31/03/2017.

Up to 2.6m residential landline and broadband customers would receive up to £185m compensation, under Ofcom proposals to require providers to pay automatic compensation to customers who receive specified types of poor service.

Around 33% of small and medium sized enterprises who currently opt for residential landlines would also benefit from the compensation proposals.

However, although they can negotiate bespoke terms and there are standard business contracts that provide service guarantees and compensation, Ofcom’s research found that 49% of SMEs were uncertain of their rights when providers fell short.

‘Automatic compensation’* therefore includes proposals that specifically aim to ensure SMEs receive better information on the quality of service – including compensation payments – they should expect from their provider.

Under the main proposals, residential customers and SMEs with residential landlines would be automatically entitled to compensation in either cash or credit on a bill, without having to go through a lengthy and difficult claims process, whenever

• their landline/broadband was not fixed quickly enough after it stopped working

• their new landline or broadband service was not up and running on the day promised

• an engineer doesn’t arrive for an appointment as scheduled

Compensation payments would be set by Ofcom to reflect the degree of harm suffered by consumers. The amounts proposed are

• £10 for each calendar day that a service is not repaired 2 full working days after it breaks down

• £30 per day that an engineer does not turn up or cancels a meeting with less than 24 hours notice

• £6 for each day the start of a new service is delayed