WHAT IS CONSUMER FOCUS FOR?

By Ed Mayo - Chief Executive of Consumer Focus.

Consumer Focus started life on 1 October and what a couple of weeks we have had since then.
There have been emergency moves to keep our banks solvent, and share prices in the UK have experienced their sharpest fall in more than 20 years.
Consumers face huge uncertainty and a small but growing number are already facing real financial difficulties.
It feels as if there could not have been a more important time for a new consumer champion (we have been called the "superwatchdog") to get to work.

What are we?
We are a campaign organisation, just as Greenpeace is for the environment or Amnesty International for human rights.
So the best news for us was that the first campaign that we ran - in partnership with many others, I should add - came good very quickly.
The energy regulator agreed that companies should cut fuel bills for the poorest consumers, who have paid over the odds in the past (we estimated £540m) when using pre-payment meters.
This has been a long-running injustice and although the regulator will now consult before final action, we are hopeful that companies that have inflated the real costs will see sense.
This is only part of the campaign work that is needed to get action on fuel poverty.
This winter, we estimate that more than 5 million households will be in fuel poverty, a huge increase from the 3.5 million just two years ago.
Many will struggle to heat their homes this winter, while others may find their health affected or fall into debt.
For the UK's most vulnerable consumers, hard economic times are nothing new.
They must honour their debts, not only financially, but in the way they treat their customers
The current crisis in the financial markets is frightening for everyone.
Consumer Focus welcomes the government's attempts to bring stability to our economy.
We argued in public in our first days for raising the level of protection for depositors.
Deposits are a special case for consumers. It is not like investing money.
If you put money in the bank or building society, you need to know it is safe, because otherwise we are back to money under the mattress.
The rise to £50,000 of coverage and the wider rescue plan for banks is therefore absolutely the right thing for government to have done.
If banks are too big to fail and therefore will be rescued if things go wrong, they also have return obligations to us as taxpayers and consumers.
They must honour their debts, not only financially, but in the way they treat their customers.
That means fairer and more sensitive treatment of customers struggling to pay off a loan or meet their mortgage payments, as well as more information and support about how we can protect ourselves financially.
We are well placed for arguing for increased responsibility in the way businesses and government treat consumers.
As part of the legislation that created Consumer Focus, there are enhanced obligations for energy and postal suppliers to deal effectively with customer complaints and increased advice and support available on any consumer issue from Consumer Direct (08454 04 05 06).
As one organisation, we will take a more co-ordinated approach to tackling the issues that affect us all.
We will be able to engage more effectively with government, business and regulators and will have stronger powers and more teeth.
That includes the power to demand information from companies on specific issues of consumer concern and greater investigative powers.
Our fundamental priority will be to make a difference to people's lives - by championing change, campaigning for existing problems to be addressed and ensuring that vulnerable consumers are given the protection and support they urgently need.
As we face widespread economic turmoil, and in what we hope will be a more settled future, we promise to be passionately independent in our work for consumers, working with people to put them first, and ready to stand up to those who do not.

The opinions expressed are those of the author and are not held by the BBC unless specifically stated. The material is for general information only and does not constitute investment, tax, legal or other form of advice. You should not rely on this information to make (or refrain from making) any decisions. Always obtain independent, professional advice for your own particular situation.

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