Cancelling Virgin Media: the short version
How you leave Virgin Media decides who you talk to. Switching broadband or home phone to another provider? You don't cancel with Virgin Media: the new provider arranges it. Cancelling outright, say because you're moving abroad? You contact Virgin Media, give 30 days' notice and pay to the end of it (checked October 2026).
Three things to sort with Virgin Media specifically: Virgin TV's Core package only works with Virgin Media broadband, its email address is closed after you leave, and its Hub, Pods and TV boxes may have to go back. The rules for any provider are in our guide to cancelling your broadband contract; this one covers how Virgin Media does it, and flags where its own pages disagree.
Before you cancel: find your minimum term
Your minimum term (the terms say minimum period) is how long you agreed to pay for a service. Cancel before it ends, outside cooling-off, and Virgin Media may charge an early disconnection fee.
Virgin Media's documents give different typical lengths: 24 months on its leaving page, 12 months in the summary of its 1 December 2025 terms (18 months in the definitions of the same terms, unless you're told otherwise), and 6 to 24 months on its fees page. So go by your own Contract Summary, Contract Information form or order confirmation; our guide to how a contract summary is laid out helps.
Check each service separately. The fee depends on how much of the minimum period is left for each service, and adding a new TV package or subscription mid-term starts a contract of its own, so an add-on can end later than your broadband. Once a minimum period ends, that service rolls monthly at the then current standard price and you can go on 30 days' notice with nothing extra to pay; Virgin Media says it normally tells you when the end is near.
Not the account holder? If the holder has moved out, you may be able to keep the service rather than cancel. Virgin Media asks you to contact it, and has transfer forms for when the holder has moved into full-time care or died; see broadband after a bereavement.
When you can leave early without a fee
Virgin Media's terms from 1 December 2025 allow these fee-free exits during the minimum period (checked October 2026):
- Cooling-off, within 14 days (below).
- Changes not exclusively to your benefit, if you give notice within 30 days of being told; some changes are excluded.
- Permanent loss of service.
- A speed shortfall that isn't fixed. Your minimum guaranteed download speed is 50% of the advertised speed when you ordered, shown in your contract's speeds table. If you fall below it and Virgin Media hasn't fixed it within 30 days of you reporting it, or can't, it will tell you that you can cancel without the fee, and you then have 30 days to do so. In exceptional cases, such as missed engineer visits, it may extend the repair period after discussing it with you. This covers broadband taken, changed or recontracted from 28 February 2019. Test with our broadband speed test and see our guide to minimum speed guarantees.
- A move within its network where it can't provide the same or an equivalent service.
Moving to a UK address outside its network is different, and Virgin Media's pages describe it two ways: its terms and its fees page say the fee is charged and then credited back once your evidence of the new address is checked, while its moving-home page says the fee is waived if you send proof within 30 days of cancelling. Either way, send the proof promptly, and don't be surprised if the fee shows on your closing bill before the credit arrives (see moving, below). The annual price adjustment doesn't give a right to cancel; see Virgin Media's annual price change.
Cooling-off: the first 14 days
For contracts taken online, by email, by phone or at home, you get 14 days under the Consumer Contracts Regulations, counted from the latest of: the day after your kit arrives, the day service starts, or the day you get the terms. Cancel in that window and Virgin Media disconnects within 30 days or immediately; you may pay for service already used, refunds come within 14 days, and kit must go back promptly (direct return costs may be charged).
Switching to another provider: you don't need to cancel
Ofcom's One Touch Switch process, live since 12 September 2024, is built to work between different broadband networks (an ISPA statement reported by ISPreview, which also quoted Virgin Media saying it had launched the process and migrated customers on day one), so it covers leaving Virgin Media's cable network for an Openreach-based or other provider. For someone leaving Virgin Media:
- Only the new provider hears from you. Virgin Media's leaving page says all you need to do is let your new provider know.
- Virgin Media must send you switching information without being asked, including any early-termination charge and the effect on other services (ISPreview's summary of Ofcom's rules). Read it before the switch date.
- No notice charges after the switch date. Ofcom banned notice-period charges beyond the switch date for residential customers (ISPreview, 12 September 2024). Virgin Media's own switching page tells people joining it they no longer need to give their old provider 30 days' notice.
