Which? goes from strength to strength empowering consumers

In its annual review, released this week, consumer champion Which? reveals continued strong revenue growth and a record spending on direct charitable work – offering free advice and campaigning for change for consumers.

Direct charitable spend of £12.8 million this year is more than four times the level of a decade ago and has enabled Which? to deliver significant change across markets.

Continued strong revenue has also allowed Which? to invest in and grow services to help consumers navigate complex markets, including its legal and mortgage advice services. In the last year, Which? Mortgage Advisers helped more than 4,500 people take a step on the property ladder and Which? Legal now has 70,000 members.

More than 705,000 people now support Which? campaigns, helping drive improvements for consumers, including action to reform supermarket pricing; Government action to tackle rail delay compensation; a cap on early exit fees for pensions and just recently director-level accountability for nuisance callers.

Which? is now offering more expert advice to consumers than ever before. In the last year, there were more than six million visits to free consumer rights advice online; and more than 26,000 people sought guidance through the Which? Money Helpline. Which? also tested more products in a single year than ever before, resulting in 3,716 new product reviews.

Which? Chairman, Tim Gardam, said:

“As we head into our 60th year, Which? continues to go from strength to strength – for the second year running, revenue topped £100 million. As our commercial businesses fund our charitable activity, our continued commercial success is critical to our work on behalf of all consumers.

“We are also spending more on our direct charitable activity than ever before and our magazines continue to defy publishing trends, with Which? maintaining its position as the UK’s bestselling monthly magazine.

“Which? continues to protect and empower consumers through a wide and growing range of services and support, and we are maintaining our campaigning pressure to help drive change to make consumers become more powerful.”

ENDS

Background

• The full Which? annual review can be found here and covers the period 1st July 2015 – 30th June 2016
• Tim Gardam was appointed Chairman of Which? in July 2015

Press Release