TPS vs CTPS: What’s the Difference?

If your business makes outbound marketing calls in the UK, you may need to check telephone numbers against the Telephone Preference Service (TPS), the Corporate Telephone Preference Service (CTPS), or both.

The main difference is straightforward:

• TPS primarily covers individual subscribers, including consumers, sole traders and certain partnerships.

• CTPS covers corporate subscribers such as limited companies and LLPs.

The complication is that a B2B database can contain both.

That means simply knowing that you are running a business-to-business campaign does not tell you which preference register applies.

What is the TPS?

The Telephone Preference Service is the UK's official preference register for individual subscribers who do not want to receive unsolicited live sales and marketing calls.

It can include:

• private individuals

• sole traders

• certain partnerships

• both mobile and landline numbers

For businesses running marketing campaigns, TPS is particularly important because a telephone number can be used for business purposes while still belonging to an individual subscriber.

For example, a self-employed electrician may use their mobile exclusively for work but still fall within TPS rather than CTPS.

For a more detailed explanation of registration, the 28-day rule, consent and telephone-marketing screening, read our guide to what the Telephone Preference Service is and how TPS works.

What is the CTPS?

The Corporate Telephone Preference Service performs a similar role but is intended for corporate subscribers.

This includes organisations such as:

• limited companies

• public limited companies

• limited liability partnerships

• government organisations

• schools and other corporate bodies

A company can register telephone numbers with CTPS if it does not want to receive unsolicited live marketing calls.

If most of your outbound activity targets companies, our complete guide to the Corporate Telephone Preference Service explains who CTPS protects, how registration works and what businesses should consider before making B2B marketing calls.

TPS vs CTPS at a glance

	TPS	CTPS
Full name	Telephone Preference Service	Corporate Telephone Preference Service
Main audience	Individual subscribers	Corporate subscribers
Consumers	Yes	No
Sole traders	Yes	No
Certain partnerships	Yes	Depends on legal structure
Limited companies	No	Yes
LLPs	No	Yes
Mobile numbers	Yes	Yes
Landlines	Yes	Yes
Used for live marketing-call screening	Yes	Yes

The purpose of both registers is similar. The important difference is the type of subscriber behind the telephone number.

Do B2B marketers need to check both TPS and CTPS?

Often, yes.

Imagine you have purchased or generated a list of 20,000 UK business contacts.

It might contain:

• directors of limited companies

• sole traders

• freelancers

• consultants

• partnerships

• limited liability partnerships

• tradespeople

• company switchboards

• direct mobile numbers

Some of those telephone numbers may fall within TPS and others within CTPS.

Trying to manually determine the legal structure behind every number before deciding which register to check is rarely practical.

For mixed B2B calling data, screening against both registers is generally the simpler approach.

What about your own Do Not Call list?

TPS and CTPS are only part of the suppression process.

Your organisation should also consider people and businesses that have directly asked you not to make further marketing calls.

For example, a number might appear on neither TPS nor CTPS, but the person may previously have told your sales team:

"Please don't call us again."

That number should still be suppressed from future marketing campaigns.

A practical telephone-marketing screening process therefore often involves:

TPS + CTPS + your own Do Not Call records.

Data Soap can screen calling data against TPS, CTPS and your internal DNC records before numbers are passed into a campaign or dialler.

Does passing TPS and CTPS mean a number is legal to call?

Not automatically.

A clean result means the number was not identified on those preference registers at the time of screening.

You may still need to consider:

• previous objections made directly to your business

• consent

• the type of marketing call

• product-specific restrictions

• whether the call is live or automated

• other PECR requirements

• applicable data-protection obligations

TPS and CTPS should therefore be treated as important suppression checks rather than universal permission to make a marketing call.

What if somebody has given consent?

There can be circumstances where valid and specific consent allows an organisation to make marketing calls to a number registered with TPS or CTPS.

However, businesses should be able to demonstrate that the consent actually covers:

• their organisation

• telephone marketing

• the relevant individual or subscriber

• the type of communication being made

A vague third-party marketing statement should not automatically be treated as permission to override a preference-register match.

How often should TPS and CTPS be checked?

Preference registrations change over time.

A number that was not registered when you acquired it may be registered later.

This is why businesses should not treat an old TPS or CTPS result as permanently valid.

The 28-day cycle is particularly important when managing calling data. If you are relying on a supplier's previous screening, establish when that check took place rather than assuming a database described as "TPS checked" is still current.

For active outbound campaigns, it usually makes more sense to screen close to the point at which the data will actually be used.

Which register should you check?

A simple way to think about it is:

If you are calling consumers, check TPS.

If you are calling sole traders, check TPS.

If you are calling limited companies or other corporate subscribers, check CTPS.

If you are calling a mixed B2B database, check both TPS and CTPS.

And whatever the audience, also respect your own internal Do Not Call records.

TPS or CTPS? In many campaigns, the answer is both

TPS and CTPS are not competing registers.

They cover different types of telephone subscriber.

The mistake is assuming that all business telephone numbers belong to CTPS or that TPS is only relevant to consumer marketing.

Modern B2B databases commonly contain a mixture of companies, sole traders, partnerships and individual business contacts. Screening against both registers can therefore provide much better coverage than trying to classify each number manually.

For more detail, read our guides to the Telephone Preference Service and TPS screening and the Corporate Telephone Preference Service for B2B calling.