Residents in Overton affected by recent broadband and landline disruption may be entitled to automatic compensation, depending on their provider and how long the fault lasted.
The UK’s automatic compensation scheme is designed to protect customers when service problems drag on, engineer visits are missed, or new services are delayed. In many cases, payments are made without you needing to chase them.
Which providers are part of the scheme?
If your provider is signed up, you may be covered. The following companies are members:
- BT (joined 1 April 2019)
- EE (joined 4 May 2021)
- Hyperoptic (joined 28 October 2019)
- Plusnet (joined 4 May 2022)
- Sky (including NOW Broadband NOW Broadband) (joined 1 April 2019)
- TalkTalk (joined 1 April 2019, some restrictions apply on non-Openreach networks)
- Utility Warehouse (joined 17 February 2020)
- Virgin Media (joined 1 April 2019)
- Vodafone (joined 3 November 2021)
- Zen Internet (joined 1 April 2019)
When you may be entitled to compensation
If your provider is in the scheme, you may qualify in these situations:
1. Loss of service (delayed repair)
If your broadband or landline stops working and is not fully fixed within two full working days, you can receive:
- £10.34 per calendar day until it is restored
2. Missed engineer appointments
If an engineer:
- does not arrive, or
- cancels with less than 24 hours’ notice
You may get:
- £32.31 per missed appointment
3. Delays starting a new service
If your provider misses the agreed start date:
- £6.46 per calendar day of delay
How payments are made
In most cases, you don’t need to apply.
- Missed appointments and delayed installations are usually paid automatically
- Fault repairs also trigger automatic payments after you report the issue
- Payments appear as a credit on your bill
Compensation must usually be issued within 30 calendar days of the issue being resolved.
Important exceptions
You will not receive compensation if:
- The fault is caused by equipment inside your home
- You caused the issue or blocked repairs
- You agreed to delay an engineer visit
- Extreme circumstances prevent service restoration and the provider meets exemption rules
What if you don’t get paid?
If you believe you should have received compensation:
- Raise it with your provider
- If unresolved, escalate through an Ofcom-approved dispute scheme
Bottom line
If you were caught up in the Overton outage and your provider is part of the scheme, there is a strong chance you may be owed compensation — often without needing to do anything at all. The key factor is how long the fault lasted and whether it passed the two working day threshold.
For many households, that could turn days without internet into at least a small credit on the next bill.
Source: Ofcom