ESAN/Fair By Design Poverty Premium Webinar

The Poverty Premium: A consumer perspective

On Monday, 22 February 2021 ESAN hosted the first of a series of special webinars.  Carl Packman from Fair by Design, presented the findings of a recent PFRC report looking at recent changes in relation to the poverty premium (the extra costs of being on a low income)  to understand how the costs and types of poverty premium have changed in the last few years.

ESAN publishes ARA 2019-2020

ESAN has today published its latest Annual Report and Accounts. ESAN ARA 2019-20. For ESAN, this year has seen some firsts. Some were negative. In the light of the Covid-19 pandemic we decided to cancel our April 2020 physical meeting for the first time ever. Some were more positive: we held our first virtual meeting in July 2020 which had an excellent attendance and produced some very stimulating discussions. In light of this meeting, and the feedback received, we are thinking about how to do future meetings virtually and also what scope there is for additional digital ESAN activity.

How do we ensure essential services are affordable post Covid-19?

As we start to think about how we respond to the
longer-term financial impacts of Covid-19, and linked
to that how we can best ensure that essential services
such as water, telecoms and energy are affordable for
citizens in the future, Sustainability First challenges us not
to fall into the trap of ‘group think’ and ‘collective failure of imagination’ when it comes to exploring the potential scenarios, options
and the solutions.

Turn2Us Coronavirus appeal for crisis grants

National poverty charity, Turn2Us has launched a Coronavirus appeal in association with the Telegraph.  Funds raised through the appeal will provide crisis grants to help people who are unable to work and who need money to pay bills or make essential purchases; as well as helping expand their online and helpline services for the increasing number of people in need of them. Turn2Us has seen

an unprecedented surge in demand for their services since the onset of the Coronavirus pandemic.

Inclusive Design in Essential Services

A new programme of research,  led by Fair By Design and the Money Advice Trust,  explores the issue of inclusive design in credit, insurance, energy and other essential services markets. The Inclusive Design in Essential Services project will publish two reports in 2020 on how regulators and businesses can adopt inclusive design strategies in their work. 

Moving Forward Together on Consumer Experience

UKRN, with the FCA, Ofcom, Ofgem, Ofwat and CCWater, have worked together to develop a set of performance scorecards to measure the customer experience across key sectors. You can now access the scorecards for financial services, communications, energy, and water in one place – with consumer metrics covering service quality, price differentials and satisfaction levels.

Professor Cosmo Graham

Prof Cosmo Graham appointed Chair of ESAN

Professor Cosmo GrahamESAN is delighted to announce the appointment of Prof Cosmo Graham as the new Chair. Cosmo Graham is a Professor of Law at the Leicester Law School, University of Leicester and Director of the Consumer and Essential Services Unit. He is an expert in law and policy research into the regulation of essential services with a focus on the representation of the consumer interest, consumers in vulnerable circumstances and dispute resolution.

Members would like to thank Roger Darlington for his excellent work as Chair of ESAN over the last three years and wish him all the very best for the future.

Toynbee Hall: A Powerhouse for Social Change

ESAN Member, Toynbee Hall has returned to its original East End home after three years of renovation work. The new building hosts a new, free and permanent exhibition. The exhibition showcases Toynbee Hall’s contribution  to some of the most defining moments in London’s social history over the last 134 years: from the role of co-founder Henrietta Barnett and former residents William Beveridge and Clement Attlee, up to the involvement of the Bengali Community and local innovators whose ideas still shape its work today. It also pays tribute to the work of Charles Booth and his ‘Inquiry into Life and Labour in London’, with a mural depicting one of the maps.

Toynbee Hall will kindly be hosting the ESAN AGM and members’ meeting on Tuesday, 16 October.