Consumer detriment in the UK: 2024

About the study

The Consumer Detriment Survey (CDS) is a project which aims to understand the nature of problems that consumers experience with items and services they purchase, providing insight into the detriment they face and also how they engage with the consumer protection system. This project looked at consumer detriment that occurred in the 12 months to April/May 2024 and follows up on a survey conducted in early 2021.

Findings

In the 12 months from April/May 2023 to April/May 2024:

Consumer detriment in the UK

• 72% of consumers in the UK experienced detriment, translating to approximately 38.5 million consumers experiencing at least one problem with a product or service they bought or used
• The median number of incidents per affected consumer was 4, consistent with 2021, while the average (mean) number of incidents increased to 7.7 from 6.4
• These figures add up to a total of 294.9 million problems in the UK over the 12-month reference period

Actioned and unactioned consumer detriment

• When facing detriment, consumers were likely to take actions to address the problem, typically by contacting the seller or service provider directly (75% of incidents where customers took action)
• Only 22% of incidents remained unactioned by consumers

Outcomes and resolutions

• When consumers took action, they generally requested the seller or provider to: provide a refund (34% of actioned incidents), replace or fix the product (26%), apologise (21%), or provide an explanation for the problem (21%)
• On average, the actions requested by consumers mirrored the responses of sellers or service providers
• 52% of the experiences of detriment ended with a positive resolution, where consumers generally received what they asked for, or more

Net monetised detriment

• Consumer detriment was estimated to have a net monetised cost of £71.2 billion to UK consumers over the 12-month period, with the average (median) loss per incident being £32. Adjusted for inflation, there was no statistically significant increase in the estimate of overall net monetised detriment compared to 2021

Impact of detriment on wellbeing, general health and finances

• 24% of detriment experiences had a ‘negative’ or ‘very negative’ effect on mental health, 22% on household finances, and 14% on physical health

Consumers at risk of negative detriment outcomes

• Younger consumers, especially those aged 18-39, and consumers who considered their financial situation difficult were consistently more likely to experience detriment, not to take action in response and to suffer the most negative consequences, compared to other groups

Consumer detriment in the four UK countries

• England had the highest proportion of consumers who experienced detriment (73%), followed by Wales (71%), Scotland (69%), and Northern Ireland (64%). Notably, Wales saw a significant increase in incidence from 60% in 2021 to 71% in 2024

Methodology

Fieldwork period, sample, mode

Fieldwork for this study was conducted using the NatCen Opinion Panel  – a random-probability panel of people recruited from high-quality, random probability studies such as the British Social Attitudes survey. The data was collected between 18th April and 2nd June using a sequential mixed mode design (web and telephone).

Survey flow

The survey largely replicates the one used in the 2021 wave of the study. Respondents were first asked to select from randomised lists the items (goods) and services they paid for in the 12 months to April/May 2024, or purchased and used within that period, across 43 different sectors. They then selected the sectors where they experienced detriment and reported the occurrence of these experiences. Those reporting detriment in at least one sector were asked for more detailed information about their experiences. If a respondent had experienced detriment in more than three sectors, data was collected from three randomly selected sectors. When a respondent reported multiple instances of detriment in a given sector, they were asked to focus on the most recent instance for their answers. For up to three experiences of detriment, respondents were asked to provide further details, including on the nature of the detriment, the current status of the problem and any impact the detriment had.

Response and incidence rate

A total of 6,371 of the 11,990 panel members invited to take part did so, resulting in a 53% survey response rate. Among the respondents, 5,968 (94%) participated online and 403 (6%) via phone. Of the respondents, 4,462 experienced at least one incident of detriment, leading to the collection of detailed data on a total of 9,957 instances of detriment.

Weighting

The data were weighted to be representative of the UK adult population (aged 18+) through respondent weighting, and to reflect all incidents of detriment experienced by UK consumers through detriment weighting.