- Service continues until the new one works. Virgin Media disconnects only when the new provider confirms installation is complete, and you needn't tell it if the date moves.
Virgin Media says One Touch Switch covers broadband and home phone, and switching TV is a little different (see TV below). Ask the new provider about keeping your number before the switch; Virgin Media's terms allow a number to move within 31 days of the account ending. See our guide to switching broadband providers and how Virgin Media's network differs from Openreach.
If the new provider can't find your account
Virgin Media suggests retrying with details from your latest bill: surname, address, the services to switch, and your area reference and account number entered as one number (its example: 01 and 123456789 become 01123456789). Still stuck? Webchat, or call 150 from a Virgin Media phone or 0345 454 1111.
Already gave notice, then booked a switch? If the switch lands after your disconnection date, tell Virgin Media so you aren't cut off early. Changed your mind about switching? Virgin Media's leaving page says to cancel the switch with the new provider, otherwise it goes ahead. Do it straight away: ISPreview's report of Ofcom's rules says that under One Touch Switch a customer can no longer ask for a switch to be stopped once it's under way, so whether it can still be halted depends on the new provider and how far it has got.
How to give Virgin Media notice
With no new provider taking over, notice goes to Virgin Media by online chat or by calling 150 from a Virgin Media phone or 0345 454 1111 (the routes on its leaving page), or in writing to Virgin Media, Sunderland, SR43 4AA (paragraph N1 of its terms lists the 0345 number and this postal address).
Have your account number, end date and, if moving, the address for your final bill and returns pack. Before you confirm, ask for your disconnection date and the fee, if any; Virgin Media's leaving page says it will tell you how much before you cancel. Notice-period charges, including line rental and usage, still apply. Note who you spoke to and keep the confirmation. You can change the date or withdraw the cancellation by getting in touch quickly; services go off on the day, at no set time.
Retention offers
Virgin Media's leaving page says it may find you a package that suits you better, so expect an offer. You can refuse. Ofcom's General Condition C1.8 says termination procedures must not put customers off changing provider; ISPreview reports Ofcom found Virgin Media's likely did between 1 January 2022 and 11 September 2024, citing repeated retention offers, long holds, dropped calls and unprocessed cancellations, and fined it £28 million in July 2026. To judge an offer, compare broadband deals at your postcode first.
How Virgin Media's early disconnection fee is worked out
This applies when you cancel directly within your minimum term; if you switch, the switching information gives the charge and no notice charges apply beyond the switch date. Virgin Media publishes its method (checked October 2026). Three things set the figure: which services you have, what you pay after discounts, and the time left on each service's minimum period:
- The notice month is billed as normal.
- Each later month costs a percentage of your current monthly charge.
- Ceiling: no more than the charges for the rest of the minimum period, less costs Virgin Media saves.
Its illustration: with five months left, you pay the notice month, then a fee for four. VAT has been charged on the fee since 1 April 2022 (HMRC requirements). Neither the fees page nor Virgin Media's worked examples say whether the table percentages already include VAT: the examples simply apply the percentage to the monthly cost and add nothing. So when you ask for your figure, ask the agent for the VAT-inclusive amount; Virgin Media's own calculation guide says to contact an agent for the exact fee on a given day.
Virgin Media's estimate percentages
Services | Standard pricing | Offer pricing |
|---|---|---|
Broadband only | 93% to 96% | 90% to 95% |
Broadband and home phone | 94% to 96% | 93% to 95% |
Broadband and TV | 85% to 89% | Not listed |
Broadband, TV and home phone | 85% to 95% | 78% to 92%* |
Home phone only | 97% to 99% | Not listed |
Per remaining month, of your current monthly charge. Use offer pricing if your bundle is discounted for the whole minimum period. *Virgin Media says triple-bundle offer pricing can sometimes come out lower. An agent confirms the exact figure.
Example (illustrative, no real prices): broadband only, standard pricing, five months left: the notice month at your normal price, then four months at 93% to 96% of it. With percentages that high, leaving a few months early costs almost as much as staying, so if your end date is close, time your exit to it.
