Let me be blunt. If you're running a small business in the UK and paying a full-time receptionist to answer your phones, you're probably spending more than you need to.
I'm not saying receptionists are bad. They're not. But the maths doesn't lie.
The real cost of a receptionist
A full-time receptionist in the UK earns between £22,000 and £28,000 a year, depending on location. Let's call it £25,000 for a decent one.
But that's not the real number. Add employer's NI contributions, pension auto-enrolment, holiday cover, sick days, training, and the inevitable turnover when they leave for £2k more somewhere else. You're looking at closer to £30,000–£35,000 all in.
And here's the bit nobody talks about: they work 9 to 5. Maybe 8:30 to 5:30 if you're lucky. What happens to the calls that come in at 6pm? 8am? Weekends? Bank holidays?
They go to voicemail. And nobody leaves voicemails anymore.
What that actually costs you
BT did a study a few years back. 62% of calls to small businesses go unanswered. Not because the business doesn't care — because there's nobody there to pick up.
Think about your own behaviour. When you call a business and it rings out, do you leave a message? Or do you Google the next one on the list?
Exactly.
Every missed call is a missed opportunity. For a trades business, that could be a £3,000 kitchen fitting. For a dental practice, a new patient worth £800 a year in check-ups. For a law firm, a conveyancing instruction worth £1,500.
You don't need to miss many before the cost of not answering the phone dwarfs the cost of answering it.
So what's the alternative?
Human Receptionist
AI Receptionist
I run Voqal AI. We build AI receptionists for UK businesses. So yes, I'm biased. But I'm also a business owner, and I built this because the problem was obvious.
An AI receptionist picks up every call, any time of day. It greets callers by name if they're in your system. It answers FAQs — "What are your opening hours?", "Do you cover my area?", "How much does a service cost?" — without putting anyone on hold.
It books appointments directly into your calendar. And it sends you a summary of every call so you know exactly what happened.
But does it actually sound real?
This is the question everyone asks. And honestly, two years ago the answer was no. AI voices sounded robotic, awkward, a bit uncanny valley.
That's not the case anymore.
The voice AI we use now is genuinely hard to distinguish from a human. Natural pauses, proper intonation, even the ability to handle interruptions and talk over each other like a real conversation. I've had clients tell me their customers didn't realise they were speaking to AI until they were told.
Don't take my word for it. Call our demo line and see for yourself. You'll speak directly to an AI receptionist built on the same tech we deploy for clients. Try it here →
Who is this for?
Not everyone. If you're a 50-person law firm with a reception desk and three phone lines, keep your receptionist. She probably does a lot more than answer calls.
But if you're a:
- Trades business — plumber, electrician, handyman — and you're missing calls while you're on a job
- Dental or medical practice — drowning in appointment booking calls
- Estate agent — losing leads because nobody answers at 6pm
- Salon or clinic — staff too busy with clients to answer the phone
- Any service business — where the phone ringing means money
Then this is built for you.
The honest trade-offs
I'm not going to pretend AI is perfect. It's not. There are things a human receptionist does better — dealing with genuinely upset customers, handling bizarre edge cases, making a cup of tea for someone who walks in.
But for the core job of answering the phone, taking a message, booking an appointment, and making sure no call goes unanswered — AI does it better than most humans. Because it never has a bad day, never takes lunch, and never rings in sick on a Monday.
The bottom line
£25,000 a year for a human who works 9–5.
£197 a month for AI that works 24/7.
That's £2,364 a year vs £30,000+.
The savings aren't marginal. They're massive. And the AI doesn't just save you money — it makes you money by catching the calls you're currently missing.
If you're curious, book a 15-minute demo and I'll show you exactly how it works for your business. No pressure, no hard sell. Just a conversation about whether it makes sense for you.
Because for most businesses? It really does.
Tom Parry is the founder of Voqal AI, building AI receptionists for UK businesses. If your phone rings and nobody answers, he'd like a word.