New report on welfare cuts

A new report by Oxfam and the New Policy Institute says the coalition’s welfare cuts have pushed 1.75 million of the UK’s poorest households deeper into poverty, leaving more families struggling to cover food and energy bills.

The report highlights a drop in the overall value of benefits, which rose by less than inflation, as well as changes to housing benefit and council tax support that have forced some families into paying housing costs they were previously deemed too poor to pay.

The report found that 300,000 households have experienced a cut in housing benefit, 920,000 a reduction in council tax support and 480,000 a cut in both.

As a result of these cuts in housing benefit and changes to council tax support, around 1.75 million or the poorest families have seen an absolute cut in their income. Of these, 480,000 families are seeing their benefits being cut twice as they are affected by more than one of the changes. Whether a family is affected and by how much varies based on a range of factors which are largely out of the control of the individual. They depend on council tax band, the cost of local housing, family size and property size. But they all apply irrespective of income. The government needs to instate an ‘absolute minimum’ level of support. It should apply regardless of local authority or tenure and it should be high enough to prevent people from having to walk the breadline

Shelter warns of families on financial knife-edge

why_cash_is_cool-edited Shelter warns that almost 4 million families are living without any safety net.

Some 3.8 million families have only enough money to pay their rent or mortgage for a month if they lose their jobs, the housing charity has said.

Shelter, which surveyed 7,500 people, said high housing costs and stagnating wages meant many were living on a financial knife-edge.

The survey

Shelter’s findings were based on a YouGov survey of 7,500 adults who pay rent or a mortgage. It says 44% of working families with children under the age of 18 could be one paycheque away from losing their homes if they became unemployed because they have little or no savings.

Its researchers also found that 29% of families would immediately be unable to afford to pay for their home if they lost their income.

FCA wants financial services firms to stop charging expensive rates for calls

FCA_logo.2 The FCA is concerned that customers are being charged high rates to contact financial services firms and will consult with industry, consumer organisations and consumers to ensure customer calls are more affordable.

According to FCA boss Martin Wheatley:

“We want to update our rules so that they best meet your needs as a customer. This means charges for both consumer helplines and complaint lines being capped at the cost of a basic rate call – so the same price as calling your neighbour or a family member on their landline”.

FCA will issue a consultation but wants firms to look at their practices in advance of this.

Consultation

The FCA’s consultation will propose the standardisation of the rules so that charges for consumer help, and complaint, lines are capped at the cost of a basic rate call. In a letter to consumer group, Which?, the FCA said it believed that the introduction of requirements in the Consumer Rights Directive, designed to ensure firms no longer charge a premium for calls, should apply to all financial services firms. The Directive requires firms to offer basic rate numbers for enquiries but at present, this does not apply to financial services firms.

In the same consultation the FCA will also look at a number of proposals to improve complaints handling by financial services firms including looking at complaints reporting and responding to the recommendations of the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards. The consultation will be published later this year.

Consumers International publishes agenda for fair mobile services

t-mobile-phone On 12th March Consumers International (CI) published its Consumer Agenda for Fair Mobile Services ahead of World Consumer Rights Day (WCRD) on Saturday 15 March.

In the run up to 15 March, consumer groups will be making one big call on mobile phone service providers to demand better services for the 7 billion mobile users across the globe.

Mobile rip offs are commonplace – from holidaymakers being stung by four figure roaming bills abroad, to customers tricked into paying to receive text messages. With smartphones set to function as a remote control for more and more aspects of our lives, consumer groups believe now is the time to ensure big mobile companies are held to account for unfair, substandard services.

CI’s demands

In consultation with consumer groups around the world, CI has drawn up a Consumer Agenda for Fair Mobile Services, which outlines what the consumer rights movement wants to see changed. This includes demands that telecom companies:

•provide consumers with access to an affordable, reliable service

•provide consumers with fair contracts explained in clear, complete and accessible language

•provide consumers with fair and transparent billing

•provide consumers with security and power over their own information, and

•listen and respond to consumer complaints.

FCA announces new rules for payday lenders

cash-1-edited The Financial Conduct Authority has confirmed the final rules that will govern the £200bn a year consumer credit market, which includes approximately 50,000 firms, from 1 April 2014.

The rule changes will give consumers additional protection from rogue practices and put the onus on credit providers to ensure that they treat customers fairly at all times.

The biggest changes come for payday lenders and debt management companies, including:

limiting -overs to two
restricting (to two) the number of times a firm can seek repayment using a continuous payment authority (CPA)
a requirement to provide information to customers on how to get free debt advice
requiring debt management firms to pass on more money to creditors from day one of a debt management plan, and to protect client money

Consumer credit providers will need to ensure that they give customers the right information to make informed choices, that their services meet consumer needs, and that people in difficulty are treated fairly. Read more here.

