Our campaign successes

Since the pandemic, the government has adopted several of our recommendations, including extending the Universal Credit uplift and the suspension of the Minimum Income Floor for self-employed workers.

As a result of our campaigning, the government paused evictions and bailiff activity when coronavirus restrictions were strictest, and extended notice periods for evictions. They also adopted our recommendations on support for council tax arrears in the 2020 Spending Review, and a pilot low-interest loan scheme in the 2021 Budget.

As a result of our campaign to end the loyalty penalty in essential markets, regulators have taken steps to address the issue. We estimate these measures will save consumers hundreds of millions of pounds every year.

We campaigned for better protections for private renters. We helped secure a ban on letting agent fees for tenants and the government has introduced measures to tackle rogue landlords and improve protections and redress for renters.

In a fast changing labour market, we wanted to make sure people had the ability to enforce their rights. We helped campaign for the ban on employment tribunal fees, and influenced the Taylor review of modern employment to include many of our suggestions.

Following our campaign the Government published new guidance for local authorities on collecting council tax arrears. Over 1.5m residents are now better protected from aggressive bailiffs.

Mobile phone companies' lagged behind other industries at supporting customers who were in debt. We changed the law so that they now have to give customers the option to cap how much they spend on their phone bill each month. The main providers also agreed to improve their debt collection practices [ 240 kb].

Payday loan companies were not treating their customers fairly. Following our campaign, the Financial Conduct Authority introduced tough new rules on payday lenders. Since then the number of people seeking our help with payday loans has halved.

Prepay energy customers were paying more and receiving a second class service. Suppliers have committed to better customer service and support, and improved the choice of tariffs and ease of switching.