Trading Standards Institute calls for fair outcomes for all as resources become stretched
There needs to be a UK consumer protection regime “that delivers fair and adequately resourced consumer protection outcomes for all – not just in areas that have a well resourced trading standards service”, the Trading Standards Institute has argued.
The call came as the TSI warned that trading standards resources were increasingly stretched “due to cuts and vagaries of local government funding”.
A fair regime for all was also one part of what the TSI called a ‘triple lock’ of key elements for the new Consumer Landscape. The others are:
- Growth in the confidence and skills of consumers. This would be achieved through education, peer to peer support, or by accessing information that is easily found and presented in a user friendly manner.
- Empowered consumers who are well supported to access justice. “We believe advice services such as Consumer Direct and other advice services that make the process of securing a fair deal and justice are a crucial cog in the system.”
The TSI set out this vision in its interim response to the government’s Consumer Landscape consultation.
Ron Gainsford, the Institute’s chief executive, said: “We welcome a review into the current consumer landscape to drive efficiencies into the system and to facilitate a more effectively joined up approach to consumer protection.
“Consumer confidence is integral to their willingness to spend. Our economy and businesses of all sizes desperately need confident, empowered consumers. ”
The Institute added that it wanted to see more policy coherence across government in its demands upon trading standards.
Gainsford said: “It is important to emphasise that trading standards professionals and services up and down the country are doing the very best they can with the reduced resources that they have to keep our communities safe, healthy and prosperous.
“The appetite to embrace change is evident within the trading standards community but central and local government has to play its shared part in supporting the coherence in delivery and funding.”
The TSI chief executive said it was optimistic that the institutional review of the consumer landscape would allow the system to be redesigned to be stronger, more coherent and fit for purpose.
“But it remains difficult to assess to what extent this will happen when the consultation document is largely silent on the challenges caused by current base level resources and any new levels of investment that may be invested in the new regime,” he argued.
The Institute welcomed the recognition of TSI as the new home for the business consumer education role, currently with the Office of Fair Trading, to work alongside Citizens Advice as the new single provider of consumer advice and education.
The TSI is running a National Trading Standards Conversation to inform its final, full response to the Government’s Empowering and Protecting Consumers consultation.
Philip Hoult
