The short answer
When someone moves into a care home or sheltered housing, the broadband and home phone at their old address carry on, and keep being billed, until someone tells each provider what should happen. A personal alarm may carry on too: who needs telling depends on who arranged it and who pays for it, so check the paperwork or ask the alarm provider. Each service can be transferred, moved, kept running or closed.
No general rule ends a contract free because of a move into care, and none of the terms and help pages we read in October 2026 (BT, Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin Media) offers a care-home waiver, so ask rather than assume. We compare deals through a partner's comparison; we can't close or transfer an account for you, and this isn't personal financial or legal advice.
Care home or sheltered housing: why it matters
A care home. We found no rule on whether a care home must offer residents Wi-Fi or their own line, so ask the manager whether Wi-Fi reaches the rooms and whether a resident can have a line installed.
Sheltered housing. Age UK says sheltered (retirement) housing usually includes a scheme manager, sometimes called a warden, and 24-hour emergency help through an alarm system. The service charge may include the alarm, so check what it covers before paying for a separate alarm, or a phone line just to carry one.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said on 8 October 2026 that building-wide "warden call" alarms are most widely used in sheltered, supported and retirement housing, and that one master unit can serve up to 40 flats, usually over a business phone line rather than a resident's own. So the alarm in a sheltered flat may not depend on the resident's line at all: ask the scheme manager which kind the building has. Shared systems such as lifts and entry phones are covered in our guide to door entry and lift phones after the switch-off.
Four options for each service
Option | When it might fit | What to check first |
|---|---|---|
Transfer it to someone else | A partner or relative stays in the home and wants the service | Whether the provider has a transfer route |
Move it to the new address | A sheltered flat, or a care home that allows a resident's own line | Whether the provider can supply that address, and any fee for moving |
Keep it running at the old home | For example, the house stays furnished for a while and family use it | Who pays, and who is authorised to deal with the provider |
Close it | No one needs the service at the old address | The contract end date, any exit fee, the phone number, any alarm on the line |
Each service can go a different way. Our guide to changing the account holder on your broadband explains transfers in more detail.
Can the contract end without an exit fee?
An early exit fee, which providers also call an early termination charge, can apply if a contract is ended during its minimum term: the fixed period agreed at sign-up. Our guide to leaving broadband without an exit fee covers how fees are calculated.
Check the end date first
After the minimum term there's no early exit fee, though a notice period can apply. Virgin Media, for example, says your minimum term is in the Contract Information and Contract Summary you get at sign-up, and that afterwards the contract runs monthly and can be cancelled with 30 days' notice. If the paperwork is missing, ask each provider.
When the law gives a free exit
Citizens Advice says you might be legally entitled to cancel without a fee if you signed up less than 14 days ago (the cooling-off period), if the price is going up and you've been given 30 days to cancel, if there's a problem with the internet speed, or if the contract has ended. Otherwise, it says, you probably can't. Moving into care isn't on that list.
What BT's, Sky's and TalkTalk's terms say
BT's Home Phone and Broadband terms (in force from 16 January 2026) say you pay compensation for ending a service during the minimum term, except in listed cases such as the cooling-off period, unfixed faults, consistently low speeds, and moving home when BT can't provide a service at your new UK address. The compensation equals the charges for the rest of the term minus the costs BT saves.
Sky's Broadband and Sky Talk terms (April 2025 version) are similar: no early termination charge in the cooling-off period or if you move and your product isn't available at the new address, and otherwise a charge capped at the rest of the term's charges, less the costs Sky saves and the benefit of being paid early.
TalkTalk's customer terms (updated 5 October 2026) are less generous on a move. A fee may be charged for ending a service in its minimum period (up to 24 months), and if TalkTalk can't transfer a service to the new home during that period, you may have to pay the charges to the end of it: there's no free exit for an address it can't serve.
None of the three mentions care homes or says how a moving-home rule applies to a care home room, so ask about the specific address.
No published waiver, but it's worth asking
Citizens Advice, in its advice on cancelling after a house move, says it's worth explaining your situation to your provider, because it might reduce or remove any fee. Separately, it says a provider might let you leave early without a fee if you're struggling to pay.
When you ask:
- Explain that the account holder has moved into care and the service isn't needed there.
- Ask what the fee would be on the date you want the service to end, and whether it can be waived, reduced or credited back.
- Get the answer in writing if you can; if not, note the date, the adviser's name and any reference number.
What the big providers say (checked October 2026)
Provider | Care route on its help pages | Exit fee position |
|---|---|---|
Virgin Media | "Full-time care" section: transfer form, or online Disconnection form | Leaving page: it tells you the fee first and may credit it back |
BT | No care-home page found; power of attorney page and Protected Services Scheme | Terms list exceptions, including a move BT can't serve; care homes aren't one of them |
Sky | No care-home page found; third-party assistance page | Terms (April 2025 version) list exceptions; care homes aren't one of them |
TalkTalk | No care-home page found; Nominated User and power of attorney routes | Terms (5 October 2026) charge a fee in the minimum period, with no care-home exception and no free exit if it can't move the service |
Virgin Media. Its full-time care section says accounts are updated within 7 days of the transfer form or online Disconnection form. To change services at the same time, call 0800 952 2302 (8am to 7:45pm weekdays, 9am to 5:45pm weekends); Volt customers (with linked Virgin Media and O2 services) use 0800 090 18 20. Packages are on our Virgin Media broadband deals page.
