Services

Some conversations are too important to leave to an email that might get answered next Tuesday. Reporting something to your local police force, tracking down a parcel that’s vanished into the courier void, querying a council tax bill, or asking a university about your application. These are the moments live chat was made for.

More and more UK public services and essential companies now offer it. Every police force in England and Wales has some form of online contact, most of the big couriers run live chat for tracking and delivery problems, and councils and universities are catching up fast.

We’ve gathered the direct links here, with notes on when each chat is staffed and whether you’ll reach a person or a bot first. For emergencies, always call 999. For everything else, the categories below will save you a phone queue.