leave prices out of set-up, it tells the caller you will go through costs when you ring back. |
| Take card details | Never, on any call. With diary booking on Business, deposits go through your own payment link by text. |
| Pretend to be a person | It says it is an automated assistant in the greeting and again if anyone asks. |
| Promise a time you have not offered | Without diary booking it says you will ring back. With it, on Business, it only offers the free slots in your diary. |
| Put sales calls through | Sales calls are ended politely, before they reach your inbox. |
AI or human
A person at a call centre is better at the strange call that fits no script. An AI receptionist is cheaper, never has a queue and works through the night. For most small businesses the calls are the same few questions, which is where AI does well.
| AI receptionist | Human answering service | |
|---|---|---|
| Who answers | A natural British AI voice | A person at a call centre |
| Hours | 24 hours a day, every day | Usually office hours, with evenings and weekends extra |
| Calls at the same time | Several, no queue | One per receptionist on shift |
| Knows your business | Your hours, area, services and prices from your set-up form | A script the call centre keeps for you |
| How you are charged | A flat monthly price | Usually a monthly fee plus a charge per call or per minute |
| Unusual calls | Takes the details and passes them to you | A person can use judgement |
Want named providers and their published prices? See call answering costs in the UK or our comparisons, including where others are cheaper than us. If you would rather have a person, our virtual receptionist page explains the different kinds.
Set up for your trade
Each kind of business gets its own questions, its own idea of what is urgent and its own example calls.
Plumbers and heating engineers · Electricians · Builders · Driving instructors · Hair and beauty salons · Cleaners and cleaning companies · Roofers · Locksmiths · Carpenters and joiners · Painters and decorators · Landscapers and gardeners · Tilers · Plasterers · Handymen and property maintenance · Pest control · Window cleaners · Removal companies · Mechanics and garages · Beauty therapists and nail technicians · Barbers · Dog groomers · Personal trainers · Estate and letting agents · Accountants and bookkeepers · Photographers · Caterers
Questions
An AI receptionist is software that answers your business phone with a natural voice, holds a conversation with the caller, asks the questions your business needs and sends you the details. While You Work is a UK AI receptionist for small businesses that answers the calls you miss, 24 hours a day, from £39 a month + VAT.
Prices vary a lot between providers, from per-minute charges to flat monthly plans. While You Work has three plans priced per call, not per minute: Starter £39 a month for 50 calls, Pro £69 for 150 calls and Business £129 for 400 calls, all + VAT, with no set-up fee and no contract. The first 50 UK businesses get Pro for £49 + VAT for their first 12 months. Our call answering costs page compares published UK prices.
Yes. The greeting says it is an automated assistant and that calls are recorded, and it says so again if a caller asks.
Yes, as long as callers are told the call is recorded and their details are handled under UK GDPR. Our greeting covers the recording notice, recordings are deleted after 30 days and transcripts after 12 months, and our privacy notice explains the rest.
It flags them. You decide in set-up what counts as urgent for your business, and those calls come to you by text straight away. If anyone is in danger it tells them to ring 999, and if they smell gas it gives them the National Gas Emergency number.
People use digital receptionist for two different things: a screen in a reception area that signs visitors in, or software that answers the phone. An AI receptionist is the second kind. It holds a spoken conversation with the caller instead of playing a menu of options.
No. You keep your own number and switch on divert-on-no-answer with one code. Customers ring the number they already have.
Answer them as normal. The receptionist only picks up calls you have not answered within 20 seconds, and you can switch the divert off whenever you like.
Yes. Website chat and enquiry emails are live now and use the same knowledge of your business as the phone line. Website chat is on Pro and email replies on Business. WhatsApp replies are being added to Business.
From £39 a month + VAT, priced per call, not per minute. No contract, no set-up fee, and cancel within 14 days of your line going live for a full refund.