Broadband industry commits to do more to help with cost of living crisis

Monday saw representatives from larger providers (e.g. BT Group, Openreach, Virgin Media O2, Vodafone, Three, TalkTalk and Sky) meeting in a summit in Downing Street chaired by Digital Secretary Nadine Dorries and has secured further commitments from these firms to help the public.

One of the constant messages of the large eighteen months or so has been that only around 55,000 of those who qualify for existing social tariffs are actually making use of them, and we have literally today (before we knew this meeting was happening) been adding the social tariffs to various providers listings, and the work will continue over the next few days. We have not finished yet, but inclusion in the listings means people running our package search will be able to see that the options exist.

Commitments made at the summit, which take effect immediately, are:

• All providers commit to supporting their customers who may be struggling with the cost-of-living and to treat them with compassion, understanding and as individuals.
• All providers commit to supporting customers struggling with their bills and to offer ways to keep them connected, such as allowing them to move to cheaper packages without charge or penalty, or agreeing manageable payment plans.
• All operators commit to continue to protect the connectivity of their customers known to be vulnerable as a priority.
• Providers – supported by Government – commit to take steps to raise awareness of low cost products to those claiming Universal Credit.
• Mobile providers commit to considering more ways to help their customers, including exploring tariffs, options to improve existing low cost offers, and increasing promotion of existing deals.

The commitments mainly seem to codify things that may have happened on a less formal basic before, e.g. some providers would offer reduced pricing for a period of time for customers contacting them who had just had an unexpected change of circumstances e.g. being made redundant.

So we are not overly excited by the results of the summit, yes the changes are positive but they are not ground breaking and reading a statement from ISPA it seems we are not alone. Since it seems there was suggestions that VAT on broadband should be handled the same way as domestic energy i.e. viewed as an essential and reduced to 5% but no sign of any change by the Government.

The telecoms sector knows that people are facing real challenges with the cost-of-living crisis. Our members are determined to do what they can to help their customers through this period and, together with government, we will work to raise greater awareness of the support available. These commitments, along with the social tariffs that are available from many members, will hopefully help people in need at this challenging time. We encourage customers who are struggling with their bills to reach out to their broadband provider to get help.

ISPA Chair Andrew Glover

No doubt people will be quick to complain about the price rises that firms such as BT and Virgin Media have had in the last year, which were seen as inflation busting at the time. One issue is that while the vast majority are happy with social tariffs for broadband but these are funded by the operators the income from other customers will have to cover any shortfall, add to this costs of other things such as the seamless switching between different physical networks, parental controls and content filtering for illegal material and providers, along with increasing costs of electricity and staff wages and the pressures for price rises have not vanished at all.

Perhaps the Government that has managed to negotiate the low cost deals that form the social tariffs will also be able to negotiate lower cost electricity to keep the broadband networks running.

On the social tariffs while it is useful to have the £5 to £10 a month saving, if you are not eligible then do some shopping since some of the FTTC social tariffs at £20/m are only £2 to £3 a month less than the best commercial deals and if you can exploit gift cards or vouchers you can sometimes get this gap even smaller.

Even if you are with a broadband provider not mentioned in this summit or one who does not have social tariff and you are experiencing difficulty paying we urge you contact them to see what can be done.

Ultimately as we see it the debate is whether its better to have commercial companies running this assistance, or whether it would be better to ensure that everyone can afford the basics of life i.e. increasing the level of universal credit and other benefits. That debate is highly politically charged and goes well beyond the world of broadband.

Update 28th June 2022: We have just added the G.network tariff at £15/m but noticed something that people need to be aware of, the social tariff at £15/m works out at £180 in the first year, but with the six months free offer they have on their slowest mormal tier you would pay just £144 in the first year and get faster speeds. So you would be better off on the standard product for 12 months and if you still meet the criteria for the social tariff switch after 12 months.

This pricing quirk is not going to be unique to G.network but is part of the competitive nature of the full fibre roll-outs in some parts of the UK.