Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Vulnerable customers must be treated fairly

07/11/2020

Vulnerable customers must be treated fairly Add to Your Pages

23 July 2020

Ofcom sets out how phone, broadband and pay-TV companies should treat those who are struggling

Covers those in debt, suffering physical or mental health problems, bereaved or victim of crime

People suffering financial, health or emotional problems should be treated fairly and given the right support by phone, broadband and pay-TV providers, under best practice industry guidance issued by Ofcom today.

The coronavirus pandemic has increased the potential for customers' circumstances to change suddenly and providers are already offering additional support to people who are struggling to pay their bills to help them to stay connected.[1] But anybody can face circumstances that make them vulnerable either temporarily or permanently. These might include physical or mental health problems, debt or unemployment, bereavement or becoming a victim of crime.

Ofcom's job is to make sure that, whatever a person's vulnerability, communications providers offer a high level of customer care, and the services and support people need.[2]

We require providers to have policies and procedures in place to make sure that vulnerable customers are fairly treated.[3] Today we are setting out the practical measures that providers could adopt, in light of these rules.

Jane Rumble, Director of Consumer Policy at Ofcom said: We're setting out industry best practice to help ensure vulnerable people are treated fairly and sympathetically by their phone, broadband and pay-TV providers.

This is especially important at a time when many customers may be worried about their physical and mental health, as well as their finances.

What providers can do

Plan for treating vulnerable customers fairly. Companies must publish clear, up-to-date policies which are easy to understand. These should be led from the top, with senior leaders accountable for embedding them in their organisation's culture. We recommend that providers consult with experts, consumer bodies and charities to strengthen their understanding of different vulnerable customers' needs.

Identify and communicate with vulnerable customers. Customers may be more willing to share information about their vulnerability if they know they can get extra support from their provider by doing so. Providers should therefore ask customers at the earliest opportunity whether they have any accessibility or customer service needs that the provider can help with, and offer a range of ways to explain the help, support and services available such as online forms, phone, post, email, web chat or video and text relay.[4]

Keep information about vulnerable customers' needs. Frontline staff should accurately record and update customers' needs in line with data protection legislation. This should be shared with other frontline staff on controlled internal systems, to avoid customers having to repeat themselves if passed to another department.

Train staff appropriately. All frontline staff should be trained on how to communicate with empathy and support, recognising that some vulnerable people may be reluctant to discuss their personal circumstances. They should be trained to recognise the potential characteristics, behaviours or verbal cues of someone who might be vulnerable and also be fully aware of the additional services available to help them. Specialist teams who primarily deal with vulnerable customers, including those in financial difficulty, may benefitfrom additional training.

Monitor and evaluate. Providers should regularly monitor changes in complaints levels, customer service survey results or other customer feedback. They should also consider mystery shopping, as well as focus groups and panels to gain feedback and share best practice.

-- Best practice examples suggesting how customers should be treated People who are behind on their billsWe would expect providers to:

prevent customers from being disconnected wherever possible, allowing the customer time to get help and support, without the threat of enforcement actionduring that period;

offer payment holidays or deferrals, or freeze additional fees and charges;

discuss a realistic, reasonable and flexible repayment plan;

offer tariff advice, whether switching to a cheaper tariff or social tariff;

refer customers to debt organisations or charities that can provide free advice and support; and

use a range of communications channels to get in touch with the customer.

Victims of crime

make sure victims don't pay for mobile phone services they have been unable to use if their phone is taken away by the police as evidence;

listen carefully with empathy and compassion, taking time to ensure the customer has the right information, which might include a crime reference number;

avoid pressuring victims to provide any more information than necessary, to avoid them reliving experiences;

and offer new numbers, temporary SIMs or handsets where appropriate.

Next stepsThe measures set out in our guidance are not intended to be exhaustive. Ofcom will work with providers and review the guidance over time. We will also monitor companies' performance including against our Fairness for Customers Commitments, which are designed to strengthen how companies treat their customers.

James Taylor, Executive Director of Strategy, Impact and Social Change at disability equality charity Scope, said: It's great that Ofcom are taking action to hold service providers to account when it comes to providing a fair and equal service to disabled customers.Disabled people face hundreds of pounds of extra costs every month, and this often comes from everyday things like bills.

That's why it's essential that service providers are able to be flexible, and respond to disabled customers' individual
LINK: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__search/s/redirect?collection=web&url=https:...
See more stories from ofcom

Most recent headlines

05/02/2025

ESPN Viewing Hits Decade-Long Highs in January

ESPN is reporting that its NFL playoffs and College Football Playoff games in January boosted audiences to levels not seen at the network in years....

05/02/2025

Roku Remains Top U.S. Streaming Device

A new study from Pixalate indicates that Roku remains by far the dominant player among streaming devices in North America where its market share was more than d...

05/02/2025

Panasonic To Ship New 4K 60p 10-Bit Camcorders In March

NEWARK, N.J. Panasonic next month will release new 4K 60p 10-bit professional camcorder models, including the AG-CX20, HC-X1200 and HC-X2100 for video productio...

