Network Transformation stands to deliver welcome improvements and investment in post offices, and if it is successful, will help to secure a sustainable and accessible network that meets consumers’ needs.

However, Network Transformation inevitably necessitates significant changes in post office provision – and carries considerable risks as well as opportunities. For Network Transformation to succeed, as we want it to, Post Office Ltd (POL) will need to demonstrate that the PO Local model is ready for wider rollout – and commit to ongoing improvements as the programme gets underway.

Our research explores the consumer experience of, and service standards in, PO Local pilot branches – and aims to drive improvements that may be necessary prior to and during rollout. Our findings show that significant ongoing improvements are needed if consumers are to benefit from these changes, with emphasis on driving up service standards and the consistency and reliability of service provision – and to make improvements to the privacy, branch layout and product range on offer.

By exercising their individual choices in this way, consumers would drive competition between providers and realise the benefits of a competitive market: better value, better service and innovation. However, experience has shown that, for the most part and despite clear frustrations, consumers do not conform to this expectation.

We now live in a world where consumers are connected to each other and active within and across a range of social networks. In some instances they are already working within these networks to be better empowered and achieve better outcomes in the marketplace.

Over the coming year it shows how we will work with colleagues from the Citizens Advice service and others to manage a successful transition of our general advocacy responsibilities. It also outlines how we, in partnership with BIS and Citizens Advice, will build a new body focused on the interests of consumers in complex regulated markets, so that something new and valuable emerges from the Government’s review.

As part of this work, Consumer Focus sought a better understanding of the potential impact that the increased collection and sharing of credit data might have on energy consumers. We were particularly interested in the possible behaviour changes or decisions that energy might consider making as a result of more credit reference information being accessed or shared by their energy supplier. 

This research was commissioned to inform our understanding of current consumer attitudes and feelings toward credit scoring and explore whether consumers think that they would behave differently if they knew that a company has moved to using more credit reference data.

In the light of the Government’s push for greater localism, the research was an attempt to get to the bottom of why and how people participate in their local area and what enthusiasm there was to play a potentially larocr role.

The Optimisa Research report Citizens at the heart of shaping local services (PDF 535KB) is also available.

Read the What next for localism? blog

This report focuses on consumers of heating oil and LPG – off-grid fuels used by many consumers living in rural areas and often associated with older, detached homes, which have higher heating requirements. The price of heating oil is also more volatile than other fuels. Heating oil prices increased by more than 50 per cent over the autumn of 2010.

The report draws upon research Consumer Focus commissioned from GHK to investigate the off-grid market and considers the potential for Government policy initiatives to address the problem.

20 January – This is an updated version of the report published on 13 January following clarification from NHBC that it holds registers for 80 per cent of the new homes warranty market

Consumer Focus has found that RdSAP, the Government’s energy efficiency assessment method, will never recommend cavity wall insulation for homes built after 1983, despite up to 2.3 million homes being built after this date with clear, unfilled cavity walls.

There is an understandable rationale for the Energy Performance Certificate process not testing whether walls are filled – Government is never likely to mandate borescoping of walls for the purposes of sale or rental.  But we think that customers seeking Green Deal advice should be able to consider the option of cavity wall insulation.  As it stands, it will never be given as an option due to the rules in the RdSAP recommendations engine, and we are therefore concerned that consumers (and their advisers) will assume that their cavity walls are insulated.  Further, if insulation is never recommended, consumers will never be able to use Green Deal finance to pay for the work.

A further issue is that the opportunity for meeting carbon budgets is based on assumptions about the current housing stock.  These assumptions are based on the English Housing Survey, which in turn is based on RdSAP assumptions.  This could mean that changing the assessment could open up the opportunity to not only help 2.3 million householders cut their heating bills but also save up to 600,000 tonnes of carbon each year.  Of course some, or many, of these homes may have had their walls insulated under the Government’s CERT policy; Government and the building and energy industries should work together to identify the opportunities for insulating the remainder.

In consumer terms, a three-bedsemi in this group of properties would save £50 a year from having these cavities insulated.  And while it is not of current concern to consumers, they would see their SAP rating rise by 2 points (again, for a three-bed semi).

