Petition · past parliament

Provide free broadband to all UK homes for the duration of the Covid-19 outbreak

Rejected 16 signatures

What the petition asks

Ask or, if necessary, force the main broadband ISPs to provide free broadband access and equipment to all UK households, for the duration of the Coronavirus lockdown.
Schools and colleges are encouraging and in many cases expecting students to carry on studying from home, yet many UK households still have no access to broadband, or cannot afford the monthly charges.
This is putting many students at a disadvantage and contravenes the Equality Act 2010, Pt. 6 Ch. 1: "[...] a school must not discriminate against a pupil— (a)in the way it provides education for the pupil; (b)in the way it affords the pupil access to a benefit, facility or service".

Why it was rejected

There was already a petition about this issue. Duplicates are rejected so signatures collect in one place.

You may wish to sign this petition calling for the same action: Fund free broadband for vulnerable households during social distancing.

You can find out more about coronavirus and how you can protect yourself and others here:

www.gov.uk/coronavirus
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

The Government has also created an online service to help you out what you can do if you’re struggling because of coronavirus: https://www.gov.uk/find-coronavirus-support

You can read NHS tips to help if you are worried about coronavirus here: https://www.nhs.uk/oneyou/every-mind-matters/coronavirus-covid-19-anxiety-tips

You can read impartial analysis of the Government response to coronavirus and policy developments here:
https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/coronavirus/

You may also be interested to know that because of the large number of petitions that have been started in relation to coronavirus, the Petitions Committee has been questioning the Government about its response to the coronavirus outbreak.
 
Find out more and watch the Committee put questions suggested by petitioners to Government Ministers and the Deputy Chief Medical Officer: https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/326/petitions-committee/news/145767/committee-question-deputy-chief-medical-officer-and-ministers-on-coronavirus-response/
 
Read letters asking further questions of Government Ministers: https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/326/petitions-committee/publications/3/correspondence/

Timeline

25 Mar 2020 Petition opened for signatures
24 Apr 2020 Rejected by the Petitions Committee

Key facts

Signatures 16
Status Rejected
Rejected 24 Apr 2020

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Source: the official petition page. Last checked 15 Jul 2026.