Service
Repairs, missed appointments, compensation
Service quality is what happens after the sale: a fault, a missed engineer, a date that slips. Ofcom publishes an automatic compensation scheme for some of those events on qualifying residential services. This page explains the scheme, including the figures Ofcom stated for issues from 1 April 2026. It is not a quote for your bill, and it is not a payment from this website.
Reviewed 5 November 2026 · 6 min read · Independent · Not a price list
What the scheme is for
The scheme is aimed at delayed repairs, missed appointments, and delayed provision of a qualifying residential service. If it applies, compensation is meant to arrive without you having to build a legal case. You still need the facts: the date service failed or was promised, the date an engineer was booked, and the date things actually worked.
A delayed switch is not automatically a delayed activation under the scheme. If you cancelled the old line yourself and sat offline, that gap may be your cease. If the provider promised a date and missed it, write both dates down before the conversation. Memory is a poor ledger.
Business lines, some smaller networks, and products outside the scheme are not the same. Ask the provider whether the service you bought is covered. Do not assume a logo on a national advert means the scheme applies to the alt-net in a single town.
The figures Ofcom published
Ofcom’s consumer guide, last updated 20 July 2026, sets out the amounts that apply to new service issues from 1 April 2026. A total loss of service that is still not fully fixed after two full working days: £10.34 for each further calendar day. An engineer who does not turn up, or an appointment cancelled with less than 24 hours’ notice: £32.31 for that missed appointment. A new service that does not start on the date the provider promised: £6.46 for each calendar day of delay.
Those figures are the scheme. They are not a broadband tariff, not an energy unit rate, and not a payment OneTouchSwitch can make. The provider pays, if the product is inside the scheme and no exclusion applies. Ofcom’s code raises the amounts on 1 April for new issues, using inflation. An issue that started earlier is not silently rewritten onto the new rate.
The providers Ofcom listed as signed up, on that same guide, are BT, EE, Hyperoptic, Plusnet, Sky (including NOW Broadband), TalkTalk, Utility Warehouse, Virgin Media, Vodafone and Zen Internet. TalkTalk’s membership has restrictions for customers who are not on the Openreach network. A brand that is absent from that list is not inside the scheme merely because a neighbour’s brand is. Ask, and keep the answer with the order.
What to write down
Keep the order date, the committed activation date, the date an engineer was supposed to arrive, whether they arrived, and the date the service was stable enough to use. Keep photographs of a missed-appointment card only if you would otherwise have no record. Keep the router’s connection light out of the argument until you know whether the fault is the line or the Wi-Fi.
Wi-Fi in a back room is often not a line fault. The scheme is not a promise to rebuild your home network. Test on a wire close to the hub before you report the line as dead. You will get a faster repair if the fault is real, and you will avoid a wasted appointment if it is not.
If a care alarm or a phone that a vulnerable person relies on is down, say that at the start of the call. It does not invent a compensation rate. It changes the urgency the provider should apply. Also call the alarm’s own monitoring company. Broadband support is not their desk.
Service on the day of a switch
The gaining provider owns the order. If the engineer does not come, or the remote switch does not complete, that is their ticket. The losing provider is who you call if the old service stopped early or if an exit fee looks wrong. Two tickets are sometimes necessary. One angry call to the wrong one is how days disappear.
Do not throw the old router away on the morning of the switch. If the new service fails, the old one may still be the way back. Returning kit too early can also create a charge.
We will not promise compensation for a slow evening on Wi-Fi, a speed test below the headline, or a disappointment that was really a postcode you never checked. The scheme has edges. Your notes should match the edge you are claiming.
Questions
- Does this website pay compensation?
- No. Where the scheme applies, the provider pays it. We cite the figures Ofcom published for new issues from 1 April 2026. We cannot see your ticket.
- Is every broadband brand in the scheme?
- No. Coverage of the scheme is not the same as coverage of a network. Ask the provider about the product you ordered.
- I cancelled my old line and had a gap. Is that their delay?
- Not automatically. A cease you started is different from a date they missed. Write down who ended the old service.
- The Wi-Fi is weak. Is that a repair?
- Often it is the placement of the hub, not the line. Test on a wire near the hub before you book an engineer for a line fault.
- Who do I call on switch day?
- The gaining provider owns the new order. Call the losing provider if the old service stopped too soon or the exit fee is wrong.
- Will you tell me the daily rate?
- No. Use the provider and Ofcom’s current material. A rate frozen in an article goes stale.