The Institute of Consumer Affairs

Our annual seminar and AGMs

Our regular venue

MIC Conference Centre, 81-103 Euston Street, London NW1, just 3 minutes walk from Euston Station, 10 minutes from Kings Cross / St Pancras. Click the centre's name for further details.

Annual Seminars

These prestigious events are generally held in the Autumn or Spring of each year in London; they address the national policy agenda and are open to both members and non-members.  Past themes have covered social exclusion, e-commerce, and better quality advice. Details of the most recent event, including presentations where possible, are below.
 

Annual General Meetings

The Institute's AGM is held in the Autumn, at the Office of Fair Trading in London, and includes a training session/workshop on topical issues relevant to consumer advice and free buffet lunch.

The 2010 event is planned to be an in-depth examination of the consumer issues surrounding the 2012 London Olympic Games, so put the 1st December in your diary.

More details in due course.

The 2010 event - A New Decade

This very successful seminar was held on the 4th March 2010 at MIC.

It started with Sarah Chambers, Director - Consumer & Competition Policy at BIS, who gave a passionate report on consumerism within BIS, and predicted that, regardless of the political party in charge of government, the trend would continue, particularly given future trends in Europe. Carole Bell then summarised Alternative Dispute Resolution in the UK, and compared development with other European countries she has worked in.

Then Trudy Dyer, of HMCS Small Claims Mediation Service, and Amanda Lowndes, HMCS Small Claims Mediator to the Black Country, Staffordshire and West Mercia, demonstrated how mediation could save a lot time of County Court judges and make life easier for claimants and defendants.

Finally in the morning session, Maggie Finnie, who heads the MoJ Claims Management Regulation Monitoring & Compliance Unit, described her work in the world of claims management companies, ambulance chasers etc.

After we all had a big lunch, courtesy of MIC's wonderful restaurant, we returned to hear Mike Hanson talk about the development of the Primary Authority, and how it produced better regulation. He was followed by Wendy McVey, of the Local Better Regulation Office, who described the work of her office.

The final presentation was from Dr Steven Everson, Chief Executive of the Enforcement Services Association (representing bailiffs etc.) who explained the different types of bailiff and debt collector and talked about the levels of non-compliance in his experience.

Annual General Meeting 2009

The AGM was held at 1530 on the 26th November at the OFT's offices. Main changes were increases in membership subscriptions and advertising rates, and the awarding an honorary membership to Marie Helene Kutek, our hardworking newsgroup moderator. The executive was re-elected unchanged. Draft minutes can be found here. The ICA annual report is also here.

Consumer Action Network

Alan Miles (our Chair) attended a seminar (July 2009), and two presentations are available here:

•  Consumers in a Recession

•  Trends in Regulation

Trustmark

ICA is working closely with the management of the above trader confidence scheme, and they have provided us with a quick link to their trader search facility. Just click on Trustmark on the Links page or click here.
 

Sofas - new law

Advisers will be aware of the story concerning leather sofas from China, which caused thousands of people to develop rashes and other reactions because of a dangerous chemical, Dimethyl Fumarate, commonly known as DMF, which the manufacturers had put in the sofas to prevent mould.

In the UK, the main retailers were Argos, Land of Leather and Walmsleys and
they have set up a dedicated helpline: 0800 916 9070  for consumers who've experienced skin problems following the purchase of a leather sofa, with labels indicating that it has been made by Linkwise, Eurosofa or any other manufacturer.

They have also released the following list of all the models and batches they believe might have contained sachets of the chemical.
See the attached list.

National Executive 2010

There are also two other appointed officers - Marie-Helene Kutek who oversees the icanews email group, and Bob Imrie, who is ICA's webmaster.