What help is available for low-income consumers?
The Regulations do not give special protection to any particular group, like low-income consumers. But, our wider review of additional charges has looked at the position of these consumers given that: • low income groups may be disproportionately likely to incur some of these charges. For example, low income consumers are more likely not to pay by direct debit than other groups; and • where a low income consumer incurs a charge, it represents a higher proportion of their income. Our primary concern for low income consumers remains fixed telephony services. They are recognised as being important for social inclusion, as reflected in the Universal Service Order for BT and Kingston and their social telephony schemes: • BT Basic was launched in October 2008, and does not have a non-DD charge; and • Kingston removed the charge from their social telephony products, after the publication of our consultation document on additional charges in February 2008. For those low income consumers not el
