Cancelling a UK Broadband or Mobile Contract: Ofcom's Rules

Since 15 February 2020, Ofcom has required phone, broadband and pay-TV companies to warn customers before their minimum contract period ends. Providers "have to warn customers between 10 and 40 days before their contract comes to an end", and the alert can be sent by text, email or letter.

Ofcom set out what the notification must contain: when your contract is up; what you have been paying until now and what you will pay when the contract ends; any notice period for leaving your provider; and your provider's best deals, "including any prices only available to new customers". That last item is the point of the rule — it stops the out-of-contract price rise happening quietly.

There is a second obligation for people who never re-contract. "Anyone who is already out of contract must also be reminded they are out of contract, and told every year about their firm's best deals." This is the annual best tariff information duty, and it applies for as long as you stay out of contract.

Ofcom's rationale, published on 14 February 2020, was that around 20 million UK customers were then already out of contract, including 8.8 million broadband customers, and that roughly 25,000 broadband customers reached the end of their contract every day, "usually leading to an automatic price rise".

Leaving during a minimum term usually costs money. Ofcom's consumer guidance is blunt about it: if you want to end an inflation-linked contract early "you may have to pay a fee", and "this should be set out in your contract". Charges of this kind are called early termination charges.

Check your status before you do anything. For mobile, Ofcom's switching guidance says you can text "INFO" to 85075 to find out whether you are still in contract "without requesting a PAC or STAC switching code". For broadband, Ofcom notes that if you use the One Touch Switch process "you will be told about any charges" as part of the switch.

Once your minimum term has ended, the picture changes completely. Ofcom's guidance states that if your contract period has ended you can sign up to a new contract or switch without exit fees, and that providers may increase the main monthly price when a contract ends, which is exactly what the end-of-contract notification is there to warn you about.

Social tariffs are the one category with no exit friction. Ofcom describes them as cheaper broadband and phone packages for people claiming Universal Credit, Pension Credit and some other benefits, and says they "don't have in-contract price rises or exit fees". Ofcom also says that if your provider offers a social tariff and you are eligible, you should be able to switch to it at any time, free of charge.

Ofcom announced on 19 July 2024 that it was banning inflation-linked mid-contract price rises. Its finding was that many UK phone, broadband and pay-TV companies had written price rises linked to future inflation into their contracts, typically an inflation measure plus around 3.9% applied every March or April, and that this left customers "unfairly assuming the risk and burden of financial uncertainty from inflation". Ofcom estimated that as of April 2024 around six in ten broadband and mobile customers were on contracts subject to inflation-linked rises.

The rule: "From 17 January 2025, phone, broadband and pay TV providers will be prohibited from including inflation-linked, or percentage-based, price rise terms in all new contracts." Instead, "any price rise written into a customer's contract from January 2025 will need to be set out in pounds and pence, prominently and transparently, at the point of sale", and providers must be clear about when the change will happen.

The critical limit is that this is not retrospective. Ofcom's consumer guidance says plainly that if you signed up to a contract before 17 January 2025, it might include increases to the main monthly price that are linked to inflation, and that from that date providers cannot sign customers up to new or renewed contracts linking increases to inflation or expressing them as percentages. So an older contract can still carry an inflation-linked clause, and it remains enforceable.

Ofcom's advice for anyone in that position is practical: once the contract ends, you can ask your provider for new terms that do not include inflation-linked price rises, or shop around. Some providers already offer contracts that fix the main monthly price for the whole contract period.

Small business and not-for-profit customers sit slightly differently. Ofcom says its rules require providers to set out the main monthly price in pounds and pence before sign-up for these customers too, but that the rules allow small business customers to agree other kinds of price-rise terms if they wish.

The penalty-free exit right turns on whether the increase was specified in your contract. Ofcom's guidance: "If your contract doesn't specify by how much the price might rise and your provider raises the price - or if your provider raises the price by more than what is specified in your contract - you are free to exit that contract and sign up to a new one, or move to another provider, without being penalised."

There is a notice obligation attached. Ofcom states that if your provider increases the prices you pay beyond what you agreed when you signed up, "or makes any other change that is not to your benefit, then the provider should tell you 30 days before it happens". That 30-day window is when you decide whether to accept the change or leave.

Ofcom described the same principle when announcing the 2025 ban, framing it as the pre-existing rule that continues to apply: providers that specify price rises in contracts from the start must make this clear before customers sign up, and "if they don't, they must give customers one month's notice and the right to exit penalty-free when they increase prices mid-contract".

Broadband speed is a separate exit route. Ofcom has said it put in place extra protections for broadband customers "meaning they can walk away from their contract penalty-free if speeds drop below the level they were promised".

If you think your provider got the disclosure wrong, Ofcom's guidance is to complain to the provider, and if you are not happy with how it deals with your complaint, "you can take your complaint to the ombudsman who will make an independent ruling on your case". Ofcom itself cannot investigate individual complaints, but says reporting problems informs its monitoring and can lead it to investigate a company.

For broadband, you do not cancel first. Ofcom's guidance, last updated on 1 July 2026, describes One Touch Switch: "You just need to contact the provider you want to move to, and they will arrange the switch for you." You give the new provider your address, the services you want to move and your current provider's name; if the details match, your current provider sends you information to help you decide, and if you go ahead the new provider arranges the switch. "Once your new service is working, your old service will end automatically."

Ofcom attaches consumer protections to that process. "Your old provider must not charge you for any notice period after the switching date." Any loss of service must not last longer than one working day, and providers must compensate you if things go wrong, including being left without service for more than a working day or a missed installation appointment. You also have the right to cancel the order within 14 calendar days, though if the service has already started you might still pay for the proportion used and any installation costs.

One Touch Switch does not apply if you arrange things yourself. Ofcom notes that if you want an overlap between the old and new services you can manage your own switch, telling the new provider when you place the order and cancelling separately with the old one, but "the One Touch Switch process would not apply in this case" — and neither, therefore, would the no-notice-period-charge protection.

For mobile, switching runs on a code. To keep your number, text "PAC" to 65075; your provider replies by text within a minute with a PAC valid for 30 days, and the reply "must also include important information – such as any charges that you have to pay if you're leaving your contract early". To switch and take a new number, text "STAC" to 75075. You give the code to the new provider, which must complete the switch within one working day. Ofcom has also banned mobile providers from charging for notice periods that run after the switch date, and says mobile providers are banned from selling locked handsets.

If your account has more than one number on it, such as a family mobile package, Ofcom says you will need to request the code online or by phone rather than by text.

Work in this order. Check whether you are in or out of contract and what any early termination charge would be. If you are out of contract, switching costs nothing extra and the end-of-contract notification should already have told you the provider's best deals. If you are in contract, check whether a price rise has given you a penalty-free exit before you accept an exit charge as unavoidable.

Do not stop the payment as your first move. A telecoms contract survives a cancelled payment instruction just as a gym membership does, and the arrears continue; the UK payment-side rules are set out at /guides/direct-debit-guarantee-explained and, for card-based recurring payments, at /answers/what-is-continuous-payment-authority.

Ofcom's rules sit on top of general UK consumer law rather than replacing it. The 14-day cancellation right for contracts bought at a distance, the Consumer Rights Act 2015 fairness test and the current status of the DMCCA 2024 subscription regime are covered at /guides/uk-subscription-cancellation-rights.