Office of Fair Trading
2 FOI requests | Full disclosure rate: 300.0%
The Freedom of Information requests reveal an Office of Fair Trading (OFT) that is increasingly responsive to specific consumer grievances but occasionally resistant to broad financial transparency. A clear pattern emerges in the housing and telecommunications sectors, where the authority has been compelled to disclose critical data, such as the full register of estate agents (Case 1654845) and years of roaming charge complaints (Case 970357). These disclosures suggest that while the OFT may not proactively publish all registers, it holds the data and will release it when challenged, effectively acting as a repository for consumer protection intelligence.
Key Cases
Case 1654845 — Marked as [NOTABLE], this case forced the OFT to publish the full 2020-21 Register of Estate Agents after a period of non-publication, directly addressing a transparency gap in consumer protection.
Case 2340173 — Marked as [NOTABLE], this disclosure revealed that Grant Thornton was appointed via a 'quick tender' as the sole bidder for a DfT inquiry, raising questions about procurement competition and cost efficiency.
Case 355081 — This case represents a significant obstruction where the OFT refused to release Manx Gas accounts, utilizing exemptions to withhold financial data from the public, contrasting with later transparency in other areas.
Case 4339706 — The confirmation that no Settlement Agreements have been issued since September 2021 suggests a potential stagnation in the OFT's legal enforcement capabilities or a shift in regulatory strategy.
Case 970357 — This request successfully extracted five years of monthly complaint data regarding roaming charges, providing a comprehensive dataset on consumer grievances against major telecom providers.
Related FOI Stories
Estate Agent Transparency and Regulation — #805065, #1654845
Consumer Complaints in Telecommunications — #970357, #5234235
Procurement and Financial Accountability — #355081, #2340173
Enforcement Actions and Legal Precedents — #4339706, #4341853
| Date | Title | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| 2019-05-13 | Information being held by Office of Fair Trading Banking Ombudsman | No information sent - all held but exempt |
| 2017-10-29 | Manx Gas Accounts | No information sent - all held but exempt |
| A request was made for Manx Gas Limited's accounts for the last financial year, but the Office of Fair Trading refused to disclose the information. | ||