Accessibility support and services for our most vulnerable customers

At WightFibre, we’re doing everything we can to make sure our services are accessible for everybody. You can find out more in our accessibility and vulnerability policy linked below.

Vulnerability could be temporary or permanent, can vary widely and might not be obvious. A vulnerable customer is someone who is especially susceptible to harm due to personal circumstances, such as:

• Age,
• A physical or learning disability,
• Physical or mental illness,
• Mobility or dexterity impairments,
• Low literacy or numeracy,
• Difficulty understanding technology,
• Communication difficulties,
• Changes in circumstance such as bereavement, or financial situation.

We understand that the way we interact with you can greatly impact the experience of using our products and services; we have a number of steps in place to help us meet your needs as well as ensuring that you are treated fairly and have a positive experience. 

How to register your accessibility needs or personal circumstances

If you have any specific needs or personal circumstances that we need to make adjustments for, please tell us and we can add you to our Priority Register. Simply call us on 242424, or use Text relay on 18001 01983 242424 and with your consent we can flag your account so that our staff can respond to your needs appropriately.

You can also let our agents know when you call to place an order.

Services and support

We’re committed to making all our products, services, online content & apps accessible & inclusive for everyone. This means that we’re continually making improvements where you’ve told us something isn’t working or where we’ve put unintentional barriers in your way.

If you or someone in your household have any impairments or need extra help due to accessibility needs or personal circumstances, we’ll always try to offer the most appropriate services for your personal circumstances, and help out where we can when circumstances require we do so.
If you have any specific needs or requirements, or you’re having difficulties you’d like to talk to us about, our customer service team is ready to help you however they can.

Priority Fault Repair

WightFibre provides a priority Fault Repair Service as swiftly as practicable to any vulnerable customer who has a genuine need for an urgent repair.

WightFibre aims to repair a phone line within four hours of the fault being reported (during normal working hours). Please note that priority fault repair is only available for telephone faults.

Battery Back-up for Phone Line

Full-Fibre telephone lines will not continue to operate in the event of a local power cut to a home. Some of our most vulnerable full-fibre customers that have registered for the priority services scheme and also do not have a mobile phone with coverage at their home may be eligible for a free Battery Backup to maintain their phone line in the case of a power cut to the home.

1. You are eligible if you:

• Are disabled or chronically sick
• Have a long-term medical condition
• Have a hearing or visual impairment or additional communication needs

You will need to provide proof of one of the following:

• Disability Living Allowance (DLA) 
• Personal Independence Payment (PIP) Attendance Allowance (AA)
• Blue Badge
• Armed Forces Independence Payment
• ESA
• Medical Evidence Letter
• Registered as a blind person or partially sighted

In addition, you will be eligible if you are:

1. A Wightcare customer.

You can confirm eligibility when applying for the Priority Register Scheme. Even if you are not eligible for a free battery backup, one can be purchased for a low cost.

People with physical or non-visible impairments

Free directory enquiries – 195 service

If you are unable to read or hold a telephone directory because of sight loss or other impairment, you can make use of a free directory enquiries service.

Once you have successfully signed up to the service, all you do is dial 195 and you can speak to an operator who will find the number you require. If you ask to be connected to the number you require, you will then be charged for the call, charges are in line with our standard tariff guide.

How to sign up to the service

You need to fill out a simple application form. Call Directory Enquiries for free on 0800 587 0195 to ask for your form. As well as filling out details about yourself, you will also need someone like a doctor, nurse or other medical practitioner who knows you to countersign the form before you send it off.

Account Nominee

If you are vulnerable and dependent on the services provided by WightFibre, you are able to participate in a scheme to safeguard your services. The scheme:

• enables you to give prior notification of a nominee to whom your bill shall initially be sent and any enquiry to establish why a telephone bill has not been paid shall be made;
• permits the nominee to pay your bill on your behalf;
• requires the nominee to give prior consent to act in such capacity;
• does not require the nominee to accept liability to pay the telephone bills of that Customer; and
• is provided at no cost.
• Support for people struggling to pay their bills through an agreed payment plan 

For any of the features listed above please contact us using any of the methods in the contact section.

Documentation

WightFibre makes available, free of charge, and in a format reasonably acceptable to you if you are blind or partially sighted, upon request:

• any contract (or any subsequent change) with you for the provision of our services, including any publicly available terms or conditions referred to in that contract;
• any bill provided for those services.

An acceptable format would consist of print large enough for you to read typically 18pt, Braille or any reasonable electronic format appropriate to your needs.

In addition, upon request, all account changes can be confirmed in writing.

Relay UK Service (previously Text Relay/Next Generation Text Relay)

The Relay UK service allows you to make calls by use of typing and the support of a Text Relay Assistant will help connect the call. There are number of ways these calls can be made and from different devices. For example, you can use a standard landline or mobile telephone for the voice part of the call, and an internet-connected device (such as a PC, laptop, smartphone or tablet) to view the text.

If you have a textphone, you can continue to use it, but you will not benefit from the enhanced features of next generation text relay, such as the ability to hear the other person’s voice and see the text at the same time.

This will also allow access to a directory enquiries service. 

Charges for the service are the same as our standard call costs as you may be charged standard local prices for the call made to a Relay UK in order to make a call irrespective of whether they successful connect you to the person you are trying to call.

In addition, WightFibre ensures that any End-Users of its services who need to make calls to which a Relay Service applies:

• have access to Emergency Organisations, operator assistance services and a Directory Enquiry Facility using short code numbers; and
• are able to receive call progress voice announcements in a suitable form.

999 BSL

999 BSL is a service that connects you to British Sign Language Interpreters remotely through an app or a web-based platform, who then will relay the conversation with the call handler and emergency authorities. This service has been set up so that no deaf person will be excluded when they need to make an emergency call, therefore saving lives.

The 999 BSL service is for emergency situations ONLY, for an example if someone is seriously injured; lives at risk; being in danger or harm; a serious offence is in progress or just has been committed. 

For less urgent situations, please use Police 101 (wherever possible) and NHS111 through SignVideo – not 999 BSL, unless there is an emergency.

There are two ways to reach the emergency authorities through 999 BSL service and they are: 

• iOS and Android App (smartphone and tablet)
• Web-based (www.999bsl.co.uk)

There are three very simple steps, you will need to:

1. Open the app (needs downloading beforehand) or webpage
2. Press the red button ‘Call 999 BSL now’
3. Connect to an interpreter

It is so simple.

For more information about the 999 BSL service, the list of FAQs or how to download the app, please visit www.999bsl.co.uk 
For any enquiries, please email info@999bsl.co.uk

Temporary Financial Support

WightFibre understand that personal circumstances can cause temporary financial burdens, and so we provide support if you are struggling to pay your bills, speak to us about creating an agreed payment plan.

Contact 

To find out more or to apply to the Priority Register Scheme please contact us via one of the following –  

• Call us on 01983 242424  
• Email help@wightfibre.com 
• Talk to us using our online chat on our website – www.wightfibre.com  
• Talk to us via our Twitter or Facebook social media 
• Write to us – WightFibre, Communications House, 56 Love Lane, Cowes, IOW, PO31 7EU