Broadband social tariffs and Ofcom's mid-contract price rules

If you or someone in your household claims Universal Credit, you can apply for any of the social tariffs available. All major providers also accept Pension Credit, Employment and Support Allowance, Jobseeker's Allowance and Income Support, and some include other benefits such as Personal Independence Payment or Attendance Allowance. The person receiving the benefit normally needs to be the main person on the contract.

Set-up costs should be small or nothing, the price can't rise mid-contract, and there is no fee to leave a social tariff early. Speeds are pitched at typical household use (HD streaming, working from home, video calls).

Ofcom publishes a regularly updated list of social tariffs, prices and speeds.

Ask your current provider first — if it offers a social tariff, Ofcom says you can switch to it at any time, free of charge. If it doesn't offer one (or has a poor one) you can move to a provider that does; your current provider might let you leave your contract without an early-exit fee, but check before you switch.

Since August 2022 the DWP has run an automatic eligibility check: with your permission, a participating provider can ask DWP to confirm your benefit entitlement, so you may not need to upload benefit letters.

Before 2025, many broadband and mobile contracts contained inflation-linked annual rises (often CPI + 3.9%). Customers often had no clear idea what their monthly bill would be in year two.

Since 17 January 2025, any in-contract price rise in a new or renewed broadband, mobile or pay-TV contract must be set out in pounds and pence before you sign up, along with when it will happen. Rises linked to inflation or set out as percentages are banned. This removes inflation surprises and lets people compare deals like-for-like.

Existing contracts signed before that date still have the old CPI/RPI-linked rises. When your minimum term ends, you can switch without penalty.

'Fibre to the cabinet' (FTTC) is part-fibre, part-copper, with maximum speeds of around 80 Mbps. 'Fibre to the premises' (FTTP, also called 'full fibre' or 'gigabit fibre') runs fibre all the way to your home and supports gigabit speeds. Different providers (Openreach, Virgin Media O2, CityFibre, Hyperoptic and others) cover different areas.

Use the Ofcom Broadband Checker or your postcode on each provider's site to see what is actually available at your address.