The UK’s landline switch-off is now set for 31 January 2027. For many households, the change will be reasonably straightforward. A provider replaces the old line with a digital service, and the customer carries on much as before.
For charities, it is seldom that simple.
Most organisations have far more sitting on their copper phone line than they realise. Desk phones are only part of the picture. Door entry systems, lift emergency phones, alarm monitoring, helplines, card payment terminals and legacy broadband circuits often sit quietly in the background until somebody asks an important question: what stops working when the old network is switched off?
That question matters now because the extension to January 2027 is not a safety net. It indicates that many organisations were not ready for the original deadline. As the date approaches, providers, engineers, and support teams will be managing a growing volume of migrations simultaneously.
For charity operations managers and IT leads, this is less about replacing phones and more about understanding the operational systems bound to the old network before the deadline arrives.
What Is the Landline Switch-Off and When Does It Happen?
The UK landline switch-off is the retirement of the Public Switched Telephone Network, usually abbreviated to PSTN. This is the old copper wire network that has carried phone calls across the UK for decades.
Openreach plans to retire the PSTN completely on 31 January 2027. After that point, analogue and ISDN phone lines will no longer function in the same way they do today. Instead, calls will move to VoIP, or Voice over Internet Protocol, where phone calls travel over a broadband connection rather than a traditional copper line.
The original switch-off date was December 2025, but the industry pushed the deadline back because many organisations were not fully equipped. That extension should not be mistaken for extra breathing room. It highlights how much infrastructure still depends on the old network.
Neel, Head of Communications at Qlic, covered this during Qlic’s Brunch Bites webinar on telephony and the switch-off. His message was straightforward: before any migration happens, organisations first need a clear picture of what they presently have in place.
For a household, providers will usually manage most of the transition automatically. For a charity with multiple sites, older infrastructure and operational systems connected to the copper network, the process needs active review and planning.
If your organisation is already assessing options, Qlic’s telephony solutions for charities page explains how managed cloud telephony works in practice.
Neel, Head of Communications at Qlic, breaks down the PSTN switch-off and what it means for your organisation.
Why Charities Are More Exposed Than Most Organisations
Most charities operate with levels of infrastructure added over many years.
A phone system might have been installed in 2012. Fire alarm monitoring could sit on a dedicated analogue line from a different supplier. A lift emergency phone may exist because it is required under BS EN 81-28 regulations. Somewhere in the building there may still be a fax line or a PDQ terminal quietly relying on the old network.
The challenge is that many of these systems do not appear on a basic IT asset list.
Neel from Qlic’s Brunch Bites webinar explained this directly: many organisations only realise how many services still rely on traditional phone lines once they complete a proper telecoms audit. That often includes far more than desk phones.
For charities, the systems worth checking typically include:
- Desk phones and hunt groups
- Door entry and access control systems
- Fire alarm monitoring lines connected to external monitoring centres
- CCTV monitoring services
- Lift emergency phones
- Care lines and helplines
- PDQ and card payment terminals
- Legacy broadband circuits
- Fax machines still used for compliance or administration
The provider handling your main phone line migration will not routinely audit every connected building system. Their responsibility is usually restricted to the telecoms service itself.
That distinction matters. A charity can complete a phone migration and still realise weeks later that an alarm line, access panel or payment terminal was left behind on the copper network.
The risk here is not technical complexity for the sake of it. It is operational oversight. Most organisations simply have not mapped every dependency yet.
What Is Still Sitting on Your Telecoms Bill
The landline switch-off is also compelling charities to confront something many organisations have ignored for years: telecoms bills are often full of services nobody actively reviews anymore.
Unused ISDN lines. Old analogue backup circuits. Secondary broadband connections added during a previous office move. Alarm lines that remain active long after the original hardware changed.
Neel highlighted this during the Brunch Bites webinar as well. He noted that telecoms bills are rarely easy to interpret, which means legacy services can sit unnoticed for years.
That becomes expensive over time.
The switch-off changes the conversation because every service still tied to the copper network must now be reviewed before January 2027. For many charities, this creates an opportunity to scrub up old contracts and remove unnecessary costs at the same time.
Timing matters here too.
Many telecoms agreements carry 90-day notice periods. A charity that waits until late 2026 to start reviewing services may discover they are still contractually tied to ageing infrastructure even as the PSTN deadline approaches.
An accurate audit is not just about replacing technology. It is often the first-time organisations get a complete picture of what they are paying for and what they genuinely still need.
What a Good Migration Looks Like for a Charity
A well-managed migration does not start with replacing desk phones. It starts with an audit.
Before anything moves to digital, charities need a clear map of every service presently using the copper network. Once that is understood, the migration can be planned properly: which systems move to VoIP, which need replacement hardware, and which require coordination with third-party providers such as alarm monitoring companies.
For most organisations, the desk phones themselves are the easy part.
Modern cloud telephony systems such as Elevate allow staff to take calls on desk phones, mobiles, laptops or directly inside Microsoft Teams. Existing numbers can usually be retained through number porting, while features such as voicemail to email, auto attendants and call routing are configured centrally.
The more complicated work often happens around the edges of the organisation.
The experience of Brighter Horizons shows this clearly. Before migration, the charity struggled with dropped calls and unreliable broadband that could not support day-to-day digital working. Qlic implemented Elevate VoIP alongside a SoGEA broadband connection, removing reliance on the outdated copper line entirely. The organisation now handles telephony, connectivity, and IT support through a single provider.
At the Florence Nightingale Foundation Qlic deployed Elevate Teams Pro, integrating telephony directly into Microsoft Teams. Staff can now make and receive external calls from the same platform they already use every day. Organisations considering this approach can learn more about Microsoft Teams Voice and how integrated calling works for charities.
Meanwhile, Surrey Community Action completed a managed migration involving number porting, deployment of the Elevate UC app to 15 devices through Intune, call routing configuration and remote training. During the process, Qlic also helped the organisation challenge unexpected termination fees from their previous supplier, which were ultimately waived.
For charities wanting a broader overview of the process, Qlic also provides our guide to switching to cloud-based telephony for charities.
Why Acting Now Is Better Than Waiting for the Deadline
There are three sensible reasons charities should begin reviewing their telecoms setup before late 2026.
First, provider capacity will tighten as the January 2027 deadline approaches. Telecoms engineers, onboarding teams and migration specialists will all be managing increased demand at the same time. Organisations that move earlier are more likely to secure safer scheduling and a more measured rollout.
Second, contract notice periods create real timing pressure. Many telecoms agreements require at least 90 days’ notice before cancellation. Waiting until the final quarter of 2026 may leave charities trapped between contract renewal dates and infrastructure that is already approaching retirement.
Third, migration complexity increases with every additional system tied to the copper network. A charity managing desk phones, fire alarm monitoring, lift emergency lines and door access systems should allow several months for proper coordination and testing.
Neel summed this up clearly during the Brunch Bites webinar: waiting until the last minute increases the risk of delays, rushed installations and avoidable disruption. Starting earlier creates space for a controlled and well-planned transition.
The extension from the original December 2025 deadline to January 2027 already shows what happens when organisations leave migration too late.
Final Thoughts
The landline switch-off is not just a phone upgrade for charities. It is a broader operational review of every service still connected to the old copper network.
Most organisations are probably not fully ready yet, but the transition is manageable with enough lead time, a proper audit and the right support around the migration process.
Get in touch with the Qlic team to find out how we can help
