Hyperoptic’s own research, commissioned in partnership with the Housing Association Charitable Trust, has highlighted how social tariffs and other vulnerable customer support functions play a critical role in addressing digital poverty. Recent research from the Citizens Advice Bureau also outlines that millions of families across the UK are facing financial crisis this year, as inflation hits a 40-year high of 9.1 percent.

How are we supporting customers with the increasing cost of living pressures?

We act with compassion

We commit to treating all customers with dignity, with tailored and flexible options aligned to their individual needs. If a customer’s circumstances mean that they need support, we ask that they let us know.

Tailored support

If a customer is struggling to pay their bill, we ask that they let us know. From creating payment plans, to moving vulnerable customers to lower price packages, we will tailor support to individual needs.

Market leading social tariffs

Our social tariffs are available on both 50Mb and 150Mb speeds, on rolling monthly contracts, with no need for credit checks. Also, we do not limit eligibility to customers on Universal Credit, as our criterion includes customers in receipt of pension credits, Income-related Job Seekers Allowance, housing benefits and Personal Independence Payments.

Proactively driving uptake of social tariffs

We invest in initiatives to drive awareness and take-up of our social tariffs; from advertising these tariffs prominently on our website, to working with partners and local authorities to identify those most likely to be eligible for support.

Automatic compensation

We have signed up to Ofcom’s automatic compensation regime. If you’re owed compensation, you won’t need to chase us; it will be credited automatically.

Free connections

We will continue to offer our Affordable Product Scheme to social housing clients, where we fund free connections for 12 months to 10% of their housing stock. This enables us to go beyond social tariffs to reach those who might not be online at all.

Community connections

As we grow our network, we will continue to connect community hubs for free, enabling people to access a free gigabit-enabled broadband in a location local to them. So far, we have provided free connectivity to over 400 community centres across the UK.

Price transparency

We will keep our word. Our contracts do not contain above inflation mid-contract price rises. The price of your contract is always the price customers pay during their commitment period.

James Prowse, Hyperoptic: “Households continue to face a sharp increase in the cost-of-living, and every sector has a duty of care to protect and support customers through these difficult times. The broadband sector is no different and we are proud to be committing to measures to help support our customers who might be struggling with increased financial pressures. That’s why we published our “Fair Fibre Framework” to set out how we will support our customers.”
To find out more about Fair Fibre please call 0333 332 1111 or email support@hyperoptic.com