Responding to the announcement by Government today, Mike O’Connor CBE, Chief Executive of Consumer Focus, said:
‘Consumer Focus has achieved big wins for consumers in just two years – including a £70 million pound energy bill refund and cash ISA reforms saving over £15 million a year. We’ve delivered our biggest results in the last few months but the biggest challenges for consumers are ahead, with major reforms to the energy, post and financial services markets.
I am immensely proud of what we have achieved. Government has decided to transfer at least some of our functions to Citizens Advice and Citizens Advice Scotland. The issue now is not who does the work but that the work is done well, at a time when consumers are facing difficult economic circumstances, especially those who are vulnerable and whom Parliament has given us a particular duty to protect.
What matters now, is that the transfer happens in a way that works in consumers’ interests. The expertise and knowledge that has enabled us to fight for consumers must not be lost. Changes must not be at the expense of the public’s rights and needs – which organisations like Consumer Focus were created to protect.’
ENDS
