Published: 23 May 2012
Energy Secretary Edward Davey has today published practical advice for energy consumers looking to get a better deal on their gas and electricity deals through ‘collective switching’, and guidance for organisations wanting to launch their own collective energy purchasing schemes. Businesses, consumer groups, local government groups, housing organisations, charities and energy regulator Ofgem also attended [...]
Published: 11 September 2009
Audrey Gallacher, Programme Leader, Company Performance and Customer Experience, Consumer Focus Putting consumers at the heart of your complaints handling Dods conference
Published: 7 September 2009
Audrey Gallacher, Head of Company Performance & Consumer Experience, Consumer Focus Consumer redress arrangements: Consumer Focus view Department for Business, Innovation and Skills consumer evaluation event
Published: 6 September 2009
Dhara Vyas, Senior Policy Advocate, Consumer Focus Fuel debt and consumer representation NEA annual conference
Published: 2 September 2009
Bid to create a new mobile phone giant must focus on benefits of mobile users Responding to the announcement today that Orange and Deutsche Telekom are to tie-up their UK businesses to form a new mobile phone giant, Audrey Gallacher of Consumer Focus, said: ‘Creating a new mobile phone giant could mean less genuine choice [...]
Published: 2 September 2009
Philip Cullum, Deputy Chief Executive of Consumer Focus, said: ‘As more and more companies like SkyEurope are going bust in the recession it is important that customers are given greater protection immediately. We are calling for customers who pay with their debit card to be given the same rights as those who pay by credit [...]
Published: 2 September 2009
Dhara Vyas, Senior Policy Advocate, Consumer Focus Energy debt and disconnection, information and support for advisers Newham financial Inclusion Forum
Published: 27 August 2009
Responding to Ofgem’s report on energy customer disconnections published today, Audrey Gallacher, energy expert at Consumer Focus, said: ‘It is welcome news that the number of people who get cut off from their energy supplier is starting to fall. However, we have also seen a rise in the levels of debt, with more consumers than [...]
Published: 26 August 2009
Underhand sales practices are rife, new research by independent consumer champion Consumer Focus reveals. Three in five consumers said they had fallen victim to traders who had acted illegally in the last two years. The report, ‘Waiting to be heard’, estimates the cost to consumers at £3.3 billion a year. However, new laws introduced to [...]
Published: 25 August 2009
Commenting on the Government’s new position on illicit file sharing Larry Whitty, Chairman, Consumer Focus said: “Cutting people off the internet for allegedly infringing copyright is disproportionate. And to do so without giving consumers the right to challenge the evidence against them undermines fundamental rights to a fair trial. “It would be unfair to enforce [...]
Published: 19 August 2009
Media contact: Emma Hayes Telephone: 020 7799 8004 Out of hours: 020 7799 8000 For immediate release Tuesday 18 August 2009 Consumer Focus’ response to Ofgem’s social tariffs report The increases to social tariff funding are a step in the right direction. However, Consumer Focus is warning that funding is still inadequate1 given that already [...]
Published: 6 August 2009
Consumer Focus’ response to Ofgem letter to energy firm Chief Executives In response to Ofgem’s letter today to energy suppliers, Consumer Focus welcomes Ofgem’s recognition of the pressure high energy prices will put on consumers this winter and is calling for further action from suppliers to cut prices for their customers. Robert Hammond, energy expert [...]
Published: 6 August 2009
One in ten consumers are not receiving goods or services they pay for in advance, with less than half (48 per cent) getting their money back, says Consumer Focus, who are today calling for tough new measures to protect consumer prepayments. Nearly 1.8 million consumers have not received an order paid for in advance during [...]
Published: 30 July 2009
Last chance for consumers to have their say on high fuel costs Consumer Focus is today calling on local people being penalised by high prices for heating oils and liquid petroleum gas (LPG) to have their say on the problems affecting them. The high prices of these fuels are leaving many people across the UK [...]
Published: 30 July 2009
Consumer Focus’ response to fuel poverty court case decision Jonathan Stearn, energy expert for Consumer Focus, said: ‘This is an extremely disappointing decision for the over five million households living in fuel poverty in the UK. The Government stands no chance of meeting its 2010 target and very little chance of meeting its 2016 target [...]
Published: 28 July 2009
The UK’s copyright laws have been rated “the worst, by far’” in a survey of 16 countries¹, beating the emerging economies of both Thailand and Argentina to last place, say Consumer Focus and the Open Rights Group today. The survey looked at how well each country’s copyright law balances the interests of rights holders with [...]
