To call the UK from Australia, dial 0011 (Australia's international access code), then 44 (the UK's country code), then the UK number without its first 0. From a mobile, use + instead of 0011: press and hold 0 until the + appears, then dial +44. A London landline written as 020 xxxx xxxx becomes 0011 44 20 xxxx xxxx from a landline, or +44 20 xxxx xxxx from your mobile.

Getting the digits right is the easy part. The harder parts of calling the UK from Australia are the time gap, which moves between 9 and 11 hours during the year, and picking a plan that does not charge you dollars a minute.

The dialling sequence, worked through

Take any UK number and make two changes: put 0011 44 (or +44) in front, and remove the 0 at the start of the UK number.

UK mobile: 07xxx xxxxxx

From an Australian mobile: +44 7xxx xxxxxx
From an Australian landline: 0011 44 7xxx xxxxxx

Manchester landline: 0161 xxx xxxx

From an Australian mobile: +44 161 xxx xxxx
From an Australian landline: 0011 44 161 xxx xxxx

Vodafone and amaysim give the same instructions on their own help pages (Vodafone's international calling guide uses an 020 London number as its example). If someone in the UK writes their number as +44 (0)20 xxxx xxxx, the 0 in brackets is the one you skip.

A tip worth doing once: edit your UK contacts so every number is saved in +44 format. Your phone will then dial them correctly from Australia, from the UK on a visit, and from anywhere else.

The time gap swings between 9 and 11 hours

The UK and south-eastern Australia change their clocks in opposite directions, at different times of year. The UK moves to summer time on the last Sunday of March and back on the last Sunday of October (GOV.UK clock change dates). New South Wales, Victoria, the ACT, Tasmania and South Australia start daylight saving on the first Sunday of October and end it on the first Sunday of April. Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory do not change at all.

That gives four seasons of time difference. The table shows how many hours Australia is ahead of the UK in each one.

Period	Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Hobart	Brisbane	Adelaide	Darwin	Perth
Early April to early October (e.g. 5 April to 4 October 2026)	9	9	8.5	8.5	7
Early October to late October (4 to 25 October 2026)	10	9	9.5	8.5	7
Late October to late March (25 October 2026 to 28 March 2027)	11	10	10.5	9.5	8
Late March to early April (28 March to 4 April 2027)	10	9	9.5	8.5	7

In practical terms:

During the Australian summer (November to March), 7pm in Sydney is 8am in London. An evening call from the east coast catches the UK at breakfast.
During the Australian winter (mid-April to September), 7am in Sydney is 10pm the night before in London, and 6pm in Sydney is 9am in London.
From Perth, the gap is only 7 or 8 hours, so 5pm in Perth is 9am or 10am in the UK.

What Australian carriers charge to call the UK

Calls from Australia to the UK are international calls on every Australian network, but some plans now include them. As of October 2026:

Telstra includes 30 minutes a month of standard international calls on eligible Upfront mobile plans. For more, its International Calling Pack Zone 1 costs A$10 a month and includes unlimited standard calls to 23 destinations, including the UK. The pack rolls over monthly until you cancel it in My Telstra. Our Telstra international calls guide goes through the zones.
amaysim says its unlimited international plans cover calls to the UK and 27 other countries. Check the plan details for which numbers count as "standard".
Optus and Vodafone both sell plans and add-ons with international minutes. The country lists and prices change often, so check the current details in your app before you rely on them.

"Standard" is the word to watch. These inclusions cover normal UK landlines and mobiles. They usually exclude premium and special numbers, such as 084, 087 and 09 numbers, which may cost extra or not connect from Australia.

Hotel and landline phones are the expensive way to do this. Hotel room phones often add a per-call fee on top of the per-minute rate, so ask at reception first. You may need to dial 0 or 9 for an outside line, then 0011 44.

Which option suits how often you call

Option	Fixed cost	A 10-minute call to a UK mobile	Suits
Telstra Upfront plan's included minutes	Part of your plan	Uses 10 of your 30 monthly minutes	One or two short calls a month
Telstra International Calling Pack Zone 1	A$10 a month	Included (unlimited standard calls)	Calling the UK every week
Plan with unlimited international minutes	Built into the plan price	Included	Calling the UK most days
BoraPhone over WiFi	None	US$0.70 (US$0.40 to a UK landline)	Occasional calls, no plan change

BoraPhone is a browser calling service, so you open it in Chrome, Safari, Edge or Firefox and dial. There is nothing to install and no plan to change. At the time of writing (October 2026), calls to the UK cost US$0.04 a minute to landlines and US$0.07 a minute to mobiles, billed per minute and rounded up to the next full minute. The rate is shown before every call, the first call is free and failed calls are refunded. If you only ring home a few times a year, that can be cheaper than a monthly pack. Rates for every other country are on the rates page.

