UK GOVERNMENT MUST IMPROVE EFFECTIVENESS OF OMBUDSMAN SCHEME

I participated in a debate on consumer protection, secured by my colleague, Martyn Day MP, and raised the necessity of strengthening protections afforded to consumers under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and the Consumer Ombudsman Scheme, following the excellent work carried out by Money-Saving Expert, Martin Lewis who worked so hard on the report All Party Parliamentary Group report on Consumer Protection called Sharper Teeth.

The Ombudsman landscape is too variable and confusing for consumers. Membership of an ombudsman scheme should be mandatory for all organisations – schemes which should have the legal power to enforce their decisions when consumers have not been dealt with fairly. Ombudsmen should be answerable to Parliament if we want to protect everybody’s consumer rights. I asked the UK Government Minister if she thought the whole system should be referred to the Law Commission, as it is clearly failing so many people as it currently operates. Listen to my contributions below.