Gov Campaign to Raise Awareness of UK Social Broadband Tariffs

After meeting with ISPs, the Government has today launched a UK-wide public awareness campaign as part of its Help for Households programme, which aims to help people through the cost-of-living crisis and will also work to improve the uptake of cheaper social tariffs from broadband and mobile providers (available to those on benefits).

As we’ve reported before, the Government’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) met with the leaders of BT, Virgin Media, O2, Sky (Sky Broadband, Sky Mobile), Vodafone, TalkTalk, Three UK, Hyperoptic and Ofcom today to discuss boosting the awareness and take-up of social tariffs.

The communications regulator, Ofcom, recently estimated that, out of 4.2 million households in receipt of Universal Credit, only 136,000 had taken a social tariff (3% of those eligible), which is still extremely low. On the other hand, uptake is improving quite rapidly because the figure was just 55,000 six months earlier.

Nevertheless, the lack of awareness that such plans even exist is often highlighted as a key barrier to wider adoption. As such the Digital Minister, Julia Lopez, used today’s meeting to call on the sector to commit to raising awareness.

However, BT, which has around 85% of all social tariff users on their network, this week warned that delivering a high take-up of such plans could eventually become “unsustainable” (here). But the cost impact will vary between providers’ and some, such as Hyperoptic and Virgin Media, have actually been reducing their prices (here and here).

The meeting took place on the day the government launched a new UK-wide public awareness campaign as part of its Help for Households programme. The campaign aims to help people through the cost of living this winter and will increase awareness and uptake of the cut-price broadband and mobile deals available to help those struggling with bills.

Julia Lopez said:

“Helping families manage the cost of living is a priority for this winter and beyond. It is vital to find out what more we and the telecoms industry can do to support families worried about their bills.

Everyone should have access to affordable mobile and broadband services. Today we agreed that more has to be done to raise awareness of social tariffs and stressed the impact price increases have on people and families up and down the country.”

Otherwise, it doesn’t sound like the meeting produced much, except for a few sound bites so that almost all the major players could show they’re taking the problem seriously. On the flip side, many of the same ISPs continue to hike their annual prices for regular customers by 3-4% more than the rate of inflation (credits to some, like Hyperoptic, that don’t play this game).

The Minister thus reminded broadband and mobile companies to be mindful of the impact price rises have on households struggling with the global rise in the cost of living. But one risk with social tariffs is that providers with the highest take-up may eventually face pressures to raise prices for their regular customers even faster in order to compensate for any extra costs.

Sadly, the government itself has so far declined to help support such tariffs more directly, which it could do through either a subsidy scheme or by reducing the rate of VAT on related tariffs from 20% to 5%.

Marc Allera, CEO BT Consumer, said:

“Supporting our customers, especially those most in need, is hugely important to us. Our low cost social tariffs for broadband and mobile support those customers who are worried about their finances and need extra help.

“Digital connectivity is increasingly important to everyone, so I’m pleased to join discussions with Ministers and industry leaders on how Government and industry can work better together to develop programs that are both fair and sustainable.”

Nicola Green, Chief Comms & Corporate Affairs Officer at Virgin Media, said:

“Virgin Media O2 is committed to supporting digital inclusion and helping our customers through the cost of living crisis.

“We launched our Essential Broadband social tariff over two years ago and since launch have reduced its price and introduced a new tier for customers who want more data.

“We will also expand customer eligibility for Essential Broadband, enabling more people to enjoy broadband at a lower price. We are delighted, therefore, to support the Government’s campaign to promote broadband social tariffs.”

Lindsey Fussell, Ofcom’s Networks and Communications Group Director, said:

“Social tariffs can make a big difference for people who are struggling with rising bills. Since Ofcom started shining a light on this issue two years ago, the number of providers offering them has increased from two to fourteen.

“But millions of eligible households are still missing out on these packages. So there needs to be a much stronger emphasis on offering and promoting them so low-income households can get the help they urgently need.”

Dana Tobak, CEO of Hyperoptic, said:

“I’m encouraged to see our industry coming together to address the rising cost of living. At Hyperoptic, we commissioned research to inform measures network operators can take to tackle digital poverty. Since then we have put that research into action with our ‘fair fibre framework’, a list of commitments we are making to support our customers through the rising cost of living.”