An automatic broadband compensation scheme has gone live, which means customers who experience delayed repairs, installations or missed engineer appointments will automatically be compensated, without having to request it.

BT, Sky, TalkTalk, Virgin Media and Zen Internet have already joined Ofcom’s non-compulsory code of practice, with Hperoptic, Vodafone, EE and Plusnet also committed to the plans.

Each year, 7.2 million customers experience these problems, previously only one in seven received compensation from their providers for the delays, according to Ofcom.

Prompted by these figures, the industry watchdog consulted on implementing formal regulations to govern the compensation of broadband and landline services in 2017.

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This move led some providers to come forward to Ofcom to offer to pay compensation to customers. Then, in November 2017, Ofcom made the decision to release details of its voluntary automatic compensation code of practice.

Ofcom’s chief executive, Sharon White, said: “We think it’s unacceptable that people should be kept waiting for a new line, or a fault to be fixed.”

White believes that the new rules will act as an incentive for service providers to want to take preventative action rather than wait for problems to occur in the first place.

“But if they fall short, customers must be treated fairly and given money back, without having to ask for it,” she added.

Last December, TalkTalk, Sky, Zen Internet and BT reached an agreement with BT Openreach that the network would compensate the providers in the event of delays to repairs or installations occurred.

The five providers all use BT Openreach’s network to deliver their services to customers.

It was agreed that the money given by BT Openreach would be used to compensate affected customers. If an engineer fails to arrive on time, or cancels within 24 hours customers will be compensated £25.

If the service stops working and is not fully fixed within the space of two working days, customers will receive £8 a day until service has resumed fully.

Customers will be offered compensation of £5 per day if new services do not start on schedule. Hyperoptic and Vodafone will start providing automatic compensation later this year. EE plans to commence paying compensation automatically in 2020.

Although Plusnet is committed to the scheme it has yet to provide a time frame for when it will implement the scheme.

When questioned by the BBC as to why Ofcom elected not to implement formal regulations for automatic compensation, a spokesman for Ofcom said: “This is the quickest way of putting money back in people’s pockets. All the largest firms have committed, with more than 95% of households covered.”

Customers outwith the scheme and are unhappy with their service could swap provider, he said.

Ofcom added that it was keeping “a close eye” on the firms in the scheme. “If they don’t comply, we’ll step in and take action,” the spokesman said.