Published: 10 May 2012
Consumer watchdog sets out moves needed to make post office changes work better for customers Consumer Focus Scotland is calling for improvements to the new Post Office Local (PO Local) model, if it is to work better for consumers. The call comes as a new report from the watchdog – ‘Open all hours’ – shows [...]
Published: 11 April 2012
Responding to moves announced by the Deputy Prime Minister today (Weds 11 April) to help customers to get the best deal from their energy supplier, Trisha McAuley, Deputy Director of energy watchdog Consumer Focus Scotland, said: ‘There are some good ideas here. For example transferring customers to the best deal when their contract comes to [...]
Published: 10 April 2012
Scotland’s consumer watchdog says Community Benefit Funds from renewables can help tackle fuel poverty and improve energy efficiency Hundreds of thousands of pounds paid by renewable energy developers to local communities could be invested in improving energy efficiency and helping take thousands more Scottish homes out of fuel poverty. In a report published today, Reaping [...]
Published: 27 March 2012
Responding to the news of stamp prices announced today, Trisha McAuley, Deputy Director at Consumer Focus Scotland, said: ‘This is not great news for consumers in Scotland. I doubt anyone is going to think about the challenges facing Royal Mail when they are paying 60p for a first class stamp. Unfortunately, the economics of Royal [...]
Published: 15 March 2012
Rural residents ready for ‘switch’ to renewables 21st century heating in rural homes [Includes West Highland Housing Association Case Study] People living in rural Scotland are being encouraged to install renewable heating devices in their homes if they are not connected to the gas grid. Research by Scotland’s consumer watchdog, Consumer Focus Scotland, is to [...]
Published: 21 May 2012
Our recent research shows there is a need for change within the private rented sector, and it is pleasing to see that this need has been identified by the Welsh Government in their housing White Paper.
Published: 26 April 2012
Consumer Focus Wales is calling on park homes site owners and their representatives to work with them to help improve living conditions for residents. The consumer champion has spoken to every local authority and more than 250 park home owners across Wales. Now they are asking for site owners and [1]industry bodies to participate in [...]
Published: 11 April 2012
New proposals for changes to the consumer landscape were announced today by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. The Citizens Advice service will take on responsibility from Consumer Focus for representing consumers’ interests in unregulated sectors across Wales and England. This will leave a new, technical Regulated Industries Unit working with the energy and [...]
Published: 27 March 2012
‘There have been great strides in food safety, with the Welsh Government promising to make it law for the mandatory display of food hygiene ratings on food business premises. But we are disappointed that a year on from our last report, the Food Standards Agency food law enforcement review, commissioned by the Welsh Government, has yet to be published. It is 12 months overdue – this simply isn’t good enough for consumers in Wales.
Published: 27 March 2012
‘This is not great news for consumers... Unfortunately, the economics of Royal Mail meant that something had to give to maintain the Universal Service Obligation (USO).'
Published: 11 May 2012
Consumer Focus, the UK postal watchdog, is calling for improvements to the new Post Office Local (PO Local) model, if it is to work better for consumers. The call comes as a new report from the watchdog – ‘Open all hours’ – shows that while the new model has potential benefits, there are unresolved problems [...]
Published: 30 April 2012
A new report ‘A front office for government services’ by Consumer Focus Post, the postal consumer champion in Northern Ireland (NI), says post offices could and should be providing more key government services. This would have dual benefits of improving access to services for consumers and increasing the sustainability of the post office network that [...]
Published: 27 March 2012
Responding to the news of stamp prices announced today, Kellin McCloskey, Head of Postal Policy at Consumer Focus Post said: ‘This is not great news for consumers. I doubt anyone is going to think about the challenges facing Royal Mail when they are paying 60p for a first class stamp. Unfortunately, the economics of Royal [...]
Published: 15 March 2012
A new report published today by Consumer Focus Post – called ‘Letter Lockout’1 - explores the nature and extent of mail delivery problems experienced by consumers living in flats across Northern Ireland. While most residents of flats express high levels of satisfaction with their postal service provided by Royal Mail, the new findings also reveal [...]
Published: 9 March 2012
Responding to Post Office Limited’s plans for a network transformation programme which will turn 6,000 branches across the UK, including Northern Ireland, into Post Office ‘Locals’ and ‘Mains’1, Kellin McCloskey, Head of Postal Policy, Consumer Focus Post said: ‘The Post Office network needs to be put on a firm footing for the future, so it [...]