Virgin Media says it can sometimes credit the fee back. For routes that work with any provider, see leaving broadband without an exit fee.
Cancelling TV, phone or part of a bundle
Dropping one service while keeping others has knock-on effects that Virgin Media sets out on its leaving page and in its terms. Check these before you confirm:
- Discounts can go. Offers linked to a cancelled service may stop applying to what you keep; ask what the rest will cost.
- Downgrading can cost. Reducing your tier within the minimum period may bring a fee, with 30 days' notice.
- Core TV needs Virgin broadband. Keeping the Core TV package and add-ons requires a Virgin Media broadband connection. See your TV when you change broadband and broadband and TV deals.
- Netflix in your package runs to the end of the period on your final bill; Netflix then explains paying directly. Other streaming billed by Virgin Media ends with its subscription period; bundled streaming ends on disconnection.
- Internet Security (powered by F-Secure) carries on; cancel it with F-Secure.
- O2 and Volt: Virgin Media and O2 contracts are billed separately and O2 has its own early termination charges. Volt benefits can't be dropped unless you cancel both the O2 plan and the broadband, so ask O2 first. See broadband and mobile discounts.
Returning your Hub, Wi-Fi Pods and TV boxes
All Virgin Media kit is loaned, and its terms say it is switched off for good when you leave. Virgin Media will collect it, send a free returns pack, or sometimes ask you to recycle items instead. If asked to return kit, that can mean a V6 or 360 TV box, Hub 5 or 5x, WiFi OCM Pods and Stream box, with remotes and power cables. Recycle anything you weren't asked to return.
Collection or a free returns pack
Collections are booked by text or email from noreply@contactengine.com; collectors carry photo ID, wear Virgin Media uniform, and may call unannounced if you haven't booked or posted the kit.
The leaving page says to drop the pack at a Collect+ store within 30 days of disconnection or you may be charged; the returns page names Yodel by InPost stores, so follow your pack and keep the receipt. It can go to any UK address. No pack and disconnected over 10 days ago? Request one online. Registered Accessible Customers who can't reach a store can call 150 or 0345 454 1111.
Packing: remove TV box cables with the spanner provided and bag the box alone; fit the silver terminator cap to the white wall-socket cable; switch off a Hub, Booster or Pod before unplugging.
If you're charged for kit
Unreturned kit can bring reasonable recovery costs and a replacement fee (set out in Virgin Media's price guides, not quoted here), separate from any early disconnection fee. Posted it via Yodel by InPost? Call with the tracking number to cancel the charge. Return it within 80 days of your services ending and you get a bill credit; an account in credit gets a cheque, valid 6 months.
Your Virgin Media email address
Virgin Media email is usually closed within 90 days of disconnection, with the contents permanently deleted; moving to O2 doesn't keep it, and the terms say the address belongs to Virgin Media. Save what matters and update banks, your GP and subscriptions. Virgin Media is handing email to Junara, which charges to keep an address; its page doesn't say whether ex-customers can sign up, so check first. Virgin Media's emails about this never include a sign-up link. See keeping your email address.
Your closing bill
The closing bill covers your package and any extra usage up to disconnection. Keep your Direct Debit until it's settled. Credit is refunded 45 days after disconnection, and if you've moved the bill reaches your new address within two weeks. If it doesn't match what you were told, see disputing a broadband bill.
Moving home instead of cancelling
If your new home is on Virgin Media's network, your services and current contract, including the rest of the minimum period, can move with you. ISPreview reported Virgin Media adopted this after Ofcom fined it £7 million over early termination charges on 16 November 2018. Our guide to broadband when moving home covers the general steps.
On the network: check the address by postcode on Virgin Media's moving page, which says whether you can self-install. It quotes as little as 3 days for self-install and about 7 to 14 days with an engineer, needs a day's gap between homes and a working Virgin Media enabled socket, and charges a transfer fee. The terms ask for 30 days' notice, subject to capacity. If it can't provide an equivalent service there, you can cancel fee-free.
