Cable grants new funding for Citizens Advice
2 May 2014 02:48 PM
Business Secretary Vince
Cable yesterday (1 May 2014) confirmed that Citizens Advice is to receive an
extra £7.5 million.
Business Secretary Vince Cable
yesterday (1 May 2014) confirmed thatCitizens
Advice is to receive an extra £7.5 million to help consumers who
face problems with something they have bought or have been scammed by a rogue
trader.
This will bring the total
provided to Citizens Advice in the last year to £31
million.
This extra funding will enable
the national charity to better provide advice to more than 17 million people
online, over the phone and face to face.
This comes as Citizens Advice
has launched Scams Awareness Month. The aim is to raise the profile of steps
consumers can take to avoid the four most common scams – online,
doorstep, telephone and postal – and to encourage people to get in touch
for advice if they think they, a friend or relative has been a
victim.
Business Secretary Vince Cable
said:
Citizens Advice should always be
the first port of call when consumers have a problem and don’t know where
to turn. With this extra money they can provide an even better service and make
sure all consumers are getting a fair deal when buying
something.
Commenting on the additional
£7.5 million in funding for Citizens Advice, Chief Executive of Citizens
Advice Gillian Guy said:
At some point in their lives
everyone needs advice - anyone can be a Citizens Advice client. As a charity we
are the bedrock of local support, and as communities expand to exist in the
digital sphere people need to be able to find help there too.
This investment
from BIS will reach 17 million people across England and Wales, as we
enable our tireless staff and volunteers in Citizens Advice Bureaux across the
country to provide advice online and over the phone. By helping people to help
themselves and supporting those who seek advice over email or during a quick
phone call in their lunch break, we reach more people in ways that are most
convenient to them – allowing our advisers to give others the in-depth
face-to-face guidance they need.
The Business Secretary’s
speech also outlined the key changes that government has made to the
competition regime and consumer landscape. These include:
- amendments to the Consumer
Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations – coming into force in October
this year (2014) – that give consumers who have been bullied or misled
into buying goods and services new rights to get their money
back
- the creation of the new Competition and Markets
Authority (CMA) – an independent authority responsible for
promoting effective competition in markets across the UK economy, and with an
objective to ensure that competition delivers benefits for
consumers
- putting money back into
consumers’ pockets by speeding up the process for people to switch to a
cheaper energy tariff
- a new Consumer Rights Bill to
set out a simple, modern framework of consumer rights
- the creation of the Groceries Code
Adjudicator to ensure fairness in the relationships between the
largest supermarkets and their direct suppliers
Notes to
editors:
-
The Competition and Markets
Authority came into existence on 1 April 2014, when it took over
responsibility for the former competition responsibilities of the Office of
Fair Trading and the Competition Commission.
-
The Consumer Rights Bill,
currently in Parliament, is a fundamental reform of consumer legislation so
that consumers’ and business’ key rights and responsibilities are
clear, easily understood and updated to take account of purchases involving
digital content. It contains important new protections for consumers alongside
measures to lower regulatory burdens for business.
-
The government’s long-term
plan is to build a strong, more competitive economy and a fairer society.
Industrial
Strategy gives impetus to the plan for growth by providing businesses,
investors and the public with clarity about the long-term direction in which
the government wants the economy to travel.
The first achievements and future priorities of the industrial strategy
have been published and can be found herehttps://www.gov.uk/government/publications/industrial-strategy-early-succ
esses-and-future-priorities.
-