Consumer Focus Scotland and Consumer Focus Wales will be consulting on Scotland and Wales specific work areas.

Consumer Focus works with a large number of stakeholders including other consumer bodies, campaigning charities, industry, regulators, governments, and the European Commission. Your views are important to us and help us concentrate on those areas where we can make the most positive impact for consumers. We are grateful to everyone who takes the time to share those views with us.

An uncertain time

Consumer Focus will continue to be a significant voice for consumers in 2012/13. However, we expect that the UK Government will announce its decisions regarding the reform of the consumer landscape, including the future of Consumer Focus, before we finalise our work plan in March 2012.

The breadth and character of the work we undertake will depend on those decisions and on the level of resource available to us.

Whatever the specific decisions will be, we will need to work ever more closely with bodies such as the Citizens Advice service and Which? to make sure that together we represent consumers’ interests in the most effective and efficient way.

Our plan

Our 2011/12 Annual Plan outlined our major areas of work for the current year. We said in the introduction to that plan that we intended to roll forward these broad areas of work into the coming year, resources permitting. That remains our intention.

Some of those areas of work relate to ongoing and complex programmes of reform in the energy market and postal services. We have a statutory role in relation to these markets and services, and we will continue this work.

Other areas our 2011/12 work plan relate to our work on financial services, consumer empowerment, copyright and the framework of consumer law. Consumer Focus has a great deal to contribute in these areas, but we may have to make our contribution with considerably fewer resources.

Depending on the resources available we may need to reduce or cease our work in certain areas outside our designated statutory responsibilities in the energy and postal markets. If we have to stop such work we will seek out ways in which the experience and learning that we have developed can be of practical value to others who represent the voice of consumers.

In energy

• We intend to continue our work on those major energy programmes that will impact on consumers over the coming years. These will include the Green Deal, the Smart Meter roll out, implementing the Retail Market Review reforms, the impact of environmental policies and commodity policies on consumer bills and the Hills review of Fuel Poverty. We will continue to speak up for domestic and small business consumers across the range of issues that affect them in the energy market.

In postal services

• In relation to postal services and post offices we will continue to represent the consumer interest as the regulatory regime for mail services changes, as the Universal Service Obligation is reviewed and as the post office network undergoes a major transformation.

Across regulated markets

• Working with other consumer bodies we will use our experience to intervene on consumer issues that cut across individual regulated sectors, including how initiatives on product simplification, collective consumer action and support for disadvantaged consumers can empower consumers across the economy.

On the international stage

• We will continue to work closely with other consumer organisations to make the voice of GB consumers heard on European and wider international stage.

Across the rest of the economy

• If resources allow, we will look to continue elements of our work across the rest of the economy. Consumer Focus has a lot more to contribute to influencing the shape and culture of new financial services regulation, a new legal framework for copyright in the digital age and how harnessing user experience can improve public and private services.

Managing change and transition

• Depending on the decisions made about our future, we will engage in a substantial programme of change throughout the coming year.  Once we know the character and the timing of the changes, we will make every effort to keep all of our stakeholders informed about how we are making those changes work for consumers.

How can you help?

We want to hear from you about our broad areas of work and about our specific projects. Do these areas of work remain the right ones? Is there work we should stop doing or new areas of work that we should introduce to our work plan? Are there specific pieces of research or advocacy that need our attention?

We are asking for views on our work across the GB economy and for postal services in Northern Ireland.  Consumer Focus Scotland and Consumer Focus Wales will engage with their stakeholders on priority areas of work on behalf of consumers in Scotland and Wales.

The circumstances in which we have to construct our work plan are uncertain. Other than in our statutory areas of advocacy in energy markets and postal services it is difficult to make concrete proposals now for our work programme next year.

Your views on where we need to focus our efforts will help us to concentrate our fewer resources on the areas that matter most.

Contact us

You can send us your comments by email [con.res@consumerfocus.org.uk] before 1 March 2012.

Please indicate if you would like to talk to us in person about our work plan or if you want to know about how we are making the changes to the consumer landscape work for consumers.

