Hi mommy32107,
Welcome to the community forum.
Without seeing the error message your husband is getting I wouldn't be quite sure why it is not accepting his number. If he is opening an account in the UK it would have to be a UK number that is being added. This should be added in full but without any country code or anything like that.
I hope it works out and your husband can open his account but if he still needs some help he can contact us on Facebook www.Facebook.com/PayPalUK or on Twitter @AskPayPal as well as the usual contact channels.
I hope this helps.
Rachael
