BT’s blow for homes who pay landline upfront

BT is about to scrap one of its key money-saving offers, which could leave thousands of customers worse off every year.

The telecom giant will abolish its Line Rental Saver later this month, which allows people to save money on their fixed connection if they pay for a whole year in advance instead of monthly.

The offer, open to customers who opted for a bundle including fixed and broadband, meant they would get £19.99 off each month, equivalent to a free month of line rental if they paid £219.84.

But in an email sent to customers last month, BT announced it would withdraw the offer from sale on July 21, meaning those who have the discount won’t be able to renew when their 12-month contract ends.

It also means that they will, in effect, be paying an extra month’s worth of bills.

BT says the discount ‘no longer reflects the way we charge for our products’, highlighting that since 2019 it has bundled the cost of line rental with its monthly broadband charges, rather than as a separate charge.

So the company concluded that this would be ‘confusing’ for customers and decided to scrap Line Rental Saver.

It says affected customers will receive a credit of at least £10 on their next bill.

The move follows rivals Virgin Media and Plusnet, which have scrapped similar schemes. This left BT one of the few providers still offering the discount.

But the value of the deal has been steadily eroded by inflation and has failed to rise in line with BT price increases, with scheme customers still receiving the £19.99 discount despite bills rising 14.4 per cent in the spring .

Natalie Hitchins, of the consumer campaign group Which?, warns that the end of this rebate will be a blow to low-income households already struggling due to the cost of living crisis.

It is feared that many will be elderly households that often rely on landlines for communication.

It comes amid turmoil at BT, which last month announced plans to cut up to 55,000 jobs by the end of the decade in a cost-cutting move.

Around 15,000 of these will come from the company’s fiber broadband business, in which it has invested billions to expand its network in Britain.

BT said it would replace 10,000 employees, many of them in customer service, with artificial intelligence.

This is despite the fact that only 51 per cent of fixed line and 55 per cent of broadband customers are currently satisfied with BT’s handling of complaints, regulator Ofcom found.

calum.muirhead@dailymail.co.uk