In February 2020, communication regulator Ofcom brought in rules requiring phone, broadband and pay-TV providers to warn customers when their contract is ending, and what they could save by signing up to a new deal.

Ofcom said these prompts have led to customers taking out better deals, with Plusnet seeing the biggest increase – 13 percentage points.

This was followed by BT, EE and Virgin Media which saw similar increases of 10 percentage points.

While some customers were able to save an average of more than £110 a year when taking out a new contract in response to the prompt, Ofcom revealed some customers ended up paying more.

It said this may reflect customers upgrading to a faster broadband package.

The data comes after research in November 2021 revealed the number of broadband customers who were out of contract fell from 8.7 million (40%) in 2019, to 7.4 million (35%) in 2020.

James Mackley, Ofcom’s economics director, said: “It’s encouraging to see more people saving money after we made it easier to grab a better deal.

“This is particularly important at a time when household budgets are under heavy strain, as the potential savings available can be significant. So it’s worth checking if you’re out of contract, and seeing what deals are available.”