BT. If a BT service carries on, ask about its free Protected Services Scheme, for disabled or housebound people at risk without their phone or broadband: BT won't cut the service off over a bill missed for reasons such as a hospital stay or dementia, and the named second contact isn't liable for any debt (0800 800 150).
TalkTalk. TalkTalk went into administration and BT bought its consumer and wholesale (PXC) businesses out of administration on 5 October 2026. The Competition and Markets Authority is reviewing the deal under a public-interest intervention notice and is due to report by 19 October 2026; until then BT and TalkTalk are run separately and nothing changes for TalkTalk customers. BT's page for TalkTalk customers says existing contracts stay in place and that existing priority support for vulnerable customers and their carers remains; keep using TalkTalk's usual channels.
For other providers, which we didn't research here, ask their accessibility teams the same questions; our guide to UK broadband providers lists who we cover.
Who can deal with the provider
Ofcom's guide to treating vulnerable customers fairly notes that its General Conditions require providers to offer third-party bill management to certain groups, including disabled people, and it encourages providers to work sensibly with relatives and carers acting for a customer, with reasonable checks on authority and consent. Our guide to broadband for older people compares helper options by provider, and our guide to telling your provider you need extra support explains how to get needs recorded on the account.
If the account holder can still decide, the simplest route is their consent, ideally arranged before the move: Virgin Media lets the holder authorise you on the call, Sky's basic nominees need the account password, and a TalkTalk Nominated User can talk about the account and pay bills without being liable for the charges. If the holder may later be unable to decide, power of attorney is the longer-term route.
Power of attorney: the type providers want
GOV.UK describes two types of lasting power of attorney (LPA) in England and Wales. A property and financial affairs LPA covers things like paying bills and can be used once registered, with the donor's permission. A health and welfare LPA covers decisions such as moving into a care home and can only be used when the donor can't make their own decisions.
That catches families out: the LPA that covers the care decision isn't the one telecoms providers ask for. For England and Wales, BT accepts a property and financial affairs LPA registered with the Office of the Public Guardian (not a health and welfare LPA), or an enduring power of attorney (EPA), the older type, which only needs registering if the donor has lost capacity. Sky likewise accepts property and financial powers of attorney but not health and welfare ones.
Two BT details matter in a care move. Each page of a certified copy must be signed by the donor, who must still have capacity; if they've lost it, a solicitor has to certify the copy (LPAs registered on or after 1 September 2019 can instead be checked with access codes sent by post). And once BT accepts the attorney, it treats them as the account holder, so the donor can no longer manage the account.
If there's no LPA yet
GOV.UK says registering an LPA with the Office of the Public Guardian takes 8 to 10 weeks if there are no mistakes, and costs £92 unless a reduction or exemption applies (as shown on 14 October 2026). Age UK adds that you can only make an LPA while you have mental capacity, and that if someone signs an LPA with capacity but loses it before it's registered, their attorney can register it for them.
Age UK also describes an ordinary power of attorney, financial only and valid only while the person has capacity, though it says an LPA is usually best. Sky's list includes general powers of attorney; BT's doesn't mention them. LPAs are legally binding only in England and Wales, GOV.UK notes; BT and Sky also list deputyship orders, DWP appointees and documents from Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Telecare and personal alarms
Citizens Advice uses "telecare" for a personal alarm or other technology at home that helps keep you safe. DHSC says about three-quarters of UK telecare users have a personal ("dispersed") alarm, a standalone unit in their own home. If one works through the home phone line, sort it out before that line is changed or closed.
- Tell the phone provider. For the switch to digital landlines, Ofcom says to tell your provider about any care alarm or pendant using the line, so it can check the device and pause the switch until a safe solution is in place. That advice is about the switchover, not a move, but we'd suggest the same step before a line an alarm depends on is closed or moved.
- Tell the telecare provider. Ask whether the alarm and monitoring can move to the new address, and how to return equipment if not.
- Test before the old set-up goes. Openreach, again writing about the switchover, advises testing new equipment before the old system is removed: a sensible precaution when an alarm moves too.
- In sheltered housing, check the scheme's alarm first. If the scheme provides 24-hour emergency help, ask the scheme manager how it works in the flat before moving a personal alarm across.
If someone stays at the old home and relies on an alarm there, the government's PSTN Charter applies. Signatories including BT, Virgin Media O2, Sky, TalkTalk Consumer and Vodafone commit not to migrate a telecare user until a compatible, working solution is confirmed. BT plans to retire its old landline network by 31 January 2027. Our guide to telecare and alarms after the landline switch-off covers compatibility checks and switch day.
