Virgin Media fined £23.8m by Ofcom after thousands of vulnerable customers put at 'direct risk of harm'
The fine comes after the firm moved customers from traditional to all-new digital landlines
Virgin Media has been fined £23.8 million by regulator Ofcom after putting thousands of vulnerable customers at “direct risk of harm” when moving them to digital landlines.
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The media company received the penalty after reporting incidents that breached the regulator’s consumer protection rules.
Ofcom launched an investigation after incidents in November and December 2023.
The fine is linked to security systems that run via landlines, with the switch to digital putting the most vulnerable at risk after the transition failed to be implemented correctly.
Ian Strawhorne, Ofcom’s director of enforcement, said: “It’s unacceptable that vulnerable customers were put at direct risk of harm and left without appropriate support by Virgin Media during what should have been a safe and straightforward upgrade to their landline services.
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“Today’s fine makes clear to companies that if they fail to protect their vulnerable customers, they can expect to face similar enforcement action.”
Speaking to LBC, a Virgin Media spokesperson pointed out that this was an investigation into historic failings and that policy has since been updated.
The firm added that further safeguards to improvement measures have now been introduced in a bid to support vulnerable customers.
The Virgin Media spokesperson said: “As traditional analogue landlines become less reliable and difficult to maintain, it’s essential we move our customers to digital services.
“While historically the majority of migrations were completed without issue, we recognise that we didn’t get everything right and have since addressed the migration issues identified by Ofcom.
"Our customers’ safety is always our top priority and, following an end-to-end review which began in 2023, we have already introduced a comprehensive package of improvements and enhanced support for vulnerable customers including improved communications, additional in-home support and extensive post-migration checks, as well as working with the industry and Government on a joint national awareness campaign.
“We’ve been working closely with Ofcom, telecare providers and local authorities to identify customers requiring additional support and are confident that the processes, policies and procedures we now have in place allow us to safely move customers to digital landlines.”