Thematic review

The FCA have also announced they will start a review of the market as soon as they take over responsibility on 1st April:

Payday lenders and other high cost short term lenders will be the subject of an in-depth thematic review into the way they collect debts and manage borrowers in arrears and forbearance, the Financial Conduct Authority announced on 12th March.

The review will be one of the very first actions the FCA takes as regulator of consumer credit, which begins on 1 April 2014, and reinforces its commitment to protecting consumers – one of its statutory objectives. It is just one part of FCA’s comprehensive and forward looking agenda for tackling poor practice in the high cost short term loan market. Read more here.

Money Advice Trust welcomed the rules saying:

We believe the transfer of regulatory control to the FCA will provide a boost for consumer protections. We especially welcome rules that require customers with high-cost credit in clear financial difficulty to be referred to free debt advice services. Nine out of ten people who speak to a National Debtline adviser say they feel more in control of their finances as a result.

The new two tier regime of regulatory scrutiny should help ensure consumers are protected from some of the worst practices in the industry. Mandatory affordability checks have the potential to prevent much of the harm we see in some credit markets, and so it is important these are rigorously enforced.

DECC consults on the future of the Energy Company Obligation

Energy-pic Today DECC published the consultation document on the future of the Energy Company Obligation (ECO). The consultation will run from 5th March to the 16th April.

DECC says:

The majority of these proposals were highlighted as part of Government’s announcement on 2 December 2013. As set out in the December announcement we are proposing these changes to reduce pressures on consumer bills and ensure ECO provides value for money for energy consumers; while continuing to help tackle fuel poverty, support the development of sustainable energy efficiency supply chain and improve the energy efficiency of our housing stock.

While it is clearly right that we look to ensure government policies do not unreasonably impact on consumer bills, we also recognise the impact of these proposals on the energy efficiency market. In particular we recognise that the uncertainty created by the proposed changes has had an effect on delivery on the ground and that consequently the supply chain has seen a contraction in demand.

This consultation is a key opportunity to make sure we implement these changes as effectively as possible, taking into account industry needs and the experience of ECO delivery over the last year.

Consultation closes 16th April 2014.

FCA publishes review of mortgage arrears handling

FCA_logo.2 The review looked at how firms treat customers in arrears or financial difficulty. This is of particular concern as the possibility of interest rate rises looms. The review finds that arrears management in firms has improved since the last review. However, mortgage lenders and administrators need to place greater emphasis on delivering consistently fair outcomes for customers based on their individual circumstances.

FCA is working with industry to help them improve their practices. This includes better support and empowerment of front-line staff and greater flexibility to support fair treatment of individual customers, based on their specific personal and financial circumstances. FCA also wants firms to take proactive steps to identify borrowers who could be susceptible to potential interest rate rises and have strategies to treat these customers fairly.

Consumer Rights Bill: written evidence

Parliament-2-edited Written evidence can be submitted until 13th March. Members might like to consider responding. See here for more, and details on how to respond. According to the guidance “Your submission should address matters contained within the Bill and concentrate on issues where you have a special interest or expertise, and factual information of which you would like the Committee to be aware. It is helpful if the submission includes a brief introduction about you or your organisation. The submission should not have been previously published or circulated elsewhere.”

Welfare reform: implications for utility companies and creditors

This paper by Citizens Advice summarises the changes to benefits that have already taken effect and those still to come, and looks at what companies can do to identity customers in difficulty. It outlines steps companies can take to understand their customers, to proactively work with them, forbear from taking action that may make matters worse, and refer on those who need help.

It is also important that creditors are proactive in looking out for signs of potential financial difficulty and offering support accordingly. Forbearance and breathing space from their creditors will help customers who are having to adapt to a reduced income or a change in the way that their benefits are paid to avoid reaching breaking point.

Consumer Rights Bill

parliament-pic-edited This bill is aimed at simplifying and clarifying consumer rights, streamlining and bringing together the complex mix of consumer protection legislation which currently exists. If it is simpler for consumers to understand their rights and responsibilities, they may be more likely to exercise them effectively.

Consumers will be able to:

get some money back after 1 failed repair of faulty goods (or 1 faulty replacement)
demand that substandard services are redone or failing that get a price reduction
a set 30 day time period to return faulty goods and get a full refund
challenge terms and conditions which aren’t fair or are hidden in the small-print: for example airlines charging baggage fees will have to make them really clear when consumers are booking to avoid legal challenge

Digital content is included for the first time.

Citizens Advice strongly welcomed the bill, calling for minor adjustments only. In particular they want collective redress provision to extend to all unfair practices, not just competition cases as currently proposed. See here for a Parliamentary Briefing from them on the Bill.

ESAN

The Essential Services Access Network