Highlights
- Virgin Media must pay £23.8m fine within four weeks for putting vulnerable customers at risk.
- Company failed to properly identify and protect 43,000 telecare alarm users during digital switch.
- Serious system failures occurred between August 2022 and December 2023.
Ofcom found the telecoms company failed to protect people who relied on telecare alarms to call for help during the migration process. Virgin Media self-reported several "serious incidents" that occurred in November and December 2023.
The regulator discovered "serious system failures" in Virgin Media's process between August 2022 and December 2023. The company failed to properly identify and record customers with telecare alarms, which vulnerable and elderly people use to contact emergency services or carers.
Virgin Media's approach to disconnecting telecare customers who did not engage with the switch process "prevented their devices from connecting to alarm monitoring centres while the disconnection was in place", Ofcom said. This left thousands of vulnerable people unable to call for help in emergencies.
Ian Strawhorne, Ofcom's director of enforcement, told the Guardian "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."
"Today's fine makes clear to companies that, if they fail to protect their vulnerable customers, they can expect to face similar enforcement action", he added.
The £23.8m penalty must be paid within four weeks and will go to the Treasury. The fine includes a 30 per cent discount because Virgin Media self-reported the problems, admitted its failings and cooperated with the investigation.
Ofcom noted the company has taken corrective action, including conducting manual reviews of customer service records and contacting almost 43,000 telecare users to support them during the switch.
Virgin Media response
A Virgin Media spokesperson acknowledged the failures, stating "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."
The company said customer safety is its "top priority" and has introduced improvements including enhanced support for vulnerable customers, improved communications, additional in-home support and extensive post-migration checks.
Virgin Media added, it is now "confident that the processes, policies and procedures we now have in place allow us to safely move customers to digital landlines".
