The New National Consumer Council, operating as Consumer Futures, was a

non-departmental public body In the United Kingdom, non-departmental public body (NDPB) is a classification applied by the Cabinet Office, Treasury, the Scottish Government and the Northern Ireland Executive to public sector organisations that have a role in the process of ...

and statutory

consumer organisation Consumer organizations are advocacy groups that seek to protect people from corporate abuse like unsafe products, predatory lending, false advertising, astroturfing and pollution. Consumer Organizations may operate via protests, litigation, camp ...

in England,

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

, and, for postal services,

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. It was established by the

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 ...

, and began operations in 2008 by the merging of Postwatch, Energywatch and the Welsh, Scottish and National Consumer Councils under the Consumer Focus brand. Following the

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2010 Spending Review A spending review, or occasionally a comprehensive spending review, is a governmental process in the United Kingdom carried out by HM Treasury to set firm expenditure limits and, through public service agreements, define the key improvements that t ...

, funding from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) for Consumer Focus was redirected to the

Citizens Advice Bureau Citizens AdviceCitizens Advice is the operating name of The National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux which is the umbrella charity for a wider network of local advice centres. The abbreviation CitA is sometimes used to refer to this nation ...

service, and in May 2013 Consumer Focus was renamed Consumer Futures. It was abolished as a non-departmental public body on 1 April 2014, when it was merged into Citizens Advice.

History

The National Consumer Council was established by the

, which merged Postwatch, Energywatch and the Welsh, Scottish and National Consumer Councils as a single organisation under the Consumer Focus brand. The Act gave Consumer Focus the right to investigate any consumer complaint if it is 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. The Government announced in October 2010 that as part of its spending review, Consumer Focus would be abolished, and the Consumer Direct helpline would be taken over by the Citizens Advice Bureau network. The Government announced that some Consumer Focus' functions would transfer to Citizens Advice, Citizens Advice Scotland and the General Consumer Council for Northern Ireland following the

Public Bodies Act 2011 The Public Bodies Act 2011c 24 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. I ...

and any necessary secondary legislation.

Areas of work

The National Consumer Council undertook a study published in 2008 which found issues with the way 17 major IT businesses had been using End-user licence agreements (EULAs) for

computer software Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consists ...

, and asked the Office of Fair Trading to undertake an investigation. One of the first causes taken up by Consumer Focus after its establishment was fuel poverty. In 2010, Consumer Focus examined payday loans in the United Kingdom, as the number of people taking out

payday loans A payday loan (also called a payday advance, salary loan, payroll loan, small dollar loan, short term, or cash advance loan) is a short-term unsecured loan, often characterized by high interest rates. The term "payday" in payday loan refers to ...

in the UK in recent years has increased four-fold, to 1.2 million in 2009.Consumer Focus, 14 August 2010
Number of payday loan users has quadrupled – Consumer Focus research reveals
/ref>Marie Burton, Consumer Focus
Keeping the plates spinning: Perceptions of payday loans in Great Britain
/ref>

Predecessor organisations

Energywatch

Energywatch was charged with protecting and promoting the interests of all

gas Gas is one of the four fundamental states of matter (the others being solid, liquid, and plasma). A pure gas may be made up of individual atoms (e.g. a noble gas like neon), elemental molecules made from one type of atom (e.g. oxygen), or ...

and electricity consumers in England, Scotland and Wales. Energywatch was created in November 2000 under the provisions of the

Utilities Act 2000 The Utilities Act 2000c 27 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 1986, the Gas Act 1995 and Electricity Act 1989. One of the greatest changes w ...

. The last Chief Executive was

Allan Asher Allan James Asher is an Australian lawyer, consumer advocate and campaigner. Early life, education and personal life Asher was born in Sydney on 16 February 1951, one of eight children. He grew up in the western suburbs of Sydney at Eastern Cree ...

. 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 to

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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, debt issues, and disconnection. In 2008, Energywatch was disbanded and replaced with Consumer Direct. Whilst Consumer Direct retained the primary function of Energywatch, to give advice over the telephone on energy related issues, it ceased to take on individual cases to resolve them.

Postwatch

Postwatch (officially: the Consumer Council for Postal Services) was a

set up in January 2001 – by Section 2 of the

Postal Services Act 2000 The Postal Services Act 2000 (c.26) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, relating to the postal industry. It established an industry regulator, Postcomm (s.1), a consumer watchdog, Postwatch (s.2), required a "universal service" o ...

to help customers with any issues or complaints they had with any Postal Service (including the Royal Mail) in the United Kingdom. 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. Postwatch worked to ensure customers receive the best possible 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 A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

. 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.

References

External links

* *The National Consumer Council'
website
available via

The National Archives National archives are central archives maintained by countries. This article contains a list of national archives. Among its more important tasks are to ensure the accessibility and preservation of the information produced by governments, both ...

Ombudsman Services

Compare business energy prices
{{Energy in the United Kingdom, govreg Consumer protection in the United Kingdom Defunct public bodies of the United Kingdom Department for Business, Innovation and Skills Postal system of the United Kingdom Royal Mail 2008 establishments in the United Kingdom 2014 disestablishments in the United Kingdom