More than 100 million calls by the public to Government departments were charged at premium rates - costing an estimated £56m, an influential committee of MPs has said.
A Public Accounts Committee report said of 208 million calls in 2012/13, some 63% were made to higher rate numbers with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) receiving 100 million of the calls and HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) taking 68 million calls.
Committee chairwoman Margaret Hodge said: "Customers of Government services should be able to contact those services easily and cheaply. Charging customers higher rates by making them use 0845 or other high rate numbers is not acceptable, especially when the customers are often vulnerable people.
"We found that one third of customer telephone lines across central Government used higher rate numbers. Half of those lines serve the poorest people.
"Customers spent an estimated £56m on calls using higher rate numbers, from the lines run by the Department for Work and Pensions, to helplines for victim support and the Bereavement Service and the inquiries and complaints line of the Student Loans Company."
Chairwoman Margaret Hodge has said the practice is 'not acceptable' In its report, the committee also said calls to Government departments take too long to answer. It found most departments have no targets at all, despite a normal industry benchmark demanding calls be answered within 20 seconds.
It said HM Revenue and Customs only answered 16% of calls made to its tax credit helpline on July 31, the deadline day for notifying change of circumstances.
And across the first quarter of 2013/14, average call waits at HM Revenue and Customs were seven minutes, the report said.
Mrs Hodge said: "Performance by departments varies but is often astonishingly bad. HMRC managed to answer only 16% of the calls it received on its tax credits helpline on the deadline day for notifying the department of changes of circumstances.
"Citizens should not as a matter of principle have to put up with standards of service from government which are significantly worse than industry standards."
Richard Lloyd, executive director of consumer group Which?, said it was "ridiculous" that people face a bumper bill to call a public body.
HMRC has taken 68 million calls on higher rate numbers in the past year "The Cabinet Office must now act fast to ensure the Government and public bodies lead by example and put an end to costly calls," he added.
The DWP has already said it will phase out the use of 0845 numbers.
A Government spokesman said: "We agree that it is inappropriate for vulnerable people to pay high charges for accessing vital public services and we are clear that a more consistent approach is needed.
"The Cabinet Office now runs a cross-departmental group to consider customer telephone lines. This group has made good progress in drafting guidance on prefix number selection and establishing best practice.
"We will publish this guidance and have a standing remit to ensure it is kept up to date."
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