Under new proposals from telecoms regulator Ofcom, Landline and broadband customers who suffer slow repairs, or missed deadlines or appointments, would receive money back from their provider, without having to ask.

Customers would be entitled to automatic compensation, without having to go through a potentially lengthy and difficult claims process, whenever:

• their landline or broadband is not fixed quickly enough after it has stopped working; or
• their new landline or broadband service is not up and running on the day promised; or
• an engineer doesn’t arrive for an appointment as scheduled.

Ofcom estimates the plans would mean up to 2.6 million additional landline and broadband customers could receive up to £185 million in new compensation payments each year. Compensation payments would be set by Ofcom, and designed to reflect the degree of harm suffered by consumers. Here is how Ofcom’s automatic compensation scheme would work: