Financial Inclusion: Simplifying access to VOXI’s discounted phone tariff with Open Banking powered Eligibility Checking

VOXI is a mobile network operator powered and run by Vodafone. Their VOXI for Now social tariff was designed to help those who are facing  financial difficulties to stay connected at a lower cost. 

The challenge

Originally launched in November 2022 to support those who’d been impacted by unemployment as result of the Covid-19 pandemic, 'VOXI For Now' was expanded to cover anyone in receipt of Jobseeker’s Allowance, Disability Allowance, Personal Independent Payment, Employment and Support Allowance, or employment-based Universal Credit. The VOXI for Now social tariff offers  unlimited calls, texts and data for just £10 a month instead of £35.

Voxi for Now was the first mobile social tariff brought to market in the UK, with Vodafone initially using a manual system to check applicant eligibility. But as demand for the product has grown,  it became clear a new solution was needed to speed up customer onboarding while reducing the admin burden for the Voxi for Now team.

The solution

The team behind VOXI for Now approached Moneyhub seeking a simple and secure digital solution to reduce friction in the eligibility-checking process, and so speed up access to the tariff for those eligible. Moneyhub’s FCA and ISO-27001 certified Open-Banking-powered Eligibility Checking service fit their requirements . 

During the signup process, the applicant is asked to give Moneyhub one-off consent to access their benefit-receiving bank account(s) to look for evidence of benefits being paid into their account.

Within seconds, the Moneyhub Eligibility Checking technology is able to verify what benefits are being received, and notify the Voxi for Now system if the applicant is eligible,  without the need for any data sharing or transfers between the two businesses. The process does not affect any credit scoring.

The results

The application process for ‘VOXI for Now’ now runs significantly more smoothly at scale. With automated, almost instantaneous verification, Moneyhub’s technology helps those in need access the social tariff in a much shorter time frame.

“We launched VOXI For Now to help those who need it most - providing unlimited data, calls and texts at a heavily discounted rate for those receiving government benefits. As the Cost-of-Living crisis deepens, we’ve seen increased demand for the service.

Utilising Moneyhub’s Open Finance technology, we have been able to streamline the process with automated eligibility checking. This means VOXI customers no longer have to wait for a manual verification; which means we can get people who are typically financially underserved connected to the services they need faster”
— Scott Currie, Head of VOXI at Vodafone