Six months’ free broadband for jobseekers

News – 18 October 2021

Under a new agreement between the DWP and TalkTalk, jobseekers may be able to get six months’ free broadband to help remove barriers to employment.

If you’re out of work and don’t have home broadband, you could be eligible. Ask your Jobcentre Plus work coach if you can apply.

If the work coach decides you are eligible, you will be given a referral code to give to TalkTalk, which can be redeemed via a dedicated TalkTalk phone number given to you by Jobcentre Plus staff. This means you bypass the usual credit check so it shouldn’t have any effect on your credit score.

Recipients will get TalkTalk’s standard fibre package, which has an average download speed of 38Mbps, usually costing £23 a month, but it doesn’t include extras, like calls or TV.

Even if you find a job within the six months, you can continue to use the free broadband until it expires. There’s no contract, so you can cancel during the six months and there’s no obligation to continue once the six months is up, though all equipment must be returned.