Under Ofcom rules (known as 'General Conditions'), communication providers must give all businesses at least one month's notice of any changes in their contract that are likely to be of material detriment to them, including increases in the price you agreed.
If the agreed price increases are of 'material detriment' to you, you are therefore allowed to cancel that contract without penalty. Remember, this applies even if you are still within your 'minimum contract period'.
If your provider does not automatically give you the right to exit your contract without penalty following a price increase, but you consider the increase to be of 'material detriment', you could raise the matter with your provider.
Whether or not a price rise is materially detrimental to your business will be determined by your particular circumstances and the nature of your contract and your usage. You should be prepared to provide evidence of these to your provider.
Additional guidance to protect small businesses (with ten employees or fewer)
Ofcom has issued additional guidance on how providers should apply these rules to protect consumers and small businesses from unexpected price rises.
It sets out that if a provider wishes to introduce any increase to the monthly subscription price (or prices) agreed by the customer at the point of sale, customers should be given one month's notice of the increase and be allowed to exit the contract without penalty.
You can find out more about price increases and things to consider when taking out a new phone or broadband contract in our checklist.
