Broadband Social Tariffs

Guide to Broadband Social Tariffs

Millions of households across the UK could be saving around £200 a year by switching to a broadband social tariff.

Social tariffs are special discounted deals for those on certain state benefits. As shown in the table below the monthly cost can be as little as £12.50.

However these deals are mostly invisible. Social tariffs don’t show up on broadband switching or comparison sites and don’t usually show up if you type your postcode on a provider’s website. The telecoms regulator Ofcom estimates that only around 5% of those eligible for discounted packages are receiving them.

Besides a much cheaper deal there are other advantages of being on a social tariff including:

• no mid-contract price rises
• broadband speeds fast enough for most purposes for individuals and families
• no exit fees for leaving your current provider
• no exit fees or restrictions on leaving a social tariff deal early
• no set-up costs
• instant eligibility checks are increasingly common through providers linking with the Department of Work & Pensions

Other considerations:

• more expensive deals advertise much faster broadband speeds but these are generally not currently obtainable within a rural area such as Dumfries & Galloway
• some providers may offer more affordably priced deals on their standard tariffs but such prices are usually only for a very limited period; the cost of these contracts will rise annually every March and April (unlike social tariffs); and in most cases will have an exit fee.

How to Apply

• Check with your provider to see if they offer a social tariff (usually called something else like Essentials or Basics) via their website or by phoning them.

• If your provider does not offer a social tariff you can switch to one that does usually with no penalty

• Compare deals – Ofcom, Uswitch, MoneySupermarket, Broadband Genie, Go-Compare and Compare the Market all have separate sites for discounted deals if you tap in ‘social tariffs’. Although the major providers cover Scotland many others will only cover other parts of the UK. However all the providers listed in the table below do cover Dumfries and Galloway..

An excellent comparison website is Faster Broadband (https://www.fasterbroadband.co.uk/social-broadband-tariffs) which is a not-for-profit organisation billed as the UK’s most comprehensive free social tariff support service. It is regularly updated and provides advance notifications of upcoming changes. You can filter by provider, contract length and (really usefully) by eligible state benefit. Unfortunately filtering by postcode to establish local availability of deals is not possible.

• check your eligibility as the qualifying social security benefits accepted vary from provider to provider

So you’ll need to check that:

• you’re on the right benefits for these deals
• you are the main account holder named on your contract
• the deal covers all the services you will need

Free broadband for jobseekers

Although TalkTalk does not offer a broadband social tariff it does offer six months of free fibre broadband to eligible jobseekers. Fibre 35 broadband with unlimited data and no contract commitment is available via a voucher-based system based on a job coach at the Job Centre determining that someone is eligible. After six months the customer can either move onto a paid contract or cancel at no cost.

Your local CAB may also be able to support you to get a free SIM card with one year’s worth of free data. So get in touch with us on 0300 303 4321 if you are:

• 18+ and from a low income household

and fit into one or more of the following

• you have no access or insufficient access to the internet at home
• you have no access or insufficient access to the internet when you are away from home
• you cannot afford your existing monthly contract or top-up

BROADBAND SOCIAL TARIFF DEALS IN DUMFRIES & GALLOWAY (March 2026)

*Existing EE and Plusnet broadband customers can switch to BT Home Essentials social tariff packages at any time with no exit fee – can call to switch on 0800 800 150

**Only available to existing NOW or Sky customers. However NOW Powered by Sky is open to new customers – call Sky on 0333 759519

MOBILE SOCIAL TARIFF DEALS IN DUMFRIES AND GALLOWAY (March 2026)

***Switch to new social tariff provider – request a PAC/STAC code from current provider by texting ‘PAC’ to 65075 or ‘STAC’ to 75075, calling them or online.