Calling UK pensions, banks and HMRC from Australia

Australia is home to a lot of people with ties to the UK, and many of the calls made from here to the UK go to an office rather than to family. A few things to know:

UK office hours fall in the Australian night. A UK office open 9am to 5pm is open from 8pm to 4am in Sydney between late October and late March, and from 6pm to 2am in Sydney between April and early October. From Perth, it is 5pm to 1am (summer) or 4pm to midnight (winter).

The International Pension Centre handles the UK State Pension for people living abroad. As of October 2026, GOV.UK lists its State Pension line as +44 191 218 7777, open Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm UK time. That is 7pm to 5am in Sydney for most of the Australian summer. The page also says you can ask for a call back to reduce the cost of calling from abroad.

Avoid 0800 and 03 confusion. Many UK companies advertise 0800 freephone numbers, which are free only inside the UK and often cannot be reached from Australia at all. 03 numbers usually can be dialled from abroad as +44 3xx xxx xxxx and are charged like a normal UK landline on most services. Look for an "if you are calling from outside the UK" number on the company's contact page.

HMRC has its own overseas lines for tax and National Insurance questions. Our guide to calling HMRC from abroad has the numbers and the best times to try.

Long hold times are common on UK government lines. A 30-minute call on hold costs you 30 minutes at whatever rate you are paying, so a plan with included minutes or a low per-minute rate matters more here than for a quick chat with family.

Visiting Australia on a UK phone

If you are a Brit on a holiday or working visa in Australia, you dial the same way: +44 and the number without its 0. Your costs depend on whether you roam or switch to a local SIM.

Roaming on your UK network. Australia is outside the European roaming deals UK networks offer, so expect a daily or weekly charge. Three, for example, lists daily roaming charges of £5 to £8 depending on your plan and when you joined or upgraded, as of October 2026, but its page does not say which one applies in Australia. Check your own network's Australia price before you fly.
An Australian prepaid SIM. Telstra, Optus, Vodafone and smaller brands sell prepaid SIMs at airports, supermarkets and phone shops. Australian rules require the provider to check your identity before activating a prepaid service, so bring your passport. Calls to the UK on that SIM are international, so pick a plan or add-on that includes them.
Travel eSIMs. Many are data-only, which is fine for WhatsApp, FaceTime or a browser call over mobile data, but they give you no number to call from.
WiFi. Hostels, hotels, cafes and libraries usually have it in the cities. Outside the big towns, mobile data may be your only connection.

For calls to other countries from here, see our guide to making international calls from Australia. For the general UK dialling rules from anywhere, see how to call the UK from abroad.

Five mistakes on this route

Keeping the UK 0. 0011 44 020 xxxx xxxx will fail. It is 0011 44 20 xxxx xxxx.
Using the UK exit code. 00 44 works from the UK and Europe, not from Australia. Here it is 0011, or + on a mobile.
Forgetting which state you are in. Brisbane and Perth do not have daylight saving, so a call time that worked from Sydney may be an hour off.
Calling an 070 number thinking it is a mobile. UK numbers starting 070 are personal numbers that forward calls elsewhere. They are often billed differently from a real UK mobile and may fall outside included minutes.
Ringing a UK office on Australian business hours. By the time your morning starts, UK offices have closed for the day.

Frequently asked questions

Which country has the country code +44?

+44 is the country code for the United Kingdom: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey also use +44 numbers. From Australia you dial 0011 44 from a landline or +44 from a mobile.

How do I call England from Australia?

Dial 0011, then 44, then the English number without its first 0. From a mobile, dial +44 instead of 0011 44. England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all use the same +44 code, so the method is identical for all four.

Do I dial 0011 or + to call the UK from Australia?

Either works from a mobile, because + stands for "the international access code wherever I am". From a landline or a hotel phone you need 0011. Using + is the safer habit, because the number then works from any country.

Can I call the UK from Australia for free?

App calls on WhatsApp, FaceTime, Messenger or Signal are free over WiFi if the person in the UK uses the same app. Calls to UK landlines and regular mobile numbers cost money unless your plan includes international minutes. Some Telstra plans include 30 minutes a month, and packs or other plans can cover more.

What is the cheapest way to call a UK landline from Australia?

If you call often, a plan or pack with unlimited UK calls is usually cheapest per call. If you call now and then, a pay-as-you-go internet calling service avoids a monthly fee and costs cents a minute. Hotel phones and standard pay-per-minute rates without a pack are usually the most expensive options.

How to Call the UK from Australia: 0011 44, Costs and Time Gap