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The UK telecoms and media regulator, Ofcom, has today confirmed that they will make it quicker for consumers to access Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) providers, which are third-party ombudsman schemes that help people to resolve complaints with their phone, broadband and mobile providers.
The regulator currently requires that all telecoms service providers – those offering services to consumers and small businesses – must be members of an approved ADR scheme (there are two of these – CISAS (CEDR) and the Communications Ombudsman). The schemes are free for consumers to access and designed to supplement (not replace) your provider’s own internal complaint procedure(s), although ISPs often have to pay sizeable costs (hundreds of pounds) regardless of whether the customer wins or loses a case.
The ADR process is usually seen as a last line of defence for consumers and thus such schemes are generally only used after a dispute has gone unresolved for 8 weeks, or earlier with the agreement of their provider (i.e. the “Deadlock Letter” stage). See our ISP Complaints and Advice section for more information. But Ofcom has today confirmed that they will reduce that waiting period from 8 to 6 weeks.
The change is based on the fact that, between January 2022 and 2024, Ofcom found that a significant majority (79%) of complaints received by the biggest telecoms companies were resolved in less than a week, with 94% being resolved within six weeks.
For the roughly 700,000 consumers that had a complaint open at 6 weeks, only around 19% were able to get their issue resolved or referred to ADR ahead of the current, eight-week threshold. “We were concerned that a material number of consumers waited an additional two weeks, continuing to potentially incur harm or detriment, before being given access to ADR to get a resolution,” said Ofcom.
Ofcom has also re-approved both the ‘Communications Ombudsman’ and ‘CISAS’ as ADR schemes for the telecoms sector. “Our review found they are working well and continue to meet the statutory assessment criteria under the Communications Act,” said the regulator. Finally, the regulator has also tweaked the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that are set for the schemes.
The change to adopt a shorter six weeks waiting period will, according to the final statement, be formally enforced from 8th April 2026, which will only apply to complaints raised either on this date or afterwards. But Ofcom said that it expects ADR providers to start reporting against the new KPIs from Q4 2025.