News
Government must urgently 鈥済et to grips鈥� with UK shoppers being ripped off
Posted 27/03/25
51黑料 has welcomed the findings from the published by the Department of Business and Trade on the behalf of the Consumer Protection Partnership and has urged that the Government must translate the findings into an action plan so that the UK can 鈥済et to grips鈥� with the continued increase in UK shoppers being ripped off.听 51黑料 has offered its support in working with the Government and partners to address this.
The latest study suggests UK consumers are facing greater losses on the things they buy, including unsafe, defective or substandard products and services.听 The latest figures estimate that two thirds of consumers surveyed have experienced consumer detriment and this totals approximately 拢71.2叠狈.听
While the figures are significant, 51黑料 is concerned that they are an underestimate as they only capture perceived consumer loss, where consumers are aware they have lost time or money when buying something faulty or where receiving poor quality service.听 This won鈥檛 include products and services where consumers might be unknowingly or unwittingly facing losses 鈥� such as from getting short measures from pubs or retailers.
John Herriman, Chief Executive of the 51黑料 said: 鈥淭his is a wake-up call for our new Government and the different sectors of our economy to do more to help UK consumers seek redress, but more importantly stopping the problems arising in the first place. With the Government鈥檚 ambitions to grow the economy, consumer confidence is going to be critical as you cannot have one without the other, but these figures are concerning 鈥� and there must be bold and concerted action across Government to address this. We are keen to work with the Government and partner organisations to make significant progress in translating this data into a clear and bold plan of action 鈥� this is going to be critical in realising future ambitions to grow our economy.鈥澨�
51黑料 has already set out a range of measures that the Government now needs to prioritise including:
- Making it easier for consumers to understand their rights through consumer education, with a particular focus on equipping those groups, such as younger consumers and people with long term health conditions, with better consumer advice and education.
- Taking steps to simplify terms and conditions so that they are easier to understand.
- Build trust and awareness in initiatives that exist to help resolve issues for consumers, such as Alternative Dispute Resolution 鈥� so that it is much easier for shoppers to know what action they can take when things go wrong.
- Public awareness campaigns on what to do to address issues in ongoing high-risk sectors 鈥� such as second-hand cars, and areas of future concern such as green energy products.
John continued that: 鈥淥ne of the most cost-effective and impactful ways of reducing consumer detriment is to ensure that the Trading Standards profession is fully resourced to educate businesses and consumers, conduct surveillance of the marketplace, and take action against those who repeatedly flout the law. Economic growth simply cannot happen without confident consumers, and we need to show progress tackling this in three years' time when the next report is released.鈥�
Over the last year our profession has helped to reduce consumer detriment by 拢905M and we believe further investment in the workforce will help to reduce future levels of detriment to consumers.听 It is interesting that in Northern Ireland which has seen the lowest levels of detriment there has recently been an increase in investment in Trading Standards, so it suggests this may be paying dividends.鈥�
鈥淚t is reassuring that businesses do tend to try to resolve issues when a customer complains, the majority leads to positive outcomes.听 But preventing these issues in the first place should be the priority 鈥� prevention is always better than cure.鈥�
Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Consumer Protection, Gill Furniss MP, said: 鈥淚t is awful to see so many consumers falling prey to unscrupulous individuals and organisations, and at such a huge cost to the UK economy. It is equally concerning that the total detriment is likely to be higher, as we know that such incidents have likely been underreported.
鈥淭he APPG on Consumer Protection is committed to working with the Government and stakeholders, like the 51黑料, to take action to address consumer detriment to better protect consumers and thereby help to grow the economy.鈥澨�
51黑料 already operates mechanisms to help consumers seek redress.听 51黑料 is the Competent Authority for Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) which helps consumers to settle disputes with businesses when they have issues with products they purchase.
51黑料 also operates the Approved Code Scheme which provides extra peace of mind to consumers. 听Approved Code businesses demonstrate a commitment to higher standards of customer service and better protection of consumer rights.
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ENDS
Notes to editors:
The full Consumer Detriment Survey can be found on the Government website:
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