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1. The OFT is a non-ministerial government department established in 1973. Our mission is to make markets work well for consumers.
We aim to achieve this by:
To make the best use of our resources in terms of real outcomes for UK consumers, we need to make sure that we make appropriate decisions about which projects and programmes of work we carry out across all areas of our responsibility. These decisions are based on our Prioritisation Principles.
For more information on our plans please view our annual plan.
We cannot:
We are bound by the powers given to us in legislation. For example, Part 8 of the Enterprise Act 2002 (OPSI website) restricts the OFT to enforcing legislation only where there has been a breach that affects the collective interests of consumers (see paragraph 9.2 of the Enterprise Act guidelines published by the OFT).
This means that we don't have the powers to get involved in your individual dispute. However, there are people who may be able to help you. For more information see question 4 below.
Although the OFT is unable to act on your behalf, we can act to protect a large number of consumers throughout the UK.
You can get advice from Consumer Direct. Consumer Direct is a service managed by the OFT that offers practical advice on all kinds of consumer issues, from problems with cars to faulty household appliances. Consumer Direct can also give you information on regulators and other consumer advice services that can help you.
The information collected by Consumer Direct is then used to focus the resources and work of the OFT and local authority Trading Standards Services.
See links to some of the organisations we work with.
You can contact Consumer Direct for advice about how to complain about a particular business. They will be able to direct you to regulators such as Ofcom, local authority Trading Standards Services or other bodies who might be able to help.
Consumer Direct will then collect all your complaints and give them to us to consider or possibly to investigate. Other regulatory bodies may access this information too.
If you want to report a business that you feel may be unfit to hold a consumer credit license, please send your concerns in writing to us, indicating if you are happy for us to disclose details to the trader. Your complaint will then be added to any evidence we have about that trader and will help us to decide whether they are fit to hold a licence. Please note that we will not be able to help you with your individual dispute.
If you want to report a scam, please see Consumer Direct's dedicated scam reporting section.
Yes, you can report businesses that are not complying with consumer and competition legislation. We will log your information and then look at the complaints to decide on areas that might require us to monitor traders' activities or to investigate.
However, in general we will use this information as intelligence to give us information on markets, and the activities of companies within these markets, to inform decisions on our enforcement priorities.
However, we cannot help you with individual disputes and you will not get an individual investigation of your complaint.
No. Please see further information on restrictions on disclosure (OPSI website).
We can, however, direct you to people who can help give consumers a reliable way of finding trustworthy local businesses. These are:
We have published guidance for businesses on a number of topics. This guidance is available on our publications page. For information on what we can provide advice on, see question 1 above.
Yes. These can be downloaded or ordered from our publications page. For copies of leaflets and reports published by the OFT, please email oft@ecgroup.co.uk or phone on 0800 389 3158.
The Consumer Credit Act 1974 requires most businesses that offer goods or services on credit or for hire or lend money or are involved in activities relating to credit or hire to be licensed by the OFT. For information relating to CCLs see the consumer credit licences page.
The OFT has a duty to protect the interests of consumers by monitoring the fitness of those holding or applying for consumer credit licences. You can check and see if a business is licensed by looking at the public register.
If you wish to complain about such a business, please send your concerns to us in writing. Please let us know whether you are happy for us to disclose your details to the trader as we may wish to contact them if we are concerned about similar complaints we have received. Please note that this would only be for the purposes of our investigation of traders' practices and to ensure future compliance for the benefit of all consumers. It would not be on your behalf as we cannot intervene in individual disputes.
Yes. The OFT aims to deliver an efficient and effective customer service but if you're unhappy with a service that the OFT has provided and you wish to complain, you can do so by writing to the Head of Enquiries. The address and further information can be found in the OFT's complaints procedure section.
If you're unhappy with the response you receive you can contact your local Member of Parliament, who may in turn contact the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman.
Back to: About the OFT
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