The Prime Minister has vowed to ‘put cowboy builders out of business’ after announcing a new crackdown to tackle unscrupulous tradespeople.
The new measures, announced by Andy Burnham on August 28, include a new system to protect customers’ payments, with payments directly linked to key project milestones through a new Trusted Payments app.
It will also see the creation of an “Approved Code” where businesses can sign up to demonstrate their high standards of customer service, transparency and dispute resolution.
Mr Burnham said: “Cowboy builders don’t just rip people off. They leave families with months of stress, the disruption of unfinished work, and that horrible feeling of being taken advantage of.
“Not only that, but they give the vast majority of decent, hardworking tradespeople a bad name.
“So we’re putting the cowboys out of business. These changes mean you’ll now have the option to make sure your money is held safely and released bit by bit as the work gets done.
“Enough is enough.”
The crackdown comes after the government said more than one in four UK adults who carried out home improvement works in the past 18 months experienced problems ranging from project abandonment through to undue pressure to make payments.
More than 1 in 3 of those faced extra costs, the government said, losing an average of £750. A total of £10.3billion is said to have been lost on home and garden maintenance costs in 2024.
Further measures have also been announced to regulate private bailiffs, including requiring them to either be accredited by the Enforcement Conduct Board or work for a firm which is.
Rocio Concha, Which? Director of Policy and Advocacy, said: “In recent years the consumer enforcement system has been hollowed out to the point where cowboy builders and other rogue traders are thriving – leaving ordinary people feeling powerless as their complaints are routinely ignored.
“This is a really positive step and the government rightly recognises that action to tackle rogue traders now must go hand-in-hand with wider reform of the consumer protection landscape.
“The system urgently needs a major overhaul to make it fit for the digital age and give consumers confidence that they won’t be ripped off by crooks or conmen when they hand over their hard-earned cash for home improvements or other products and services.”
The Trusted Payments and Approved Code schemes have been developed by Trusted Payments and the Furniture and Home Improvement Ombudsman (FHIO) respectively.
Trusted Payments is expected to go live in early September, with the Approved Code set to be fully operational by December.
