BT Home Essentials terms and conditions

With the two broadband only packages, the following calling plans are also available for customers to take: 

The monthly price of the Home Essentials package will not increase from March every year by a monetary amount. However, if you have TV the monthly price for your TV service will increase every March by £2. The price of all out of bundle charges will increase from March every year by 5%. See bt.com/prices for details.

Who can get a Home Essentials Plan?

Home Essentials Plans are available for anyone on one or more of these state benefits:

• Universal Credit (all claimants)
• Pension Credit (Guarantee Credit)
• Income Support
• Jobseeker’s Allowance
  You need to be receiving income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance to qualify for Home Essentials. People on contribution-based only JSA are not eligible. If you receive both income and contribution-based JSA, your income-based JSA must be higher.
• Employment and Support Allowance
  You need to be receiving income-related Employment and Support Allowance to qualify for Home Essentials. People on contribution-based only ESA are not eligible. If you receive both income and contribution-based ESA, your income-based JSA must be higher.

The person in receipt of one of the above state benefits must be the BT Account Holder of the Home Essentials Plan.

Anyone wanting to take the Home Essentials No Income plan will also need to be in receipt of either the Universal Credit benefit, Jobseeker’s Allowance benefit, or Employment and Support Allowance benefit (as described above), and not receive any income from any paid employment and not have anyone else in their household receiving any income from any paid employment.

Are there any eligibility checks?

Yes, anyone wanting to take one of the Home Essentials Plans will need to pass an eligibility check, this will involve providing BT with some personal information (e.g. your surname, date of birth, and National Insurance number) so we can check your eligibility for Home Essentials.

Anyone wanting to take the Home Essentials No Income plan will also need to confirm, and provide evidence, that they meet the eligibility criteria for taking it (as described above).

We’ll process this information in accordance with BT’s privacy policy, details of which can be found here http://www.bt.com/privacy-policy. 

What’s the contract term for Home Essentials Plans?

Our Home Essentials Plans have a 12 month duration. However, a customer can choose to leave or swap their plan at any time, there are no cancellation or early termination charges. When a customer reaches month 11 of their Home Essentials Plan, we will contact them by email/letter to let them know that they’re nearing the end of their price guarantee under their Home Essentials Plan and inform them we will run another eligibility check on the 12 month anniversary of their Plan.

How frequently will BT check that I’m eligible for a Home Essentials Plan?

We’ll run an eligibility check every 12 months. If a customer is still eligible for a Home Essentials Plan, then we’ll send them an email/letter to notify them and inform them that we’ll renew their Plan for another 12 months unless they contact us to tell us they’d like their service to end.

Following each renewal, the customer will be moved to the equivalent latest Home Essentials package we offer at that time (either broadband and phone package, broadband only package and any calling plan, or call only package, as relevant) and the monthly price of their package will change to the price of that equivalent latest Home Essentials package as well. See the BT Consumer Price Guide at www.bt.com/termcharges for current pricing of our Homes Essentials Plans.

Remember a customer can choose to leave or swap their plan at any time without any cancellation or early termination charges.

What happens if I’m no longer eligible for a Home Essentials Plan?

If a customer is no longer eligible to take one of our Home Essentials Plans, then we’ll send them an email/letter to notify them and inform them that they’ll be automatically moved onto the equivalent latest standard (non-Home Essentials) package we offer at that time (either a broadband and phone package, broadband only package and any calling plan, or a call only package, as relevant) unless they contact us to tell us they’d like their service to end.

The monthly price of the customer’s package will change to the lowest available price for the equivalent latest standard package we offer at that time. See the BT Consumer Price Guide at www.bt.com/termcharges for current pricing of our standard plans.

In addition, the monthly price for the package (for the broadband and phone package, the broadband only package and any calling plan, or the call only package, as relevant), will increase from March each year by the Consumer Price Index rate of inflation published in January that year, plus 3.9% (same as the monthly price for any other non-Home Essentials products you have, and all out of bundle charges and add-ons). See bt.com/prices for details.

The equivalent latest standard package will have a 30-day rolling minimum term and a customer can choose to leave at any time without any cancellation or early termination charges.

Our Fair usage policy applies. For Unlimited Minutes Calling Plans: Maximum 1000 minutes or 150 calls to 0845 and 0870 numbers in a month.

PAYG and Unlimited Minutes Calling Plans are for your personal use only. If we think you may be using your plan for non-personal use, we may call you to discuss, and may move you onto an alternative plan.

These terms and conditions apply in addition to the BT Home Phone and BT Broadband terms and conditions for your service (available at bt.com/legalstuff)