Posted: 05th Oct, 2010 By: MarkJ

New research conducted by Ofcom has revealed that all of the major broadband ISPs, fixed line phone and mobile operators in the UK are still failing to fully and correctly support customers with disabilities (i.e. the deaf, blind or cognitively impaired).
Ofcom requires that all Communication Providers (CPs) are compliant with its
General Condition 15 (GC15) rule - '
Special Measures for End-Users with Disabilities' (
Consolidated Codes .PDF). As you might expect this requires providers to offer special services, features and assistance to those most in need.
Services that CPs must provide are:
- Free directory enquiries for consumers who are unable to use a printed directory because of a disability, with through-connection to the requested number;
- Bills and contracts in formats such as large print, Braille or audio on request;
- Priority fault repair for customers who depend on the telephone because of illness or disability (landline phones only);
- Access to an approved text relay service for people who are deaf or speech-impaired, with rebates to compensate consumers for the additional time taken by these calls; and
- Third party bill management, enabling a nominated friend or relative to act on behalf of someone who needs help to manage their affairs.
The regulator used fake consumers (
Mystery Shoppers) to test compliance with GC15 and found that the results were "
fairly poor" across all the providers surveyed: BT , Virgin Media , TalkTalk , T-Mobile , Vodafone , Orange , O2 and Three (3) UK.
Blind or visually impaired customers
Almost one in five (19%) of the mystery shopping enquiries on behalf of blind people resulted in the mystery shopper being told, at least initially, that there were no special services for disabled customers.
Deaf and hard of hearing customers
The most commonly mentioned service for deaf customers was text relay (text relay enables people who are deaf or speech-impaired to make and receive telephone calls using a textphone, with a relay assistant in a call centre voicing what is typed, and typing back what is said). However this was only mentioned in 49% of calls even after prompting (compared to 78% in 2006).
Customers with cognitive impairments or in hospital long term
For people with cognitive impairments or who were in hospital long term, relevant services such as third party account access or bill management were only mentioned spontaneously in 21% of calls. One in five (20%) of callers were told that there were no special services for disabled customers.
Just over a third (37%) of mystery shoppers were provided with information about at least one service available for disabled customers without further prompting. This figure rose to 75% after prompting, which is a huge drop since Ofcom’s 2006 research when the figure stood at 91%. However CPs did improve their performance when asked for information spontaneously (industry average increased from 29% in 2006 to 37% in 2010).
In total some 1,272 telephone calls were made, around 150 to each operator. Ofcom's Mystery Shoppers were tasked with the difficult situation of simulating several different types of disabilities while conducting their research. The regulator also conducted qualitative exercises to assess how providers responded to queries by email, and they also visited each related website, using search terms such as 'deaf', 'disabled' and 'relay service' to hunt for relevant information and services.
Only 70% of email enquiries sent received a 'personal' response (i.e. not an automated reply). The replies contained a variety of information, but very little related directly to Ofcom's mandated GC15 services.
Ofcom has discussed the findings with related providers and most have apparently indicated a willingness to improve. The regulator is now awaiting an action plan with reasonable timings for improvements to be set out by each CP. Those who fail to comply could, in theory, be fined up to 10% of their turnover for failing to meet the obligations.
Ofcom Disabilities Study (PDF)
http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/research/telecoms-research/783922/DisabilitiesMysteryShoppin.pdf