MPs say broadband’s cheapest tariffs are not reaching people
The Commons Public Accounts Committee has reported on how water, energy and broadband are regulated, and its broadband finding is short and awkward: the cheaper tariffs meant for people on low incomes are not reaching them. Fewer than 9% of eligible broadband customers are on a social tariff, the committee says, and it wants Ofcom to do more about that.
The figures underneath that one are the harder read. Only 34% of people who need financial help from their broadband company know it is something they can ask for. The committee cites an estimate from Policy in Practice that as many as 8.4 million households could be missing out on social tariffs and the related support that comes with them. And only 64% of broadband customers are satisfied with how easy it is to find their provider’s contact details when they want to complain.
What the committee has asked for
Three of its recommendations land on broadband directly. Ofcom and Ofwat are given six months to review how social tariffs are advertised and explained, the accessibility of the language included. Ofcom is asked to look again at its accreditation rules for price comparison sites so that social tariffs show up in searches rather than sitting off to one side. And the committee wants a “tell us once” register extended to telecoms by September 2028, so somebody in difficulty does not have to explain their circumstances to every supplier separately. Energy and water have a Priority Services Register for this. Telecoms has no equivalent. Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, who chairs the committee, described what people are left to navigate as confusing and inaccessible.
What it changes for you today
Nothing yet, and that is worth being straight about. These are recommendations, and the regulators and the government have to respond to them before anything moves. What already exists is the tariff itself, and the thing the report keeps circling back to is that you have to ask for it: a provider is not generally obliged to notice that you qualify and move you across. Our guide to broadband social tariffs covers who is eligible and how to apply, and if you are already behind on a bill, what to do when you cannot pay sets out what to ask for first.
Two limits are worth naming. The report does not cover mid-contract price rises at all, which is a separate argument and still a live one. The other is closer to home. A recommendation pointed at comparison sites is pointed at the part of the market this site sits in, and it lands: we covered a study last month that graded providers on how easy their social tariffs were to find, and the grades were not flattering to anyone. If you are looking at what is available on your street in the first place, the availability checker is the place to start.