Relative signed up without capacity? What next

Find the order confirmation, welcome email or first bill and work out the date the contract was made and how it was made.

• Online, by phone or at their front door, within the last 14 days. A contract made at a distance (online or by phone) or "off-premises" (face to face away from the seller's business premises, such as at home) can normally be cancelled within 14 days of the day it was made, without giving a reason. If the service started in that time because your relative asked for it to, a proportionate amount may be payable. Our guide to the broadband cooling-off period explains how the days are counted.
• No cancellation information was given. If the provider didn't give the required information about the right to cancel, the period is extended by up to 12 months, or ends 14 days after the information is finally given. Worth checking if your relative can't remember getting any paperwork.
• Signed up in a shop. The legal right to cancel covers distance and off-premises contracts, so a contract agreed on the seller's own premises doesn't have one.

Cooling-off needs no proof about your relative's health, so use it if you can, and act quickly: the clock keeps running while you gather information.

Mental capacity is the ability to make a particular decision for yourself. In England and Wales the Mental Capacity Act 2005 sets out the rules, starting from principles that include these:

• Capacity is assumed unless it's established that the person lacks it.
• Help comes first. Nobody is treated as unable to decide until all practicable steps to help them have failed.
• Unwise isn't the same as unable. A decision others think unwise doesn't, by itself, show a lack of capacity.

Under section 2, a person lacks capacity for a matter if, at the time, they can't make the decision because of "an impairment of, or a disturbance in the functioning of, the mind or brain", whether permanent or temporary. It can't be established merely from age, appearance or a condition, and any dispute is decided on the balance of probabilities (more likely than not).

The four-part test

Section 3 says a person can't make a decision if they're unable to do one or more of these:

1. Understand the relevant information, including the reasonably foreseeable consequences of the choice.
2. Retain it. Holding on to it only briefly doesn't by itself mean they lack capacity.
3. Use or weigh it to reach the decision.
4. Communicate the decision, by talking, sign language or any other means.

Why the day matters

The Code of Practice tests a particular decision at a particular time and notes that some people's capacity fluctuates. Alzheimer's Society says that with dementia there may be days or times of day when the person thinks more clearly, and someone may be able to make some decisions but not others. So the question isn't "does Mum have dementia?" but "could Mum understand, retain and weigh up this contract when she agreed to it?"

Even where your relative lacked capacity, the general rule turns on what the provider knew, or must be taken to have known, at the time. That's why the way the sale happened matters.

For example (an illustration, not a real case): a long phone call in which your father kept asking who he was speaking to, said he already had broadband and couldn't give his bank details without help is very different from a quick online order with no human contact. In the first, there's an argument that the seller should have noticed something was wrong. In the second, that's much harder to show.

The provider's records can help. Ask for any call recording (our guide to your rights if broadband was mis-sold explains how), account notes and chat transcripts.

We haven't found a published policy from a major provider on contracts signed by customers who lacked capacity, or an Ofcom rule that specifically requires cancellation in that situation. Treat it as something you ask the provider to resolve, with evidence, not a right it will recognise automatically.

Section 7 of the Act says that if "necessary" goods or services are supplied to someone who lacks capacity to contract for them, they must pay a reasonable price. "Necessary" means suitable to the person's condition in life and their actual requirements at the time of supply. The Code of Practice explains that:

• "Condition in life" means the person's place in society, not a mental or physical condition. The aim is a similar standard of living and way of life to the one they had before.
• Actual requirements take account of what they already have: goods aren't necessary if the person already has a sufficient supply.

We found no court decision or official guidance on whether broadband counts as necessary, so nobody can tell you in advance. The test does suggest the right questions. A connection your relative uses every day, say for video calls with family, looks like part of their way of life. A second contract on top of one they already had, or a far bigger package than they've ever used, looks less like an actual requirement. And the rule is a reasonable price, not necessarily the agreed one.

If they need broadband but not the package they were sold, ask for it to be changed rather than ended. Simpler broadband-only deals without a landline or TV are one option, and you can compare deals at your postcode through our partner's comparison; you'd still sign up with the provider, not with us.

Ofcom's General Condition C5 requires every provider to have, publish and follow clear and effective policies for treating customers in vulnerable circumstances fairly. It covers customers the provider has been told about, or should reasonably be aware may be vulnerable, because of things such as age, learning disability, physical or mental illness or difficulty communicating.

Ofcom's guide on treating vulnerable customers fairly (last updated September 2022) sets out what it expects. Because some people don't feel able to say they're vulnerable, it says staff should be trained to notice the cues and offer help. It also encourages referral to specialist staff where they'd meet someone's needs better, recording needs so people don't have to repeat themselves, and being sensible with relatives or carers who are helping, subject to reasonable verification and consent.

