Accelerated access to ADR and enhanced scheme standards: Ofcom’s new six-week complaint escalation rules confirmed

Ofcom is strengthening the rules enabling telecommunications customers to escalate their unresolved complaints to an Alternative Dispute Resolution (“ADR”) process sooner. Communication providers will need to review their practices and ensure they will be compliant from the implementation date of 8 April 2026.

Communications providers will now need to offer ADR from six weeks after a customer complaint (rather than the current requirement of eight). This applies to consumer, small business and small not-for-profit customers. In addition, Ofcom has reapproved its two specified ADR schemes for the sector and has made tweaks to their KPIs. Ofcom considers these changes will positively impact telecommunications service providers’ complaints handling processes for these customers.

Background

Ofcom initiated a review of the current ADR system in November 2023. The review focused on three key areas:

• customers’ ability to access ADR;
• customer experience of ADR schemes; and
• the operation of ADR schemes.

Ofcom’s review found that between January 2022 and 2024, a significant majority (79%) of complaints received by the biggest telecoms companies were resolved in less than a week and 94% were resolved within six weeks. However, it was concerned that only 20% of the approximately 700,000 customers with open complaints at the six-week mark were able to achieve resolution or referral to ADR before reaching the current eight-week threshold. This means that a material number of customers are having to wait an additional two weeks before being given access to ADR, all the while continuing to potentially incur harm or suffer detriment.

Ofcom’s ADR Amendments

The requirement to offer ADR within a specified timeframe sits within the General Conditions of Entitlement (“GCs”) which set out the regulatory framework that providers of electronic communications networks and services in the UK must comply with to offer their services.

Ofcom’s amendments focus on three areas:

1. Shortening the timeline to ADR

The GCs require communications providers to be members of an Ofcom-approved ADR scheme, ensuring that consumer and small business and small not-for profit customers (respectively, businesses or charitable enterprises with 10 or less employees) have access to independent dispute resolution for unresolved complaints.

This condition applies to providers of public electronic communication services (which are broadly services that members of the public can sign up to in order to use the internet, make phone calls, and communicate in other digital forms).

Under the existing regime, customers must wait eight weeks before they are eligible to escalate an unresolved complaint to an ADR scheme. These new amendments reduce the waiting period for customers to six weeks. This change has been introduced with the primary objective to provide customers with more timely access to ADR, thereby enhancing customer protection and confidence in the complaints process.

2. Reapproving the ADR schemes and implementing minor improvements

Currently, there are two Ofcom-approved ADR schemes for the telecommunications sector (the Communication & Internet Services Adjudication Scheme (“ CICAS ”) and the Communications Ombudsman). Ofcom’s review found that these two schemes are working well and continue to meet the required standards. It has therefore reapproved these schemes with minor measures for the schemes to implement (such as their compensation policies and requirements to better reflect current consumer expectations and practices.). 

3. Improving the schemes’ KPIs

Ofcom found that both schemes have consistently met and exceeded the existing KPIs. Ofcom is therefore enhancing these KPIs to further improve the efficiency and effectiveness of complaints handling, aligning performance expectations with current industry practices and customer expectations. Improvements to the KPIs include the following:

• An increase from > 80% to >85% of calls to be answered in less than two minutes;
• An increase from >90% to >95% of calls to be answered in less than five minutes;
• The introduction of a new digital correspondence KPI, with 90% of digital correspondence to be replied to within three working days. The existing KPI for written correspondence has been retained (that 100% of written correspondence is to be replied to within ten working days);
• An increase from >90% to >95% of case decisions to be issued within six weeks of the case being accepted; and
• The requirement that less than 1% of case decisions are to be issued later than eight weeks after the case has been accepted has been reduced to six weeks.

Alongside this, proposals to increase Ofcom’s oversight of customer satisfaction with the ADR schemes have been maintained. Ofcom expects the schemes to report against the new KPIs from Q4 2025.

Next Steps

Telecommunications providers now have until April 2026 to make sure that they have the requisite resources and processes in place to comply with the new six-week timeframe for access to ADR. The revised rules will apply to complaints raised on or after 8 April 2026, so will not be retrospectively applied, but it may be beneficial for providers to begin considering implementation early to avoid getting caught out. Additionally, the updated KPIs for ADR schemes will come into force in Q4 2025.

Failure to adhere to these requirements may result in enforcement action by Ofcom, including the imposition of financial penalties for breaches of the GCs. Ofcom will be engaging with providers to monitor implementation and compliance, noting that a number of smaller providers are not complying with the requirement to be a member of one of the two available ADR schemes. It is typical for Ofcom to monitor compliance following the introduction of a new requirement, and to take enforcement action soon after its implementation. This approach serves both as a deterrent from non-compliance and to clarify expectations for the industry.

If you require further information or would like to discuss the implications of these changes for your business, please reach out to your usual CMS contacts or one of the key contacts included in this article.

Co-authored by Marelize Abercrombie, Trainee Solicitor