Premium Rate Regulator PhonePayPlus has annouced the first steps on reimburising users who paid £7200 for permission to run their own live services will be seing a refund soon.

The Trustees are pleased to announce that they have resolved to commence the winding up of the Fund and that the effective date of such commencement is Friday 22 May 2009 (the “Cut-Off Date”).  All contributors eligible as at the Cut-Off Date will be entitled to participate in the distribution of monies presently held in the Fund. We will be updating our records by undertaking a final search, effective as at the Cut-Off Date, to determine the list of eligible contributors. 

Following this, we will be writing to all eligible Contributors to confirm details of the winding up process and thus to make a start on the distribution of monies.  Our latest estimate is that there will be a maximum of 75 eligible contributors to the Premium Rate Services fund entitled to share in about £540,000 giving approximately £7,200 available to each eligible contributor. There were originally 96 contributors but a number of them have ceased to exist and a number of them are individuals who we are currently tracing as they have ceased to provide services, but have not notified the Trustees. Please note that this amount is not guaranteed but is our estimate. 

However, over the past few months we have been working to resolve a number of legal and technical issues connected to the proposed winding up. The final outcome is that the Trustees consider it reasonable and prudent to retain a certain amount of monies to cover the risks of any contributor seeking to challenge the winding-up and/or the distribution of its monies or otherwise. The Trustees wish to keep to a minimum the amount retained and therefore if all eligible contributors successfully participate then the risk of any challenge is minimized and thus the amount retained can be minimized and a further distribution made in due course.   

Accordingly, the Trustees propose to make an initial distribution of £6,500 to each of the potential 75 eligible contributors with the balance being distributed as and when possible.  All correspondence will be sent, in the case of companies, to the registered office address shown at Companies House or equivalent for foreign companies and, in the case of individuals, to their last known address notified to us. If you wish to send us your current address, then please do by calling: 0870 762 7925 This is a postive move by the Premium Rate Regulator and should give consumers more choice on who they can choose to be their Premium Phone Line Provider.