Research and insight

Brexit transition: NI Consumers (April 2020)

A report prepared by Ipsos MORI for The Consumer Council for Northern Ireland.

Electricity Suppliers: Customer Satisfaction Survey Over 3 Years 

The Utility Regulator (UR) published its Draft Determination (DD) of SONI’s price control 2020-2025 on 6 July 2020.

Electricity Suppliers: Customer Satisfaction Survey September 2020

The Universal Postal Service and Northern Ireland Consumers 

Consumer Insight Survey 2020

In this report Cebr analyses data on household income, taxes and spending to understand how increases in cost of essential products and services impact the discretionary income of households in Northern Ireland.

The Consumer Council for Northern Ireland, as part of its Stop the Loan Sharks campaign and to obtain information to inform future discussion and the direction of any future policy in this area, commissioned Christians Against Poverty (CAP) to help, with others, to provide a clearer picture of the position in Northern Ireland – firstly, to help establish if illegal lending is going on and, if it is, the extent of such lending, the areas in which it is happening and any patterns or fluctuations in lending and borrowing behaviours which can be ascertained.

In 2018, the UK government announced a new crack down on illegal lending for the first time ever Northern Ireland (NI). This work focused on an educational campaign to raise awareness of the support available for vulnerable communities in relation to illegal lending, which would be led by the Consumer Council and supported by the Police Service for NI (PSNI).

The Consumer Council commissioned a series of research initiatives to further explore illegal money lending in NI and its consequences. One of these initiatives required Advice NI to explore and highlight the human story and the impacts illegal money lending has had on the clients who have used our advice services.

The Consumer Council is funded by HM Treasury to address the issue of illegal money lending in Northern Ireland. The focus of our work is research, education and supporting the development of alternatives forms of lending. This study explored the opinions, thoughts and experiences of consumers in Northern Ireland about financial matters concerning lending, savings and debt.