So if the seller should have picked up on cues that your relative was confused, that matters both for capacity and for whether the provider followed its own policy. Citizens Advice adds that a provider should treat vulnerable customers fairly and, if someone is struggling to pay, might let them leave early without a fee.

For other companies, start from our broadband providers hub; each provider must publish its own policy.

1. Sort out who can speak. Providers such as Virgin Media and BT deal with the account holder or someone with legal authority. Virgin Media needs the account holder's permission on the call, and otherwise points to power of attorney, deputyship or a benefits appointee. If your relative can join the call and agree to your help, that may be enough to start. If not, see our guides on telling a provider someone needs extra support and broadband when someone moves into care for the documents providers accept.

2. Use a genuine contact route from the provider's website or a bill, not a search advert. Our guide to contacting your broadband provider lists the official routes.

3. Ask for the right team. Explain that the account holder has dementia (or the relevant condition) and may not have understood the contract, and ask for the team that handles customers in vulnerable circumstances, if there is one. This is your relative's health information, so share it with their agreement or under formal authority; without either, describe what happened and give no more detail than you need.

4. Say what you want. Depending on the situation:

• cancelling the new contract with no early-termination charge;
• refunding what's been paid, or limiting the bill to what was used;
• keeping the old service, or moving to a simpler package;
• how to return equipment, and at whose cost;
• recording your relative's needs and flagging the account.

5. Put it in writing after any call, so there's a record of the date your complaint started. That date matters later.

Sometimes someone pushed your relative as well. Since 6 April 2025, the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 treats a sales practice as aggressive if it uses harassment, coercion or undue influence, and the factors the law weighs include whether it exploits a consumer's vulnerability, and its timing and location.

Citizens Advice says aggressive selling includes entering your home and refusing to leave, scare tactics, saying you've ordered something you haven't, pestering and using guilt, and that you're legally entitled to a full refund if you started the service less than 90 days ago and haven't used it all up. Our mis-selling guide, linked above, covers rejecting the contract, discounts and damages, and doorstep and phone broadband sales covers checking a seller and stopping calls.

A mis-selling claim doesn't depend on proving a lack of capacity, so it can be the stronger route. You can raise both in one complaint.

The Mental Capacity Act 2005 covers England and Wales only.

Scotland uses the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000. Where a guardian has been appointed, the adult can't enter into transactions within the guardian's authority unless the guardian authorises it. We haven't verified how Scots law treats other contracts made by an adult who lacked capacity, so get advice before relying on any rule.

Northern Ireland has different mental capacity laws, as Alzheimer's Society notes. Age UK points people in Scotland and Northern Ireland to Age Scotland and Age NI.

The cooling-off and aggressive-selling laws above extend to the whole UK, and Ofcom's General Conditions, including the vulnerability rules, bind every provider supplying services in the UK.

Make clear you're making a formal complaint. Every provider belongs to a free alternative dispute resolution (ADR) scheme, the Communications Ombudsman or CISAS. For complaints first raised on or after 8 April 2026, you can take it to the provider's scheme six weeks after you first complained (eight weeks for complaints raised earlier), or straight away if the provider sends a deadlock letter saying it won't change its position.

We found no published guidance on how either scheme handles capacity arguments, so set out the facts, the evidence and how the provider responded to what you told it. For free advice on your relative's consumer rights, contact the Citizens Advice consumer service in England or Wales, Advice Direct Scotland (consumeradvice.scot) in Scotland, or Consumerline in Northern Ireland. If larger sums or debt collection are involved, a solicitor may be worth consulting. Our suggestion: keep paying for the service your relative actually uses while the dispute is looked at, so it doesn't turn into arrears.

• Record their needs. With your relative's consent, ask the provider to note their circumstances and say what it will do differently, such as checking understanding before any change.
• Get help with bills. Ofcom says every UK telecoms provider must offer third-party bill management: while your relative can still make that choice, they nominate you to speak to the provider, get copies of bills and pay them. You can't close or change the account that way, and you don't become liable for the bills. BT's Protected Services Scheme names a trusted second contact, who isn't responsible for anything owed.
• Consider a lasting power of attorney (LPA) while your relative still has capacity to make one. If it's too late, Age UK explains that a deputyship gives similar powers. Ofcom notes that only a registered property and financial affairs LPA, not a health and welfare one, works for a telecoms account. The Mental Capacity Act doesn't give a carer access to someone's income or assets; using money in their bank or building society account needs formal authority such as a property and affairs LPA or a Court of Protection order.
• Decide whose name the account is in. If you'll pay, our guide to paying for a relative's broadband weighs up the options.
• Choose the next deal together. Keep it simple, compare deals at their postcode, and before they agree, read the contract summary with them. Providers must give this short summary (speed, price, length, early-exit terms) before you're bound; our guide to what to check in a broadband contract summary goes through it.