05/02/2025

Tegna Shuts Down National Fact-Checking Operation

WASHINGTON Tegna has shut down Verify, the station group's national fact-checking operation, laying off around 18 journalists, producers, researchers and ot...

05/02/2025

FCC Chair Brendan Carr Fills More Key Staff Positions

WASHINGTON, D.C. Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr continues to build out his leadership team with the announcement of more staff appointment...

05/02/2025

Sanctuary Pictures Unveils Punk-Horror Feature Penny Lane Is Dead

04 02 2025 - Media release Sanctuary Pictures Unveils Punk-Horror Feature Penny Lane Is Dead Writer/Director of Penny Lane Is Dead, Mia'Kate Russell Sanc...

05/02/2025

Faculty Notes: Fall 2024

Faculty Notes: Fall 2024 Recent accomplishments, releases, and events by Berklee faculty. February 4, 2025 Professor Tomo Fujita played the John Coltrane In...

04/02/2025

Spotify Reports Fourth Quarter 2024 Earnings

Today, we announced our fourth quarter 2024 earnings, closing Q4 stronger than ever by outperforming across key metrics and celebrating our first full year of p...

04/02/2025

Spotify rapporterar intkter fr fjrde kvartalet 2024

Idag rapporterar vi int kter f r fj rde kvartalet 2024. Vi avslutade Q4 starkare n n gonsin genom att vertr ffa f rv ntningarna p v ra nyckeltal och kan d rm...

04/02/2025

SGL Carbon opts for green electricity at its German sites

As a technology-based company and one of the worlds leading companies in the development and production of carbon-based solutions, SGL Carbon opts for innovativ...

04/02/2025

ST Engineering iDirect Names Sridhar Kuppanna as Chief Technology Officer

Ground segment technology innovator appoints new CTO to execute bold technological vision Herndon, Va., February 4, 2025 ST Engineering iDirect, global leade...

04/02/2025

L3Harris Signs Multi-Year Pilot Training Agreement With Thai Airways

L3Harris has signed a two-year agreement with Thai Airways International to provide training service on its A320 Full Flight Simulator (FFS). This significant a...

04/02/2025

US Air Force Completes First Flight of L3Harris Viper Shield Electronic Warfare System

L3Harris' all-digital electronic warfare suite, Viper Shield , completed its...

04/02/2025

Radio Botswana chooses Calrec's IP-native Type R mixing system

The shift from analogue to IP was driven by a desire for greater flexibility in our operations. IP simplifies connectivity, reduces the physical footprint of th...

04/02/2025

Simplifying Gray Media News Operations with Calrec's Type R

Streamline, standardise and save: how Gray Media has simplified news operations At TVNewsCheck's News Tech Forum 2024, Gray Media's Peter Gogas and Calr...

04/02/2025

Bending Spoons closes $233 million acquisition of Brightcove

Boston, MA-February 4, 2025 | Bending Spoons, the Italy-based technology company, completed its previously announced acquisition of US-based streaming technolog...

04/02/2025

Grup Mediapro to Collaborate with Google Cloud on Gen AI

BARCELONA Grup Mediapro and Google Cloud have expanded their collaboration to create an innovation lab focused on generative AI to develop solutions for the med...

04/02/2025

EditShare Receives SOCE 2 Type II Certification

WATERTOWN, Mass. EditShare this week said it has received SOC 2 Type II certification, an independently audited evaluation of an organization's information ...

04/02/2025

Executive Creative Director Halle Petro Named Partner of Sonic Union

Executive Creative Director Halle Petro Named Partner of Sonic Union Brie Clayton February 4, 2025 0 Comments Sonic Union is excited to announce Execu...

04/02/2025

Blackmagic Design Announces Blackmagic Camera for Android 2.0 Update

Blackmagic Design Announces Blackmagic Camera for Android 2.0 Update Brie Clayton February 4, 2025 0 Comments New update adds support for Xiaomi Pad 6...

04/02/2025

CETA Software Launches Artist Access: The Time-Tracking Tool for Creative Teams

CETA Software Launches Artist Access: The Time-Tracking Tool for Creative Teams Brie Clayton February 4, 2025 0 Comments CETA Software, creators of p...

04/02/2025

OWC Announces General Availability Launch of OWC Dock Ejector 2.0

OWC Announces General Availability Launch of OWC Dock Ejector 2.0 Brie Clayton February 4, 2025 0 Comments The Ultimate Tool for Efficiently and Safel...

04/02/2025

Colourist Claudio Del Bravo on grading Queer

Explaining the process to TVBEurope, Del Bravo said the films look was inspired by the Technicolor three-strip' process, evoking the rich colours of early ...

04/02/2025

Paramount, Nielsen Sign Multiyear Measurement and Analytics Deal

NEW YORK Paramount Global and Nielsen have inked a new, multiyear deal that will provide measurement for all of the company's platforms, including national ...