Related documents

Annual Plan 2010/11

Annual Report and Accounts 2010/11

This report brings together complementary consumer research by Consumer Focus and the Energy Saving Trust that identifies lessons for the:

• Feed-in Tariff (FiT) reviews
• Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) development and delivery
• Green Deal development and delivery

Consumer Focus and the Energy Saving Trust support the Government’s development of a Green Deal and Energy Company Obligation for existing homes: to improve the housing stock and cut exposure to rising energy bills; and to cut carbon emissions. However, there are likely to be problems in this marketplace, the scale of which will depend on the development and resourcing of skills, standards and enforcement. With this report Consumer Focus brings together its survey of microgeneration consumers’ experience with the Energy Saving Trust’s research of consumer attitudes. We identify how these problems can be avoided both in the future of the FiT and in related consumer-facing low carbon policies.

The research follows consumers through the four main stages of attitudes and behaviours towards technology.

Read the Keeping FiT blog.

The Post Office Closure Programme was necessary to help get the Post Office network on a more stable footing as it was making heavy losses. However, it was inevitably going to be a difficult time for consumers.

In 2010, Consumer Focus embarked on a piece of research to explore the long term impacts of the Closure Programme and the effects on individuals and communities.

Devon was used as a case study for the research, as it is characterised by deeply rural areas with sparse populations, precisely the areas in which the impacts of the reduction of post office provision would most likely be pronounced.

A number of key lessons for further restructuring of the Post Office network have been identified following this research, and Devon has highlighted the critical importance that local stakeholders and community engagement can play to help mitigate the impacts that changes can bring. For the full story see our report ‘Devon Knows – long term impacts and lessons of the Post Office Closure Programme’.

These lessons will be important in light of the major changes that are due to occur to the Post Office network from the middle of 2012 onwards. In November 2010, the Government announced that 2,000 Post Office Locals and 4,000 Post Office Mains will be introduced across the network between 2012 and 2015.

We hope this report provides food for thought and some practical guidance for those with an interest in promoting the  consumer interest in future, whether they be other consumer bodies, regulators, policy makers or civic society groups.

Schools and other educational establishments depend on licences from collecting societies, or copyright licensing agencies, to enable the use of copyright protected works. The report was prepared by Pinsent Masons LLP for Becta, but with Becta’s abolition in April 2011 the report was not widely distributed. Since the report was completed in May 2010 there have been changes in the services offered by some licensing agencies, as well as changes to the policy directing school education and the role of local authorities. However, these changes have not diminished the relevance of the main findings of the report and the challenges offered by its recommendations for the debate today.

The report surveys copyright licensing for schools and the licences offered by more than 12 copyright licensing agencies for the educational use of copyrighted works in schools. Schools may be covered by blanket licences obtained by their local authority on their behalf or can obtain licences direct from the relevant licensing agency. The report identifies a range of problems with the current system and makes the general point that with the rapid development of digital technologies and e-learning the education licences available often do not, individually or collectively, cover the needs of schools today. While there are more than 12 licences for educational establishments, the report found that the existing licences do not cover all uses in educational establishments which may require a licence. These gaps mean schools are restricted in the resources they can use for many functions essential to the delivery of a modern curriculum.

The report identifies several options for reform, including the increased use of blanket licensing through local authorities and improved information provisions, collated from across the agencies with searchable databases to help schools identify what licences they need for particular work and what licences they already have in place. An effective licensing system could reduce the administrative burden and cost to educational establishments while increasing coverage of copyright materials available for education use. The outcome of such action would remove current barriers to the effective use of resources, allow pupils and  teachers increased freedom to operate within the scope of the law and relevant licensing schemes and support the effective delivery of a 21st century curriculum.

The report was commissioned by Becta in 2009 and Pinsent Masons LLP prepared the report on the basis of discussions with local authorities, who manage the purchase of licences for schools in some areas, and some of the licensing agencies. The report was completed by Pinsent Masons LLP in May 2010 under the title The UK Copyright Licensing Schemes in the Educational Sector. The report was provided to Consumer Focus and the NEN by Becta under a non-exclusive Open Government Licence. Consumer Focus and the NEN subsequently submitted the report to the call for evidence of the Independent Review of Intellectual Property and Growth, announced by the Prime Minister in November 2010. The report was referenced several times by the Hargreaves Review, as ‘Pinsent Masons LLP report for Becta’.

