Consumer Focus
Encyclopedia
Consumer Focus is a statutory consumer organisation in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

, and, for postal services, Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

, formed in 2008 by the merging Postwatch, Energywatch and the Welsh, Scottish and National Consumer Councils. It is established by the Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Act 2007
Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Act 2007
The Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Act 2007 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Bill for this Act was introduced into the Parliament of the United Kingdom on 16 November 2006 and completed its passage through the House of Lords on 6 February 2007...

.

The Government announced as part of the October 2010 spending review that Consumer Focus will be abolished, with the Consumer Direct helpline taken over by Citizens Advice. The Government announced that some Consumer Focus' functions were likely to transfer to Citizens Advice, Citizens Advice Scotland and the General Consumer Council for Northern Ireland following the passage of the Public Bodies Bill and any necessary secondary legislation. The transfer is expected for Spring 2013.

History

Consumer Focus was created on 1 October 2008 by the merger of Postwatch, Energywatch and the Welsh, Scottish and National Consumer Councils and is established by the Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Act 2007
Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Act 2007
The Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Act 2007 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Bill for this Act was introduced into the Parliament of the United Kingdom on 16 November 2006 and completed its passage through the House of Lords on 6 February 2007...

. The Act gives Consumer Focus the right to investigate any consumer complaint if they are of wider interest, the right to open up information from providers, the power to conduct research and the ability to make an official super-complaint about failing services. According to Consumer Focus it "operates across the whole of the economy, persuading businesses, public services and policy makers to put consumers at the heart of what they do."

Funding

Consumer Focus is funded by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is a ministerial department of the United Kingdom Government created on 5 June 2009 by the merger of the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills and the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform .-Ministers:The BIS...

 (BIS) and from licenses paid by energy suppliers and the postal industry.

Energywatch

Energywatch was charged with protecting and promoting the interests of all gas
Natural gas
Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...

 and electricity
Electricity
Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...

 consumers in England, Scotland and Wales. Energywatch was created in November 2000 under the provisions of the Utilities Act 2000
Utilities Act 2000
The Utilities Act 2000 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that deals with the gas and electrical markets in the UK. It mainly modified the Gas Act 1995 and Electricity Act 1989. One of the greatest changes was that integrated electricity companies were required to have separate...

. The last Chief Executive
Chief executive officer
A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...

 was Allan Asher
Allan Asher
Allan Asher was the Commonwealth Ombudsman of Australia and a former deputy chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. He was a board member of the United Kingdom Office of Fair Trading and CEO of the consumer watchdog organisation EnergyWatch.He joined Energy Watch from the U.K...

.

The organisation offered consumer information and advice, and pursued certain complaints which the energy suppliers have failed to resolve. In March 2005, Energywatch made a super-complaint
Super-complaint
A super-complaint is a complaint made in the UK by a state-approved 'super-complainant'/watchdog organisation on behalf of consumers, which is fast-tracked by the Office of Fair Trading....

 to OFGEM about suppliers' billing practices. In response, OFGEM reduced the period within which suppliers could back-bill customers, and required suppliers to introduce a Billing Code of Practice on billing and an ombudsman scheme to resolve difficult complaints. Other issues tackled by Energywatch included energy mis-selling, customer transfers and debt and disconnection.

Postwatch

Postwatch (officially: the Consumer Council for Postal Services) was a non-departmental public body
Non-departmental public body
In the United Kingdom, a non-departmental public body —often referred to as a quango—is a classification applied by the Cabinet Office, Treasury, Scottish Government and Northern Ireland Executive to certain types of public bodies...

 set up in January 2001 - by Section 2 of the Postal Services Act 2000
Postal Services Act 2000
The Postal Services Act 2000 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, relating to the postal industry. It established an industry regulator, Postcomm , a consumer watchdog, Postwatch , required a "universal service" of post to be provided and set up rules for licensing postal services...

 to help customers with any issues or complaints they had with any Postal Service (including the Royal Mail
Royal Mail
Royal Mail is the government-owned postal service in the United Kingdom. Royal Mail Holdings plc owns Royal Mail Group Limited, which in turn operates the brands Royal Mail and Parcelforce Worldwide...

