Chancellor expected to announce greater protection for consumers

06 Mar 2017

Chancellor Philip Hammond is expected to announce greater protection for consumers when he presents his first Budget later this week.

According to recent reports, Mr Hammond will use Wednesday’s Budget to crack-down on companies that attempt to mislead customers with lengthy and confusing terms and conditions.

The news comes as an investigation by the consumer watchdog Which? revealed that the terms and conditions of some insurance companies total around 38,000 words.

However, under the proposed changes, companies could be ordered to summarise the key points of their small print in a concise list of clearly visible bullet points.

In addition, companies that are found to be deliberately misleading consumers could be fined up to 10% of their annual turnover. Penalties may also be issued to companies that offer ‘fake deals’ and misleading discounts.

Commenting, James Daley, co-director at Fairer Finance, said: ‘This is a long overdue and much needed crackdown on some of the many ways that companies continue to take advantage of customers’.

Philip Hammond will present the Budget on 8 March – please visit our site regularly for the latest news and information.