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ADVICE CLUB UK
[INTRO] | [SUPPORT PACKS] | [SUPPORT PACK ADMIN] | [TRAINING] | [LAW REPORTING]
[FAIR TRADING SCHEME] | [LOCAL CSN] | [FUTURE PLANS]
Introduction
In the early days of Consumer Support Networks (CSN's), Consumer Advice teams in the North West had already
started an embryonic 'Advice Club' consisting of several local authorities in the region who were keen to
work together to develop and implement an electronic consumer support pack. The pack was designed to be
flexible, allowing just the relevant pages or standards letters to be printed off, to support the advice
given by the adviser. It can also be updated and amended as necessary, reducing the risk of out of date
information being used. For this reason the pack exists in electronic format, and is available to members
as Microsoft Word or Microsoft Publisher documents.
In addition a 'County Court Support Pack' has also been developed which is available for use by members
of Advice Club UK. Advisers can tailor supporting consumer materials including pro-forma letters to a
customer's requirements, at a fraction of the cost of pre-printed materials.
Currently there are 26 Trading Standards authorities that subscribe to the advice club, using the Support
Packs and other literature effectively. Very positive feedback has been received from both consumers and
Advice Club UK members.
As the membership has increased, Wirral Trading Standards have been able to extend the club development
of further initiatives including :-
- a training manual for new advice staff which is being effectively used to introduce
basic consumer law and advice to a wider range of organisations within local CSN's.
- guidance/reference on law for advisors.
- group subscription to law reporting site.
- sharing of information including advice leaflets, training information, and other literature.
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Support Packs
The Consumer Support Pack is currently exists in both Microsoft Word and
Microsoft Publisher formats. The County Court Support Pack is in PDF
format, due to it's content of standard court forms and sample documents.
Both packs are despatched with Wirral logos, addresses, and contact details, but are personalised with
logos of each of the members. The pack is updated and sent out in accordance with the clubs administration
procedure. A lot of research has been done with regards the content, to ensure the wording used is clear,
concise, and adequately sized to be consumer friendly.
The advantage of maintaining the pack in this way (as opposed to having large numbers of pre-printed
leaflets/packs) is that the packs may be printed as and when required, removing any necessity for storage
and allowing amendments and additions to be made with minimal waste.
Both packs are available in the Welsh language for the Welsh Members Authorities.
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Support Pack Administration
The pack is updated when necessary to include new changes in the law. Club members can also make suggestions
for amendments and/or additions. In order to maintain the consistency of content and quality, any proposed
amendments are circulated amongst the members for consideration and improvement/revision, before being
included. Once agreed, Wirral Trading Standards will make the necessary alterations and issue the updated
pack to members in accordance with the administration policy.
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Training For Consumer Advice Staff
The Club members agreed to share training materials. An example of this is that Wirral has developed a
basic consumer advice training manual, which has been used to train One Stop Shop advisers and other CSN
members. Wirral is also developing this further, to change the format to ensure consistency with other
Advice Club literature, and to a higher level advice, up to and including County Court actions and
enforcement of judgements. The information which has been developed will be shared with Advice Club
members.
Club members can make suggestions for improvements and/or additions. Any amendments or additions will
be updated in the same way as the Consumer Advice Support Pack, by Wirral, as part of the club
subscription.
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Law Reporting Website
Advice Club UK subscribes to law reporting website
'lawindexpro' which reports on a wide range of
both current and historic case law. Advice Club UK subscribes on behalf of all club members. The cost for
this is included in the Advice Club UK subscription. Each member authority is provided with a username and
password to access the site, upon joining the club.
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Fair Trading Scheme Literature
Wirral, the co-ordinating authority, have recently developed a Code of Practice and other literature for
the Wirral Trader Scheme. All of this literature including the Code of Practice, Scheme Guidance,
Application Forms, Complaint Forms etc. are contained in an information pack which is shared with all
Advice Club Members. It is currently being taken up for implementation by a number of member authorities.
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Link To Your Local CSN
Once you have become a club member you will have equal ownership of all the information and documents
produced by the club. This can be shared with your local CSN members or other organisations within your
authority. However, updated materials will only be supplied to the members, and therefore responsibility
will fall upon you to distribute these and maintain consistency of content.
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Future Plans
It is proposed that further guidance will be developed on different areas of law for use by advisers. Also
proposed is a further support pack on the 'Enforcement of County Court Judgements'. Members are all free to
make suggestions and share any developments which occur within their own authorities. This is all
administered by Wirral Trading Standards; the cost of which is incorporated into the subscription fee.
The subscription is £500 payable annually. If you have any further queries with regards to membership of
the ADVICE CLUB UK please contact Derek Payet at Wirral Trading Standards.
Tel: (0151) 666 5223
Email: derekpayet@wirral.gov.uk
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