New research from Consumer Voice finds that every adult in the UK could be due compensation from at least four group legal claims against rule-breaking big businesses.

If won, these claims could leave UK consumers owed up to £22.5 billion. Our analysis of these claims shows that every adult in the UK may be entitled to money back from on average at least four of these group claims.

The data is based on 12 opt-out group claims which accuse big brands of bumping up prices and ripping off consumers. These claims have all been certified to proceed to trial by the UK competition tribunal – which is a significant signal that the court thinks there is a case to answer. Household names, such as Apple, Google, Mastercard and Sony PlayStation stand accused of abusing the dominant position they hold in a market and breaking competition law.

The first of these cases to be decided upon by the specialist competition court is against BT, with the trial coming to an end this week. This class action trial is seeking £1.3 billion in compensation over claims the telecoms group overcharged for landline services. If successful, more than 3 million BT customers could receive up to £400 each.

How much people are owed individually will vary depending on their circumstances and which claims they are included in. However, in the biggest consumer claim in UK legal history, you could be owed £300 for simply buying goods and services from shops and supermarkets accepting Mastercard(https://consumervoice.uk/action/mastercard). And if you have bought Sony PlayStation(https://consumervoice.uk/action/sony-playstation) digital games or made in-game purchases you could be owed up to £560.

The £22.5 billion is likely to be the tip of the iceberg as a further 19 claims are waiting to get the green light from the Competition Appeal Tribunal.

Alex Neill, co-founder of Consumer Voice, said:

‘Rule-breaking businesses will owe an eye-watering amount of money to consumers. Yet people may not claim what they’re owed due to a lack of awareness of group claims, fears about scams and a perception that the process will be complicated.

‘We want to ensure people who have been ripped off are confident and ready to step forward when cases are won. These claims seek to level the playing field by holding companies accountable for their actions and helping people get back what they’re owed.’

When will people get compensation

The legal process of getting back what is owed to consumers takes time and keeping track of these claims as they progress isn’t easy for consumers to manage. People may not realise they are automatically included in these claims if they have been harmed because the legal regime, introduced by the Consumer Rights Act in 2015, allows one consumer to bring the claim on behalf of all of those affected.

The trial against Mastercard is underway – but the final judgement on compensation is not expected until 2025 or 2026. The trial that will consider whether the high fees of processing Mastercard payments were passed onto 46m UK shoppers will start in November 2024.

The claims against Govia Thameslink (https://consumervoice.uk/action/govia-thameslink), and South Western (https://consumervoice.uk/action/south-western) and Southeastern (https://consumervoice.uk/action/southeastern-trains) train companies have also been split into three trials. A first trial will be held in June 2024 to explore whether these companies abused their dominant position in the market.

The trials against Apple App Store (https://consumervoice.uk/action/apple), Car delivery costs (https://consumervoice.uk/action/car-delivery-charges) and Google Play Store (https://consumervoice.uk/action/google-play-store) are set to start in 2025 and dates for the other claims are still to be determined.

Consumer Voice (https://consumervoice.uk) tracks the progress of all the consumer group claims in the UK and notifies people to help them get back the money they’re owed from rule-breaking businesses.

Notes to Editors

(1) Cases certified under ‘Section 47B Competition Act 1998 (Collective Proceedings), excluding business to business claims.

(2) This is based on the number of cars impacted.

Please contact Alex on press@consumervoice.uk or 07971112547 for further information, images and interviews with Consumer Voice co-founders Alex Neill and Nikki Stopford.

Research notes and data tables

● Our analysis of consumer harm is based on 12 consumer opt out claims currently filed with and certified by the Competition and Appeals Tribunal. We identified cases using the case type filter ‘Section 47B Competition Act 1998 (Collective Proceedings)’. We excluded cases that were business to business claims and claims that haven’t yet been certified.

● The total number of people estimated to be affected by all 12 claims adds up to 220,679,050. As there are only 51,683,029 UK adults aged 20 and over (ONS 2021 population data*) this leaves everyone entitled to claim against an average of four claims.

(*)(https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates/datasets/populationestimatesforukenglandandwalesscotlandandnorthernireland)

How Consumer Voice can help

Consumer Voice tracks the progress of all the UK group claims and helps people get back the money they’re owed from rule-breaking businesses. People can find out more and sign up for updates by visiting www.consumervoice.uk.

The independent site provides unbiased information directly to consumers about all of the group claims happening in the UK, letting them know when the companies they buy from have broken the law, and helping people easily track the progress of each claim, making the process easy, quick and simple.

About Consumer Voice - (https://consumervoice.uk)

Consumer Voice is a website and community helping consumers get back the money they’re owed from rule-breaking businesses. It provides unbiased information directly to consumers about all of the group claims happening in the UK.

Consumer Voice is free for consumers to use, independent and we tell consumers when the companies they buy from have broken the law. We help people easily track the progress of each claim and make the process easy, quick and simple to work out if you’re eligible to claim.

Alex Neill and Nikki Stopford co-founded Consumer Voice in 2023. They are consumer rights experts who have over 20 years experience of campaigning and raising industry standards for consumers.

People can sign up to Consumer Voice to track the progress of all the UK group claims at www.consumervoice.uk.

About Alex and Nikki

Alex and Nikki are both experienced media commentators regularly appearing on shows like BBC Breakfast, Radio 5 Live, BBC Radio 4 Moneybox, BBC Rip Off Britain, ITV News and BBC One Show. As well as talking about group legal actions they are also available to comment on other consumer rights issues where consumers are seeking to get back what they’re owed. Consumer Voice has data and stats available and will be publishing regular content and stories.

What are group claims?

It isn’t always obvious when you’ve been ripped off by the companies you deal with, and this can make it impossible to stand up to big businesses. That’s why the law in the UK offers another route to accessing justice via a group claim or collective action.

This is where a legal claim is brought on behalf of a group of people who have all experienced a similar loss as a result of the law being broken. Law firms have to bring these group claims to a court or tribunal to get compensation for consumers.

These claims can be brought by one individual representing others (where consumers can ‘opt out’ of the claim if they want to). Opt out claims can only be filed in cases concerning breaches in competition law. For example, an illegal cartel of businesses who cheat customers by agreeing not to compete, or companies that abuse their dominant market position by behaving in a way that will limit competition or harm consumers (e.g. by charging higher prices than they would in a competitive market).

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