Broadband Voucher Scheme

The Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme aims to provide funding towards the installation costs of gigabit broadband.

Applications should:

• come from the whole community as a group project, with supporting evidence from residents and businesses
• have a lead person or group to liaise with the chosen broadband provider

This is not a voucher you can spend personally, but funding that goes towards the supplier to help your community get up and running with gigabit broadband.

Suppliers will then design a project based around the premises your group specifies. However, there may be circumstances where not all premises can be included.

Find out if you are eligible on the scheme website.

Your property or business premises must be in a rural location with poor broadband speeds. It must also be part of a group project. Group projects are when 2 or more residents and/or eligible businesses get together to combine their vouchers towards the shared cost of installation. Single connections are not eligible for the scheme.

Search your postcode to find a registered broadband supplier.

Once you have entered your postcode, it will show up a list of suppliers registered to this scheme and whether they have ongoing projects in your area.

You will need to contact your chosen supplier, request a no-obligation quote and inform them that you want to use the voucher scheme.

You should ensure that you, and other qualifying premises, take out a package of either at least 30mbps or double your current broadband speed - whichever is the greatest.

If the supplier can give you a gigabit connection, they will contact the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to let them know.

DCMS will then confirm the details with you to ensure that you have:

• met the eligibility criteria
• taken up the broadband package

Once the supplier has connected your property, DCMS will make payment.

The payments act as a discount to the installation cost and are made directly to the broadband supplier.