04/02/2025

2d Animated Short Concerning a Project for Schools

2d Animated Short Concerning a Project for Schools Brie Clayton February 3, 2025 0 Comments 2d animated short concerning a project for schools Febru...

04/02/2025

Step by step guide to using 3D Models in After Effects

Step by step guide to using 3D Models in After Effects Graham Quince February 3, 2025 0 Comments Since 2024, Adobe After Effects has had native suppor...

04/02/2025

Powerful Premiere Automation with new Excalibur Update

Powerful Premiere Automation with new Excalibur Update Colin Smith February 3, 2025 0 Comments This tutorial takes you through the new update for auto...

04/02/2025

Cinematography of A Complete Unknown: Shooting 12,800 iso Sony Venice 2 to create a 1960's era film

Cinematography of A Complete Unknown: Shooting 12,800 iso Sony Venice 2 to creat...

04/02/2025

DIY to DA: Ela Minus Breaks Through

DIY to D A: Ela Minus Breaks Through The electronic artist and producer tells Rolling Stone about her new album, D A, and how shes forged a career outside the...

04/02/2025

NVIDIA Blackwell Now Generally Available in the Cloud

AI reasoning models and agents are set to transform industries, but delivering their full potential at scale requires massive compute and optimized software. Th...

04/02/2025

The Future of Football? Technology and Entertainment Merge in the Kings World Cup Nations

The future of football? Technology and entertainment merge in the Kings World Cu...

04/02/2025

Virtual Production and AR Graphics: Demystifying the Tools, Technologies, and Trends

Virtual Production and AR Graphics: Demystifying the Tools, Technologies, and Tr...

04/02/2025

SVG All-Stars: Russell Fink, Senior Director, Programming and Content Analytics, SNY

SVG All-Stars: Russell Fink, Senior Director, Programming and Content Analytics,...

04/02/2025

SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: farmerswife's Jodi Clifford on Organizing Your Productions Like a Professional

SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: farmerswife's Jodi Clifford on Organizing Your Pr...

04/02/2025

EA Acquires TRACAB Technologies as It Looks to Move Beyond Games

EA Acquires TRACAB Technologies as It Looks to Move Beyond Games EA believes TRACABs sports tracking/analysis technology will help to make the EA SPORTS App the...

04/02/2025

Kingdom Come: Alamiya Media on Bringing the Supercoppa Italiana and Supercopa de Espaa to Saudi Arabia

Kingdom come: Alamiya Media on bringing the Supercoppa Italiana and Supercopa de...

04/02/2025

Alamiya Media at 50: Preparing for Rapid Change, an International Broadcast Center and the FIFA World Cup

Alamiya Media at 50: Preparing for rapid change, an international broadcast cent...

04/02/2025

An update on our TV and broadband prices

An update on our TV and broadband pricesTuesday 4 February 2025 An update on our TV and broadband prices Devesh Raj, Chief Operating Officer, Sky This April,...

04/02/2025

Sky extends partnership with the PDC to remain the home of darts until 2030

Sky extends partnership with the PDC to remain the home of darts until 2030Tuesday 4 February 2025 Following another record-breaking PDC World Darts Championsh...

04/02/2025

Frankfurt is the world's first airport to regularly use walk-through scanners from Rohde & Schwarz for passengers

Frankfurt is the world's first airport to regularly use walk-through scanner...

04/02/2025

Riedel Unveils Next Generation of StageLink Edge Devices

Wuppertal February 4, 2025 Riedel Unveils Next Generation of StageLink Edge DevicesRiedel Communications today announced the launch of its StageLink family of...

04/02/2025

Fox Corporation Reports Second Quarter Fiscal 2025 Financial Results

Fox Corporation Reports Second Quarter Fiscal 2025 Financial Results NEW YORK, NY, February 4, 2025 - Fox Corporation (Nasdaq: FOXA, FOX; FOX or the Compan...

04/02/2025

Introducing our fully digital, true diversity wideband wireless mic solution

DPA Microphones is moving into the wireless market with the release of its new N-Series Digital Wireless System at ISE 2025 (Stand 7P600). A fully digital, true...

04/02/2025

2025-02-04

CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA Apple today introduced Apple Invites, a new app for iPhone that helps users create custom invitations to gather friends and family for any...

04/02/2025

ABS appoints Sameer Karimbhai as New General Counsel

ABS appoints Sameer Karimbhai as New General Counsel...

04/02/2025

Thales Alenia Space signs a contract with Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre to develop the Emirates Airlock Module, a critical element of Lunar Gateway

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Thales Alenia Space strengthens its cooperation with the UAE as a key partner in future space missions Cannes, February 4th, 20...

04/02/2025

RT Internship Programme 2025 - Applications Now Open

We're thrilled to announce that applications for the 2025 RT Internship Programme are now open....

04/02/2025

Jack Woolley tops the Dancing with the Stars leaderboard in Dedicated Dance Week

Jack Woolley topped the leaderboard in what was an emotional night on Dancing with the Stars, as the remaining nine couples took to the floor for Dedicated Danc...