If Virgin Media isn't available there
Cancel, giving your new address and moving date. In your minimum period, with a new UK address, say you're moving outside the network when you request disconnection: the fee is credited back once your evidence of the new address is checked. Virgin Media's pages differ on timing: within 30 days of cancelling (moving page), within 30 days of its request (terms), and it replies within 30 days (fees page). They also differ on the mechanism: the moving page says the fee is waived, while the terms and fees page say it's charged and then credited to your account. So send proof, such as a rental agreement or utility bill, promptly, keep a copy, and check your closing bill for the credit. Leftover credit is refunded unless administration costs outweigh it, when it goes to charity.
Moving abroad: Virgin Media only describes the fee credit for moves within the UK. For a move abroad, its moving page says to give at least 30 days' notice, that a cancellation fee may apply if you're still in your contracted period, and that the kit must go back. Check options at your new address on our broadband deals by area pages.
Your Virgin Media cancellation checklist
- Switching? Contact the new provider only. Cancelling? Contact Virgin Media.
- Find each service's end date and the fee before committing.
- Sort TV, O2 or Volt, Netflix, your number and email.
- Cancelling outright: give 30 days' notice, keep confirmation.
- If asked, return kit within 30 days of disconnection; keep the receipt.
- Keep your Direct Debit until the closing bill is paid.
Next steps: our Virgin Media broadband deals page shows its current deals. The broadband providers hub lists alternatives, and fibre broadband deals covers faster options. To stay with Virgin Media for less, ask Virgin Media: its fees page points existing customers to My Virgin Media to change package.
Cancelling Virgin Media FAQs
How much notice do I need to give Virgin Media?
If you're cancelling directly, Virgin Media asks for 30 days' notice and you pay your normal charges, including line rental and usage, to the end of it. Out of contract, that's all you pay. If you're switching through One Touch Switch, you don't give Virgin Media notice at all: Ofcom's rules ban notice-period charges beyond the switch date (checked October 2026).
Do I have to contact Virgin Media if I'm switching to another provider?
No. Under One Touch Switch the new provider handles it. Virgin Media has to send you switching information, which shows any early-termination charge, and won't disconnect you until the new provider confirms installation is complete. Virgin Media says switching TV is a little different, so sort that separately.
How is Virgin Media's early disconnection fee worked out?
When you cancel directly in your minimum term, you pay the 30-day notice month as normal, then a percentage of your current monthly charge for each month left. Virgin Media's estimate tables give 78% to 99% depending on services and pricing, and it says triple-bundle offer pricing can sometimes come out lower. The fee can't exceed the remaining charges less costs it saves. VAT has applied to the fee since 1 April 2022, and the tables don't say whether the percentages include it, so ask the agent for the VAT-inclusive figure. If you switch instead, the figure is in the switching information.
How long do I have to return Virgin Media equipment?
If Virgin Media asks for its kit back and can't collect it, its leaving page says to drop the free returns pack at a Collect+ store within 30 days of disconnection or you may be charged; its returns page names Yodel by InPost stores, so follow your pack. If no pack has turned up and it's over 10 days since you were disconnected, request another online.
What happens if I don't return my Virgin Media Hub or TV box?
Virgin Media can charge reasonable recovery costs and a replacement fee, separate from any early disconnection fee. If you return the kit later and your services ended less than 80 days ago, you get a bill credit. If you'd already posted it, call with the tracking number to have the charge cancelled. The Hub won't work for you anyway: Virgin Media switches its equipment off when the agreement ends.
Can I cancel Virgin Media without a fee if I move somewhere it isn't available?
Yes, if the move is within the UK. Tell Virgin Media you're moving outside its network when you cancel, then send valid proof of the new address, such as a rental agreement or utility bill. Its moving page says the fee is waived; its terms and fees page say it's charged and then credited back once the proof is checked. The pages also give the 30 days for this differently, so send the proof promptly and check your closing bill. For a move abroad, Virgin Media only says a fee may apply if you're still in contract; it doesn't describe the credit for moves outside the UK.
Can I keep Virgin TV if I move my broadband to another provider?
Not the Core TV package and add-ons: Virgin Media says you need its broadband connection to keep them, so moving broadband away means getting TV from another provider. One Touch Switch covers broadband and home phone rather than TV, and cancelling part of a bundle can remove discounts on the services you keep.
