Broadband compensation calculator: what are you owed?

What is automatic compensation?

It is a scheme that pays you when your provider gets three specific things wrong, without you having to complain or negotiate. Ofcom set it up in April 2019 because too many people were losing service, chasing their provider for weeks, and getting nothing. Under the scheme, signed-up providers have systems that spot the failure and put the money on your bill.

The money is real. In 2024 the scheme paid out over £63m across roughly a million individual payments (ISPreview, 2026). The catch is that most people have never heard of it, so they do not notice when a payment is missing.

How much is each failure worth?

These are the rates for issues arising from 1 April 2026. They rise every April in line with the Consumer Price Index measured the previous October, so the figures below will change next spring (Ofcom, 2026a).

Two details are easy to miss. For a delayed start, the count includes the missed start date itself, so a service that arrives two days late is worth three days. And if your landline and broadband both go down together, you get one payment, not two (Ofcom, 2026a).

How the two working day rule actually works

The clock does not start when your broadband breaks. It starts when you report it. That is the single most important thing on this page, because a fault you never reported earns you nothing no matter how long it lasts.

Once you have reported it, your provider gets two full working days to fix it. Weekends do not count, and neither do bank holidays. If it is still down at the end of that window you get £10.34, and another £10.34 for every further day it stays broken.

Bank holidays are the reason the calculator asks where in the UK you are. England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland each observe different days, and a bank holiday inside the window pushes the deadline back and changes what you are owed. Scotland has no Easter Monday, for instance, while Northern Ireland has St Patrick's Day and the Battle of the Boyne. The calculator applies the right set for you, so you never have to check a calendar.

Is your provider even in the scheme?

This is voluntary, and only ten providers have signed up. Between them they cover most UK homes, around 91% of broadband customers and 97% of landline customers (ISPreview, 2026), but plenty of smaller networks have never joined. If yours is not on this list, none of these amounts are automatic. You can still complain and ask for a goodwill payment, but it becomes a negotiation.

Correct as at Ofcom's page dated 2 July 2026. Membership can change, so check your provider's own compensation page before relying on it.

What the scheme does not cover

It is narrower than most people expect. Three failures, three rates, and nothing else. A connection that is slow, or drops out every evening, or will not reach the back bedroom, is not covered at all, however maddening it is.

• Slow speeds, buffering and Wi-Fi problems. If that is your issue, our speeds lower than advertised guide is the right place to start.
• A fault caused by your own equipment or something inside your home.
• Anything you caused, or delayed. Asking for a later engineer appointment than the one offered stops the clock.
• Appointments you missed or moved, and appointments cancelled with more than 24 hours' notice.
• Business lines. The scheme covers residential fixed broadband and landline only.

One point in your favour, though. Where the problem is beyond anyone's control, such as extreme weather, a strike or a third party cutting a cable, the scheme still requires providers to pay unless a specific exception applies (Ofcom, 2026a).

How and when you get paid

It should arrive as a credit on your bill, without you asking, within 30 calendar days. Specifically, within 30 days of the loss of service being resolved, the new service starting, or the missed appointment happening (Ofcom, 2026a). Your provider can offer something else instead, such as a cheque or a voucher, but only if it is worth the same or more, and only after telling you what the bill credit would have been.

There is a limit. After 30 days of payments on a single issue, a provider can serve a cease notice telling you compensation will stop after a further 30 days. Beyond that they must take reasonable steps to give you a suitable alternative service, and if they cannot, your entitlement carries on.

What to do if the money never arrives

Raise it with your provider first, in writing, quoting the dates. That is both the fastest route and a necessary step before anyone else will look at it. Keep the reference number.

If you get nowhere, you can take it to an Ofcom-approved alternative dispute resolution scheme, free of charge, once you have either received a deadlock letter or waited eight weeks since you first complained. There are two: the Communications Ombudsman and CISAS. Ofcom publishes a checker showing which one your provider belongs to (Ofcom, 2026b). Our guide to complaints and your rights walks through the whole escalation, and if the fault keeps recurring, you may be able to leave without an exit fee.

Frequently asked questions