What happens to the phone number
Decide what to do with the number before the account is closed.
- Staying at the same address. Citizens Advice says you should be able to keep the number when switching provider unless you're moving house.
- Going with the person. A move means keeping the number isn't guaranteed, so ask first.
- After the contract ends. ISPreview, reporting Ofcom's rules in September 2024, says customers have the right to port (move) their number for one month after their contract ends, and providers can't charge to port it.
If calls to the old number should reach someone in the meantime, see our guide on how to divert a home phone to a mobile.
Moving the service to the new address
This only works if the new place can take it, such as a sheltered flat with its own phone socket. Citizens Advice's moving-house advice applies:
- If the provider offers the same service at the new address, you might pay a small fee to move it; if it doesn't, you might have to pay a cancellation fee.
- If you're renting somewhere that already includes the service but you have a contract for it, you might also face a cancellation fee, which is worth checking for a rented sheltered flat.
Provider terms add their own conditions. Sky's allow a reasonable administration fee for moving services and say Sky will tell you the amount first. TalkTalk's ask for at least 14 days' notice of a move and say it may need to start you on a new contract, with a possible additional charge.
Keeping broadband at the old home
Sometimes the service has to stay, for example because a husband or wife still lives there.
- Transfer the account into the name of the person staying, if the provider allows it. Virgin Media's full-time care route does this with its transfer form.
- Start a new contract. If the household switches provider at the same address, One Touch Switch applies: you contact only the new provider, and the current provider must send you the switching information, including any early termination charges, and can't charge for any notice period after the switch date. If the new contract will be in a different name from the old account, ask the new provider whether it can be handled as a switch; if not, the account holder or their attorney will need to close the old account, which could mean an exit fee during the minimum term.
If a new contract is needed anyway, it's a sensible time to compare deals at your postcode. If the person staying wants calls and broadband together, see our broadband and phone deals, and if they'd rather stay with BT, current offers are on our BT broadband deals page.
Step-by-step checklist
- Gather the paperwork: account numbers, contract end dates, any power of attorney or deputyship documents.
- Ask the new place what it provides: Wi-Fi, a resident's own line, an alarm in the service charge.
- Decide each service separately: transfer, move, keep or close.
- Check you're authorised before you call each provider's accessibility team.
- Ask about the exit fee if the minimum term hasn't ended, and record the answer.
- Sort out any alarm with the phone and telecare providers before a line changes.
- Decide about the phone number before closing anything.
- Return equipment as the provider asks, and keep proof of postage or collection.
If the provider won't help
Complain to the provider first and, as Citizens Advice advises, keep a record of every contact attempt. If it isn't resolved, you can go to a free alternative dispute resolution (ADR) scheme. The Communications Ombudsman, one of the two telecoms ADR schemes, says that since 8 April 2026 you can do this six weeks after first telling the provider, down from eight, or sooner if the provider sends a deadlock letter; Citizens Advice also gives six weeks.
Which scheme you use depends on the provider, so check its complaints page before you apply: Virgin Media's, for example, names CISAS as its scheme. See our guide on how to complain about a broadband provider.
For free help, the Citizens Advice consumer helpline is 0808 223 1133, and the Office of the Public Guardian answers questions about LPAs on 0300 456 0300.
Moving into care: broadband and phone FAQs
Do you have to pay an exit fee if someone moves into a care home?
Possibly, if the contract is still in its minimum term. Moving into care isn't one of the free-exit cases Citizens Advice lists, and BT's, Sky's and TalkTalk's terms don't mention care homes; we found no care-home waiver on the pages we checked in October 2026. In its advice on cancelling after a house move, Citizens Advice says explaining your situation may lead a provider to reduce or remove a fee, so ask, and get the answer in writing.
Which type of power of attorney do broadband providers accept?
BT and Sky both accept a property and financial affairs lasting power of attorney, not a health and welfare one, even though the health and welfare LPA covers decisions such as moving into a care home. BT and Sky also accept the older enduring power of attorney. GOV.UK says registering an LPA takes 8 to 10 weeks.
Can a landline number be kept when someone moves into care?
It isn't guaranteed. Citizens Advice says you should be able to keep a number when switching provider unless you're moving house, so ask before closing the account. ISPreview, reporting Ofcom's rules, says customers can port a number for one month after the contract ends, free of charge.
What should happen to a personal alarm when someone moves into sheltered housing?
First ask the scheme what it already provides: Age UK says sheltered housing usually includes 24-hour emergency help through an alarm system, and the service charge may cover it. Tell both the phone and telecare providers before the old line is changed or closed, and test any new equipment before the old system is removed.
What can I do if the provider refuses to waive the exit fee?
Check exactly when the minimum term ends, ask what the fee would be on your chosen date and whether it can be reduced or credited back, and say if paying is a struggle, which Citizens Advice says may let you leave early without a fee. If a complaint isn't resolved after six weeks, or you get a deadlock letter, go to the provider's free ADR scheme.
