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UK Ofcom Dropped-Call Posture

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Why UK abandoned calls are a separate regime

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Tenant-owned posture

• Per-campaign abandon ceiling. max_abandon_rate carries a hard 0.03 maximum you cannot raise, and pacing throttles as the rolling rate approaches it, auto-pausing the campaign when the ceiling trips. The same 0.03 ceiling is your starting position for Ofcom’s 3 % live-answer cap; because the measurement windows differ (dialling period versus 30-day window), a campaign sitting at the ceiling is inside the US rule, but you should still watch the per-period rate for the UK one.
• Per-campaign safe-harbor object. metadata.safe_harbor, set on create or update through the campaign endpoints, supplies what the abandoned leg hears, with organization-level fallback for the business name and the opt-out line.
• Recording controls. The campaign’s recording flag, together with your organization’s consent-announcement mode, decides which calls are captured and what each party hears before capture.

• Two-attempt recording consent. Pair the abandoned-leg announcement with your consent announcement so a recipient whose dropped call carried a recording notice was told recording happens; then shape re-attempts — the campaign retry schedule is tenant-owned metadata as well — so a recipient exposed to the consent recording on a dropped call is not re-exposed beyond the policy’s two-attempt allowance.
• Six-month recording retention. Orbit’s retention window (Settings → Compliance → Retention) auto-deletes recordings; the Ofcom obligation runs the other way. Route recorded calls through archival export so the dropped-call evidence set survives the auto-delete window for at least six months.

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Configure for Ofcom

1. Keep the ceiling at or below 0.03. The platform enforces the maximum; set a lower per-campaign value if your dialling periods concentrate volume.
2. Opt in the safe-harbor object. On POST /api/v1/dialer/campaigns (or PATCH /api/v1/dialer/campaigns/:id), add metadata.safe_harbor with a UK-appropriate message — presence of the object enables it, exactly as on the FCC page.
3. Announce recording consent to every party. Set the consent-announcement mode to announce_all so every recorded leg plays the consent announcement to all parties, as recording consent requires for two-party-consent jurisdictions.
4. Retain the evidence for six months. Connect an archival export for recorded calls and keep dropped-call recordings at least six months, outside the auto-delete window.
5. Bind the evidence. Export the abandoned-call evidence set with the evidence binder: the dialer_call_abandoned and dialer_safe_harbor_message events, plus the retained recordings, form the dropped-call audit.

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Worked example: safe_harbor tuned for UK recordings

{
  "metadata": {
    "safe_harbor": {
      "enabled": true,
      "business_name": "Acme Home Services UK Ltd",
      "opt_out_number": "+448005551212",
      "message": "This call was made on behalf of Acme Home Services UK Ltd and may be recorded. We are sorry we are unable to connect you with a representative at this time. To be placed on our do-not-call list, please call 0800 555 1212."
    }
  }
}

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See also

• Dialer Abandoned-Call Safe Harbor — the FCC § 64.1200(a)(7) twin of this page
• UK PECR / ePrivacy — the sender-rule regime for UK marketing calls and messages
• Recording consent — the announce_all consent-announcement axis
• State calling windows — dialing-window rules for US campaigns
• Archival export — long-retention export for recordings
• Evidence binder — exporting the compliance evidence set