Vodafone down: Are you entitled to compensation? Plus do you have to make up your lost work time if you're a home worker?

Vodafone customers across the UK have been reporting since around 2.30pm that they have had “no mobile data and no internet”.

At the time of writing, around 5pm, the issue does not appear to have been fixed. Vodafone has issued a statement, saying they are “aware of a major issue on our network currently affecting broadband, 4G and 5G services”.

The outage left people across the country unable to work. One person wrote online: “No Internet since 3pm, not like I need it for work or anything.” Another person worried they wouldn’t be able to contact loved ones. “They best fix this quickly, some people have family that are in urgent need of communication due to them being ill,” they said.

So, if you’re a Vodafone customer and you are affected by this outage, are you entitled to compensation and, if you’re a home worker, do you have to make up the hours that you’re unable to work due to your home broadband going down? Here’s all you need to know.

Am I entitled to compensation if my home broadband goes down?

In short, yes, you are - potentially. There are some terms you’ll need to check though. MoneySupermarket states you may be entitled to compensation if broadband faults are frequent or go on for a long time.

It also states that providers must fix problems in a reasonable time frame, and if they don’t you may be able to claim a reduction in the bill.

But, that begs the questions of ‘what is a long time frame for a fault to go on’ and also ‘what’s a reasonable time frame for it to be fixed in’? The answer to these questions depends on the provider you are with.

Vodafone’s website states that £9.98 compensation is paid for each day customers are without a service - but only after two days - up to a maximum of 60 days. So, it would seem that users won’t be entitled to any money back, unless the problem continues beyond Wednesday afternoon.

NationalWorld could not read any more advice on the Vodafone website as the page loaded with an error, presumably because of the problems the firm is having.

Some providers, including Vodafone, have also signed up to Ofcom's automatic compensation scheme, which pays you if there is a delay in repairing broadband, a missed engineer appointment or a delay in the start of a new broadband service.

Do I have to make up my hours if I can’t work due to my home broadband going down?

The answer to this one is also unclear, and it all comes down to the Work From Home policy your company has implemented.

At present, there are no official guidelines on this and it really comes down to the employer’s discretion.

On Reddit, some people who have faced this issue said that if they have had a longer-term broadband issue, such as the one Vodafone users are experiencing right now, they have either used a mobile hotspot from their work phone, gone to a public space such as a cafe to make use of public WiFi or, if available, travelled to their company’s nearest office location to gain access to company WiFi.

Others have said their boss hasn’t expected them to make up the time, while some have said they have given the time back at a later date - not always because it’s company policy for them to do so but because they need to finish what they were working on or because they feel it’s the right thing to do because of the amount of time they were inactive.

Most seem to agree, however, that the key is communicating and letting management know you have a problem with your internet as soon as possible so that a discussion about the situation can be had.

Check your contract and/or your firm’s Work From Home policy to find out what is expected of you if you are affected by today’s Vodafone outage.