Answering service for small business
Nobody in a small business is paid to sit by the phone. While You Work answers every call you cannot get to, in your company name, 24 hours a day. Your caller is asked what they need, where they are and how urgent it is, and the message reaches you by email a minute later, with a text straight away if it is urgent. £49 a month including VAT, however busy the month gets.
Founding members pay £49 and their line switches on as soon as they finish the set-up form. The first week on a live line is free.
In one paragraph
A small business misses calls for reasons no one can fix by trying harder: everybody is doing the actual work, calls arrive in clumps, and the phone rings hardest in the hour you are least free. Most callers who reach voicemail do not leave a message, and most who get a busy tone do not ring twice. They ring the next company on the list, which is usually a competitor who happened to be free. An answering service closes that gap by making sure someone always picks up, takes the details properly and gets them to the right person, so nothing depends on who is standing near a handset.
Cost
Four ways to cover your calls, and what each one really costs once you count the hours it does not cover.
| Option | Cost | The catch |
|---|---|---|
| Part-time receptionist, 20 hours a week | About £1,000 a month plus employer National Insurance, pension, holiday and cover when they are off | Answers only while they are at their desk |
| Human answering service, 50 calls a month | Roughly £50 to £110 a month plus VAT on published bundle prices, more if you go over | Busy months cost more |
| Voicemail | Free | Most callers ring the next company instead of leaving a message |
| While You Work | £49 a month including VAT, flat | Every call answered, 24 hours a day |
Named providers and their published prices are in our UK call answering cost guide, worked through at 20, 50 and 100 calls a month. Where another service is cheaper for your volume, the guide says so.
What you get
You fill in a short form once: your company name, hours, the area you cover, what you do, what you charge if you want callers told, and anything a caller should always be asked. The receptionist works from that, every call, without variation.
Where a person is better
We would rather you bought the right thing. A human service is the better choice if:
See how the main UK providers compare on price, billing and hours, including where they beat us.
Who it is for
Plumbers, electricians, builders, roofers and every trade where the phone rings while your hands are full. See the receptionist for your trade.
Driving instructors, salons, clinics and anyone teaching or treating someone when the phone goes. New enquiries and cancellations both get taken properly.
Two to ten people with no dedicated receptionist, where calls land on whoever is nearest and overflow at the busy hours.
Questions
It is a service that picks up the calls your business cannot get to, answers in your company name, takes the caller’s details and what they need, and passes the message to you. While You Work does it with an AI receptionist, so every call is answered immediately, day or night, for one flat monthly price.
Human answering services in the UK usually charge a monthly fee plus roughly £1.10 to £2.20 a call, so the bill moves with how busy you are. While You Work is £49 a month including VAT for founding members, with up to 150 answered calls included and no per-call charge.
Considerably. A part-time receptionist working 20 hours a week costs around £1,000 a month before employer National Insurance, pension and holiday cover, and only answers while they are at their desk. An answering service covers all 168 hours in the week for a fraction of that.
Both are answered. There is no queue and no hold music, because the receptionist is not a person waiting for the last call to finish. That is usually the point where small businesses lose work: the second caller rings someone else.
Yes. It answers in your company name, asks who the caller needs and why, and sends the message on. It does not transfer live calls between staff today, so if you need warm transfers to several people, a human service will suit you better and we will say so.
No. You keep your number and switch on divert-on-no-answer with one code, so any call nobody picks up within 20 seconds comes through to your While You Work line. Turn it off whenever you like.
They hear a natural British voice that answers in your company name and asks one question at a time. If a caller asks outright, it says it is your automated assistant and carries on taking the details.
No. It is monthly, cancel any time, and founding members keep the £49 price for as long as they stay. The first week on a live line is free.
£49 a month including VAT, locked for as long as you stay. First week free once your line is live. No contract. Your line switches on as soon as you finish the set-up form.