Consumer Duty

We are committed to providing a world-class service for you.

Energy Saving Trust is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) because some of the services we provide relate to financial products. The FCA has introduced a set of rules for higher and clearer standards of consumer protection, known as the ‘Consumer Duty’.

This statement explains the FCA’s Consumer Duty and how we apply it across our organisation. This is important not just for compliance, but also to give you the best experience possible. 

What is the Consumer Duty? 

The Consumer Duty consists of a series of rules which apply to organisations that are regulated by the FCA, aimed at improving standards of care to deliver good outcomes for all customers.  

What are the rules?

The rules are to:

1. Act in good faith towards customers.
2. Avoid causing foreseeable harm to customers.
3. Enable and support customers to pursue their financial objectives.

What are good outcomes? 

Good outcomes are those that, for all types of customers, including customers that need extra support:

1. Deliver products and services that meet customers’ needs.
2. Offer reasonable price and value for the benefits.
3. Provide clear and targeted communications that customers understand.
4. Support customers at every stage of their journey with us. 

What are we doing to deliver good outcomes?

We provide products and services that meet your needs and represent good value to you.  We will only offer products and services to you if we believe they are relevant to you.  For instance:

• Our loan products are delivered on behalf of our funders, principally the Scottish Government, and have been designed to meet the needs of Scottish householders. This includes individuals or groups of people needing extra support. The terms, conditions, and eligibility criteria of the products have been designed to match.
• If a product is not suitable for you, we will let you know.
• We will not advise you to take a specific product; instead, we will provide you with the information you need to make an informed choice based on your own financial needs.
• We provide free expert impartial advice on energy efficiency and energy saving technologies, offered by advisors trained to ask you targeted questions and give tailored advice for your own needs.

We are committed to providing clear, targeted communications in a way that’s easy to understand. All of the information we give you will be:

• accurate, honest and complete.
• clear and in plain language.
• fair in its content and presentation.

We are committed to supporting you at every stage of your journey with us.  

• You can find information about free and impartial advice on saving energy on our website, where you will also find details of the grants and loan schemes available to you.
• We make it easy for householders to contact us through our free phone number, email address, via post, and through the messaging services in our application portal.
• Our trained advisors can provide information about the various schemes on offer.
• Our service delivery team will support you through the process of applying for a loan or grant.
• All our information - including any forms we ask you to complete - is designed to be easy to understand. Our team of advisors are on hand to help you on the phone with any questions.
• We will be courteous and respond quickly to help you.

How do we work to improve our service?

Meeting the requirements of the Consumer Duty is not a tick-box exercise for us. We aim to continually improve how we deliver our service to you. We do this by:

• regularly surveying householders and reviewing feedback to make improvements to our world class service.
• monitoring calls to our service delivery and advice teams and providing specific feedback to our staff on how they can improve.
• listening to staff suggestions for improving processes and procedures.
• supporting an open and transparent quality management system to monitor and review what we do so that our products are clear, thorough and fit for purpose.

What if something’s not right?

Sometimes things can go wrong even if we don’t mean for them to. If this happens:

• we commit to resolving issues without fuss,
• our dedicated support team can help with any issues and can work with third parties to find a resolution, and
• we can conduct surveys and review the feedback so we can make improvements to our service.
• Energy Saving Trust’s website sets out the complaints process including details of how to make a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Contact us

If you would like a printed copy of this statement, please get in touch.

Call us free on 0808 808 2282. Our lines are open Monday to Friday, 8am to 8pm, and on Saturdays and bank holidays from 9am to 5pm. Or, you can head to the Contact page our website to see the other ways you can contact us.