Telephone networks and telecare services do not sit neatly within one organisation. That is precisely why a migration can be technically planned yet still create uncertainty about the person who depends on it.
In December 2025, Ofcom fined Virgin Media £23.8 million after finding failures in its treatment of vulnerable telecare customers during migrations between August 2022 and December 2023. The regulator found failures in identifying and recording telecare status and said disconnections had prevented some devices contacting monitoring centres. This was a concluded enforcement decision concerning a specific provider and historic conduct. S13
A separate Ofcom statement in September 2026 addressed concerns identified during monitoring of BT's migration processes. Ofcom secured changes to checks, fault follow-up, reconnection processes and staff training. It was explicit that accepting those assurances was not a finding that BT had breached a regulatory requirement. The final changes were expected by the end of November 2026; that is a milestone for later verification, not something we can report as completed in early November. S14
These two cases should not be blended into one general claim about the telecoms industry. They do, however, reveal the importance regulators attach to knowing whether a connection supports telecare, having a safe process for migration and responding properly when an interruption occurs.
For a care or housing provider, the practical answer is to ask for a named route through the organisations involved. Who supplies the connection? Who supplied the alarm? Who receives it?
Who confirms that the device is compatible? Who acts when the alert does not reach its destination? Who communicates a planned migration to the staff and residents affected?
The government's October guidance explicitly calls on housing organisations operating telecare to alert communications providers about relevant lines, confirm the migration plan and ensure the equipment is tested with the real receiving arrangements. Councils and private alarm providers have related data-sharing routes for personal telecare. S01 S03
The outcome should be straightforward: an agreed owner, the names of relevant suppliers, the evidence each will provide and the escalation process if a step is incomplete. A clear handover gives each organisation a question it can answer and the care team a route it can use.
What this means for providers: Confirm that the communications provider knows about any care-related alarm connection it supplies, and ask your alarm provider how the complete alert and response route will be verified. Keep the answer with your readiness record.
Connected journey: Chapter 3, followed by Chapter 6. Related analysis: Care runs around the clock. Does your IT contract?.