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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 o ...
and statutory consumer organisation in England,
Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...
,
Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
, and, for postal services,
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...
. It was established by the Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Act 2007, 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
UK Government His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central government, central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
's 2010 Spending Review, funding from the
Department for Business, Innovation and Skills The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) was a ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It was created by the Gordon Brown premiership on 5 June 2009 by the merger of the Department for Innovation, Uni ...
(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 natio ...
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 Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Act 2007, 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 The General Consumer Council for Northern Ireland (GCCNI) was created by the Government in 1985 and is funded by the Department for the Economy (DfE). The body aims to represent consumer A consumer is a person or a group who intends to order, ...
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 of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for t ...
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 consists of computer programs that instruct the Execution (computing), execution of a computer. Software also includes design documents and specifications. The history of software is closely tied to the development of digital comput ...
, and asked the
Office of Fair Trading The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) was a non-ministerial government department of the United Kingdom, established by the Fair Trading Act 1973, which enforced both consumer protection and competition law, acting as the United Kingdom's economi ...
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 Payday loans in the United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental m ...
, 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. These loans are typically designed to cover ...
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 a state of matter that has neither a fixed volume nor a fixed shape and is a compressible fluid. A ''pure gas'' is made up of individual atoms (e.g. a noble gas like neon) or molecules of either a single type of atom ( elements such as ...
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 2000 (c. 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 chan ...
. The last Chief Executive was
Allan Asher Allan James Asher (born February 16, 1951) 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 suburb ...
. 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 A super-complaint is a complaint made in the UK by a state-approved "super-complainant" or watchdog organisation on behalf of consumers, which was fast-tracked to a higher authority such as the Office of Fair Trading (prior to its dissolution on 1 ...
to
OFGEM The Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem) is the government regulator for the electricity and downstream natural gas markets in Great Britain. It was formed by the merger of the Office of Electricity Regulation (OFFER) and Office of G ...
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 Consumer Direct was a Government-funded call centre providing basic consumer advice in the United Kingdom. Information was also provided on their website (see below). Following a review by government in 2010, Consumer Direct ceased to operate in Ma ...
. 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
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 o ...
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" ...
to help customers with any issues or complaints they had with any Postal Service (including the
Royal Mail Royal Mail Group Limited, trading as Royal Mail, is a British postal service and courier company. It is owned by International Distribution Services. It operates the brands Royal Mail (letters and parcels) and Parcelforce Worldwide (parcels) ...
) 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 The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) was a Departments of the United Kingdom Government, United Kingdom government department. The department was created on 28 June 2007 on the disbanding of the Department of Trade ...
. Postwatch worked to ensure customers receive the best possible
postal service The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letters, and parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid-19th century, national postal sy ...
. 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 Post, POST, or posting may refer to: Postal services * Mail, the postal system, especially in Commonwealth of Nations countries ** An Post, the Irish national postal service ** Canada Post, Canadian postal service ** Deutsche Post, German posta ...
. 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.


See also

*
Consumer Direct Consumer Direct was a Government-funded call centre providing basic consumer advice in the United Kingdom. Information was also provided on their website (see below). Following a review by government in 2010, Consumer Direct ceased to operate in Ma ...
* Energy policy of the United Kingdom *
Energy use and conservation in the United Kingdom Total energy consumption in the United Kingdom was 142.0million tonnes of oil equivalent (1,651TWh) in 2019. In 2014, the UK had an energy consumption ''per capita'' of 2.78tonnes of oil equivalent (32.3MWh) compared to a world average of 1 ...
*
Energy switching services in the UK Energy switching services are companies that have come to exist since the EU began deregulating the gas and electricity markets, to open them to competition, in 1996.UK energy markets deregulated in 1996. Article retrieved 4 October 2013 https://w ...
*
Office of Gas and Electricity Markets The Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem) is the government regulator for the electricity and downstream natural gas markets in Great Britain. It was formed by the merger of the Office of Electricity Regulation (OFFER) and Office of G ...
(industry regulator) *
Which? ''Which?'' is a United Kingdom brand name that promotes informed consumer choice in the purchase of goods and services by testing products, highlighting inferior products or services, raising awareness of consumer rights, and offering indepen ...


References


External links

* *The National Consumer Council'
website
available via
The National Archives National archives are the archives of a country. The concept evolved in various nations at the dawn of modernity based on the impact of nationalism upon bureaucratic processes of paperwork retention. Conceptual development From the Middle Ages i ...

Energy 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