) in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

. It was funded by, and was accountable to, the Department of Trade and Industry and from 2007 the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform was a United Kingdom government department. The department was created on 28 June 2007 on the disbanding of the Department of Trade and Industry , and was itself disbanded on 6 June 2009 on the creation of the Department for Business,...

.

Postwatch worked to ensure customers receive the best possible postal service
Mail
Mail, or post, is a system for transporting letters and other tangible objects: written documents, typically enclosed in envelopes, and also small packages are delivered to destinations around the world. Anything sent through the postal system is called mail or post.In principle, a postal service...

. As well as dealing with consumer queries and complaints, Postwatch investigated matters that were relevant to users of UK postal services or relating to the number and location of post offices. Postwatch was directed by an appointed part-time Council (with an appointed Chair), and a Chief Executive (not a Council Member). The final Chief Executive was Howard Webber.

Areas of work

One of the first causes taken up by Consumer Focus after its establishment was fuel poverty
Fuel poverty
A household is said to be in fuel poverty when they cannot afford to keep adequately warm at reasonable cost, given it's income. The term is mainly used in the UK, Ireland and New Zealand, although the concept also applies everywhere in the world where poverty may be present.As the term fuel...

. In 2010, Consumer Focus examined payday loans in the United Kingdom
Payday loans in the United Kingdom
Payday loans in the United Kingdom are a rapidly growing industry, with four times as many people using such loans in 2009 compared to 2006 - in 2009 1.2 million people took out 4.1 million loans, with total lending amounting to £1.2 billion. The average loan size is around £300, and two-thirds of...

, as the number of people taking out payday loans in the UK in recent years has increased four-fold, to 1.2 million in 2009.

See also

  • CAMRA
  • Citizens Advice Bureau
    Citizens Advice Bureau
    A Citizens Advice Bureau is one of a network of independent charities throughout the UK that give free, confidential information and advice to help people with their money, legal, consumer and other problems....

  • Consumer Direct
    Consumer Direct
    Consumer Direct is a Government-funded call centre providing basic consumer advice in the United Kingdom. Information is also provided on their website ....

  • Energy policy of the United Kingdom
    Energy policy of the United Kingdom
    The current energy policy of the United Kingdom is set out in the Energy White Paper of May 2007 and Low Carbon Transition Plan of July 2009, building on previous work including the 2003 Energy White Paper and the Energy Review Report in 2006...

  • Energy use and conservation in the United Kingdom
    Energy use and conservation in the United Kingdom
    Energy use in the United Kingdom stood at 3,894.6 kilogrammes of oil equivalent per capita in 2005 compared to a world average of 1,778.0. In 2008, total energy consumed was 9.85 exajoules - around 2% of the estimated 474 EJ worldwide total...

  • Energy switching services in the UK
    Energy switching services in the UK
    Energy switching services are a kind of company that has come to exist since the EU began deregulating the gas and electricity markets, to open them to international competition, in 1996. Progress has been uneven across member countries, but in the UK there is now open competition among suppliers...

  • Energylinx
    Energylinx
    Energylinx is an international energy consultancy firm that provides dedicated consultancy services and energy comparator services operates throughout Europe, the US, Canada and Australia....

  • Office of Gas and Electricity Markets
    Office of Gas and Electricity Markets
    The Office of Gas and Electricity Markets , supporting the Gas and Electricity Markets Authority , is the government regulator for the electricity and downstream natural gas markets in Great Britain...

     (industry regulator)
  • Postwatch
  • Which?
    Which?
    Which? is a product-testing and consumer campaigning charity with a magazine, website and various other services run by Which? Ltd ....


External links

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