Why does everything cost so much now?
In 2024 nearly three quarters of UK consumers reported negative or even harmful experiences with goods or services they had paid for. In a situation that’s been described as “Broken Britain”, UK consumers all too frequently face poor services, shoddy workmanship, unsafe products and prices that just seem to keep rising even for essential goods.
Meeting details
Poor quality products (35%), delivery issues (20%), defective or unsafe products (19%) or the complete failure to provide a product or service at all (18%) cost British consumers and the economy a staggering £71.2 BN in 2024 alone.
In January a YouGov poll found that the cost of living tops the list of British public concerns, at 54%. More than four in ten (44%) say they have struggled to pay for food in the past three months, and 37% say the same of their energy bills. Almost half of Britons (49%) say their household finances became worse in the last 12 months, while only 9% say they improved.
Who or what is responsible for failing British consumers so badly?
Is it poor regulation of competition and markets that’s left the cost-of-living soaring out of control? 53% of Brits blame company profiteering for rising costs.
What is the link to the online sellers are dumping so much cheap – and potentially substandard – stuff into the UK market, undercutting more tightly regulated, bricks-and-mortar businesses as they go?
And having failed to prevent these harms, are our consumer protection agencies any more effective at getting things put right, or getting redress where that, too, fails?
Rt Hon Liam Byrne MP, Chair of the Committee, said: “Britain’s cost-of-living crisis isn’t just about prices going up - it’s about standards breaking down. Families are paying more and more for goods that don’t arrive, don’t work, or aren’t safe. When regulation fails, profiteering fills the gap. So our committee is determined to get to the bottom of what needs to happen to restore standards, enforce the rules, and make the market work for consumers again.”