A salesperson leaves and takes their number with them, along with every customer who has it saved. Or the opposite: an employee leaves and cannot take a number they have had for fifteen years. Both situations come from the same thing, which is that whoever holds the contract controls the number, and most businesses only find out which of them that is on the day it matters.
The 30-second version
- Nobody owns a phone number. Numbers are allocated to networks, and the right to move one sits with whoever holds the contract.
- If the business is the account holder, the business controls the number. If the employee is, they do.
- A PAC moves a number to a different provider. It does not change who the contracting party is.
- To move a personal number onto the company account with the same provider you need transfer of ownership, and EE does not offer it from consumer to business at all.
- After a line is disconnected you have 31 days to port the number. After that it is gone.
On this page
Who actually controls a number
It helps to start with the thing that surprises people: nobody owns a mobile number, including the network. Numbers are allocated by Ofcom to communications providers, who then assign them to a customer or a piece of equipment. What you have is a right to use a number and a right to take it with you when you change provider, not a property right in it.
That right to move the number sits with the subscriber, which means the contracting party on the account. So the question is never who has been using the handset. It is whose name is on the contract.
The honest caveat
Ofcom does not state anywhere, in terms, whether the employer or the user controls a number. This follows from numbers being allocated to providers and the porting right sitting with the subscriber. Where an employee holds the contract and will not release the number, whether you can make them is a contractual and employment question, not something Ofcom rules on. If a number genuinely matters to the business, the answer is to hold the contract, not to rely on a rule that does not exist.
The awkward case: a personal contract used for work
This is the common one. Somebody has used their own phone and their own number for work for years, customers know it, and now they are leaving or the business wants to bring it in house.
A PAC will not solve this on its own, because a PAC moves a number to a different provider. It does not change whose name the contract is in. To move a number onto the company account with the same provider you need that provider’s transfer of ownership process, and these are commercial processes rather than anything Ofcom requires, so they differ a lot.
| Provider | Personal to business? | What it involves |
|---|---|---|
| EE | No | EE cannot transfer a consumer account or a number on it to an EE business account. Business to business is possible with a signed letter from both parties and a credit check, typically within about seven working days |
| O2 | Yes | The current owner must start the request. Any device plan has to be paid off first, and the transfer itself usually completes within 24 hours |
| Vodafone | Yes | Airtime and device loans must be paid off. About 24 hours for personal and sole trader accounts, five working days for small business. A device plan stays in the original name because it is a credit agreement |
| Three | Unclear | No published self serve process. Three asks you to contact them |
Where a provider will not do it, the only route left is to port the number out to a different provider and into the business account there. That works, but it needs the employee’s co-operation either way, which is exactly why this is a conversation to have while someone is still happily employed.
PAC codes, and the deadlines attached to them
If the number is on a business account and you are simply moving it to another provider, the process is quick and well defined.
- Text PAC to 65075 to get a code for a single number. The provider must reply within one minute.
- Text STAC to 75075 instead if you are leaving and do not want to keep the number.
- A PAC is valid for 30 days. If it expires you can request another.
- The port normally completes within one working day of being used.
- After a number is disconnected you have 31 days to port it. Miss that and the number is gone for good.
The mistake that loses numbers
Cancelling the leaver’s line first and sorting the number out afterwards. Get the PAC before anything is cancelled. Requesting a PAC does not cancel anything by itself, and it gives you 30 days of breathing room.
Using a PAC does automatically end the old contract, and any early termination charges stay with whoever held that contract. Worth knowing before you use one halfway through a term.
If you have more than one number to move
The text to switch route is designed for individuals, and business accounts hit its limits quickly.
| How many numbers | How you request it | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| One | Text, phone or online | Text gets a reply within a minute |
| Two to 24 | Phone or online only | The text route is not available for these |
| 25 or more | Contact the provider directly | They will tell you what they need, and it will involve paperwork |
| Any number on a multi-SIM contract | Phone or online | Text requests are not permitted on multi-SIM accounts at all, even for a single SIM |
Ofcom’s wider switching rules do cover business customers, but which protections you get depends on two different thresholds. Access to the fast PAC route turns on how many numbers are on the account. The richer protections, such as no automatic renewal and a 24 month maximum contract, turn on whether 10 or fewer people work in the business.
What to do before someone leaves
- Check whose name the contract is in before anything else. Everything follows from that answer, and it is the one people assume they know.
- If it is the business, nothing urgent happens. Move the SIM to the replacement member of staff, or park the number on a spare SIM so it stays live.
- If it is the employee and the number matters, start the transfer of ownership while the relationship is good. It needs their active co-operation and any device plan cleared.
- Never cancel first. Get the PAC, or complete the transfer, before the line is cut off. The 31 day window after disconnection is a last resort, not a plan.
- Divert before you disconnect. Customers keep ringing old numbers for months. A divert to the team buys you time to tell them.
Numbers worth protecting
Not every number needs this. The ones that do are the ones printed on vans, quoted on job sheets, saved in customers’ phones, or listed on a contract. It is usually a handful of people, not the whole company.
Getting it right at the start
All of this is avoidable, and the fix is boring. If a number is going to matter to the business, the business should hold the contract from day one. That is the whole of it.
Where people genuinely prefer to use their own phone, the middle ground is a second number on a company SIM or eSIM on the same handset, so the work number belongs to the business and the personal one stays personal. Modern handsets handle two numbers without any fuss, and it removes the argument entirely.
It is also worth writing down, briefly, which numbers the business considers its own and what happens to a company SIM when somebody leaves. One paragraph in a handbook prevents the conversation that otherwise happens on somebody’s last afternoon.
Not sure whose name your numbers are in?
Send us a list of your mobile numbers and we will tell you which are on the business account, which are not, and what it would take to bring the important ones in. It is a quick check and it is free.