Ofcom has fined Virgin Media £23.8 million (€27.1m), after it disconnected telecare customers during its programme to migrate customers to digital landlines.

Virgin Media notified Ofcom about a number of incidents related to the migration of telecare customers in November and December 2023. As a result, the media regulator launched an investigation to establish whether the company had failed to comply with its duties to treat vulnerable customers fairly.

The investigation uncovered “serious systemic failures” in Virgin Media’s migration process between August 2022 and December 2023. In summary:

1. Virgin Media failed properly to identify and record the status of telecare customers, resulting in significant gaps in the screening process. This meant that those affected did not receive the appropriate level of tailored support through the migration process.

2. Virgin Media’s approach to disconnecting Telecare customers who did not engage in the migration process, despite being aware of the risks posed, put thousands of vulnerable customers at a direct risk of harm and prevented their devices from connecting to alarm monitoring centres while the disconnection was in place.

As a result, Ofcom concluded that Virgin Media failed to comply with its own policies and procedures for the fair and appropriate treatment of vulnerable consumers – and in doing so broke Ofcom’s consumer protection rules.

Ian Strawhorne, Ofcom’s Director of Enforcement, commented: “It’s unacceptable that vulnerable customers were put at direct risk of harm and left without appropriate support by Virgin Media, during what should have been a safe and straightforward upgrade to their landline services. Today’s fine makes clear to companies that, if they fail to protect their vulnerable customers, they can expect to face similar enforcement action.”

A Virgin Media spokesperson said: “As traditional analogue landlines become less reliable and difficult to maintain, it’s essential we move our customers to digital services.”

“While historically the majority of migrations were completed without issue, we recognise that we didn’t get everything right and have since addressed the migration issues identified by Ofcom. Our customers’ safety is always our top priority and, following an end-to-end review which began in 2023, we have already introduced a comprehensive package of improvements and enhanced support for vulnerable customers including improved communications, additional in-home support and extensive post-migration checks, as well as working with the industry and Government on a joint national awareness campaign.

“We’ve been working closely with Ofcom, telecare providers and local authorities to identify customers requiring additional support and are confident that the processes, policies and procedures we now have in place allow us to safely move customers to digital landlines.”

Reacting to the news, Richard Neudegg, director of regulation at Uswitch, said: “This substantial fine against Virgin Media is an important message that providers must be proactive in protecting their most vulnerable landline customers during the digital switchover. Telecare devices are a lifeline, and Virgin Media’s failures to properly identify and support these users exposed them to a direct and unacceptable risk of harm. The digital migration from analogue to digital landlines is necessary, but the responsibility lies with broadband and phone providers to execute this shift smoothly and safely. Many people are still unaware that analogue landlines are being phased out completely by January 2027, with 43 per cent of Brits stating they are still unsure or unaware about the upcoming change. Consumers should actively check in with their provider to understand their personal migration timeline and ask for support if they rely on a telecare or other medical device.”

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Categories: Articles, Broadband, Policy, Regulation, Telco

Tags: Ofcom, uswitch, Virgin Media