RNID Typetalk

Typetalk opened in 1991 and is a telephone service for deaf, hard of hearing, deaf and blind and speech impaired people.

It is the only national telephone relay service in the UK, and is a partnership between BT, who funds and provides the access technology TextDirect, and RNID, who manages the service.

Typetalk employs 200 Relay Assistants, offering a 24 hours a day, 365 days a year service. They handle an average of 30,000 calls per week (6% of which are from hearing people, 94% from people using a textphone).

To use Typetalk, deaf or hard of hearing people use the prefix 18001 before calling the telephone number they require, and hearing people use the prefix 18002 before the telephone number of the person using a textphone. The service also provides 18000 emergency calls (in place of 999).

Typetalk operates one call centre based in Liverpool, Merseyside and has seven regional outreach co-ordinators across the country. The outreach co-ordinators are responsible for providing training and assistance to users and businesses on how to use the Typetalk service.