Consumer Focus and the NEN are publishing this report with only minor editorial amendments. To make the report more accessible we have added a list of abbreviations, summaries and have published the two schedules separately. The re-published report and its schedules are subject to an Open Government Licence, which supersedes any NEN or Consumer Focus copyright statements. The Open Government Licence does not cover the stock photos included in the report. The original report as provided by Pinsent Masons LLP to Becta in May 2010 is also subject to an Open Government Licence and can be found at http://bit.ly/r83Pos.

Learning the copyright lessons – Schedules (PDF 251KB)

Solid wall insulation is expensive, disruptive to consumers and entails major logistical effort. But it also has the potential to dramatically reduce the fuel costs of low-income consumers, many of whom live in solid wall housing, as well as improve health and well-being.

We commissioned the Association for the Conservation of Energy (ACE) to investigate the issues and barriers that will need addressing if the solid wall insulation industry is to take off.

Download the executive summary (PDF 384KB)

Download Scaling the solid wall (PDF 990KB)

The proposed new definition has a number of advantages over the existing definition, for example it takes into account housing costs and household size in calculating income. Thus, it gives a much better indication of the resources low income households have available to spend on fuel. However, a number of fuel poverty researchers and advocates have raised concerns about the ‘energy costs’ threshold which forms part of the proposed definition. These concerns relate to the implications of the threshold both for households classed as ‘fuel poor’ and for future fuel poverty and climate change policy.

Consumer Focus therefore commissioned Dr Richard Moore to carry out an analysis of the proposed definition and some possible options for setting an alternative ‘energy costs’ threshold. This report presents the results of this research. We consider it provides a valuable insight into fuel poverty and makes an important contribution towards the fuel poverty review. We hope that the review team takes heed of the research findings with respect to refining its proposed definition of fuel poverty.

The Government has said it would consider how best to ensure that, when providing customers with IHDs, suppliers meet consumers’ accessibility requirements in order to support customers to reduce their energy consumption in both the short and longer term. With this in mind Consumer Focus commissioned Ricability, a specialist consumer research organisation to review relevant reports, guidelines and published papers in order to shed light on factors that can affect usability of IHDs.

During our research, Consumer Focus, with the National Care Advisory Service (NCAS), involved care leavers as experts in order to identify their key drivers and barriers when trying to access public services. At first sight the findings are not unusual. Care leavers value the same drivers of customer service as other consumers. However, the findings reveal issues that are particularly important to care leavers. In particular how ‘soft’ customer service issues can become critical barriers for this group of service users.

Our report recommends a greater focus on improving customer service; delivering greater personalisation and support for care leavers; and providing greater consumer education before care leavers become independent.

We asked service users to rate their experiences in relation to the six drivers of satisfaction common to public service delivery; staff attitude, professionalism, accessibility, delivery, information and timeliness. The resulting scores form the Index, allowing comparisons to be made between different services, their relative strengths and weaknesses and where improvements need to be made. The Public sector service satisfaction index (PDF 668KB) contains more information about the comparison between different services.

The Index provides a valuable benchmark against which to measure the impact of the Government’s reform programme on the key factors that are vital to effective service delivery.

Reports by Government department:

• Cabinet Office (PDF 834KB)
• Department for Communities and Local Government (PDF 908KB)
• Department for Education (PDF 863KB)
• Department of Health (PDF 990KB)
• Department of Work and Pensions (PDF 852KB)
• Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (PDF 821KB)
• Home Office (PDF 852KB)
• Ministry of Justice (PDF 856KB)

Consumer Focus wanted to get a better understanding of consumers’ expenditure on fuel
and how this affected our understanding of fuel poverty. We have long recognised that low
income consumers tend to either:

• cut back on fuel expenditure, and as a result suffer cold homes, or
• try to maintain fuel expenditure and then either go into fuel debt or forego
  expenditure on other essential goods and services

We therefore commissioned the Centre for Sustainable Energy and Donald Hirsch of
Loughborough University to investigate these issues further, particularly with respect to the
relationship between consumers’ actual fuel expenditure and so-called ‘required fuel
expenditure’.

Our summary is available to download using the button in the top right of the screen and the full research report Understanding fuel expenditure is also available.