Recommendation 1

Awareness and take-up of social tariffs is low, meaning millions of eligible customers are missing out on financial support. Ofwat and Ofcom have encouraged companies in water and broadband respectively to offer social tariffs to customers on lower incomes. Take-up of social tariffs has increased. However, only 6% of water customers in England and Wales, and fewer than 9% of eligible broadband customers, are on social tariffs. Policy in Practice, a social policy software and analytics company, estimates that the number of households missing out on social tariffs and related support could be as high as 6.1 million households in water, and 8.4 million households in broadband. Awareness remains low, with only 39% of people who need financial help from their water company aware that that this is something that they can ask for, and even lower (34%) in broadband. Customers must opt-in to receive social tariffs, but this requires customers to apply actively and to understand eligibility, which is not helped by companies using confusing terms such as “equivalised income”. Social tariffs are not always visible on Ofcom-accredited price comparison websites, making it difficult for customers to understand the benefits of social tariffs when making a decision to switch. recommendation a. Within six months, in order to improve accessibility and awareness of social tariffs, Ofcom and Ofwat should complete a review of how social tariffs are advertised and communicated, including accessibility of language. They should use this review to inform and provide best practice guidance for their sectors. They should share the key findings of this review with the committee. b. Ofcom should review its accreditation requirements for price comparison sites, so that they feature information on social tariffs in searches that helps consumers make informed choices.