diff --git a/string_utils/string_utils.go b/string_utils/string_utils.go
index a9f598697cfe8604b1b2b3b6479d04d313c5f8de..6f54c76069c401e941eb0cfdf36b12e7c37251fa 100644
--- a/string_utils/string_utils.go
+++ b/string_utils/string_utils.go
@@ -69,6 +69,12 @@ func IsNumericString(s string) bool {
 
 // StandardisePhoneNumber standardises phone numbers with +27 instead of 0 prefix
 func StandardisePhoneNumber(number string) string {
+	number = strings.TrimSpace(number)
+
+	if number == "" {
+		return number
+	}
+
 	// is the first rune/char of the string a 0
 	if []rune(number)[0] == []rune("0")[0] {
 		// Add south african country code (hardcoded for now)