The Money and Mental Health Policy Institute, the charity founded and chaired by Martin Lewis (MoneySavingExpert) to break the toxic link between money issues and mental health issues, has been recommended for ‘super-complainant’ status — which will grant it special powers to ensure action on specific consumer harms from regulators.
Money and Mental Health will be given the power to take super-complaints to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the UK’s consumer watchdog. It’s only the seventh organisation to gain these powers since they were introduced in 2002. The others are Which?, Citizens Advice & Citizens Advice Scotland, the Campaign for Real Ale, and both the Consumer Councils for Water and for Northern Ireland.
Money and Mental Health has been recommended for super-complaint status by the Department for Business and Trade. The charity has also applied to the Treasury for the equivalent powers to make super-complaints to the Financial Conduct Authority and the Payment Systems Regulator (which oversees payment systems). However, the Treasury has not yet announced an outcome on this process.
Money and Mental Health founder and chair Martin Lewis says:
“We’re very grateful for this new status. In plain terms it means that if we do detailed formal authoritative research on an issue of consumer harm the CMA must respond, and it is also a strong push for it to consider a formal investigation. In effect it means we have a power to bump specific issues up the list.”
“I’m thankful that the Department for Business and Trade has given the charity this seal of approval. It’s taken a few years – as these things have to be done thoroughly – we just hope the Treasury soon catches up, as similar status with the financial regulator the FCA is crucial – there are so many issues in that arena, such as the excessive cost of travel insurance for those with mental health problems, where some people with bipolar disorder pay 27 times what others do.”
“As well as the formal powers super-complainant status bestows, it’s also a kite mark of the charity’s research quality, showing the authority that the talented Money and Mental Health team bring to their work. That too is useful, as when talking to firms and regulators, they know if needed and action isn’t happening, we have an extra way to escalate issues.”
“I set up the charity, because money problems and mental health issues are a marriage made in hell. They feed off each other. People who have mental health problems are over three times more likely to be in debt than the rest of the population. This step-up will help us continue our work to try to soften the link between the two.”
The super-complainant status will be awarded by the Department for Business and Trade in early April 2025, once the relevant legislative amendment is approved. It will give it exclusive powers under the Enterprise Act 2002 to raise complaints to the CMA about consumer harms caused by market failures or behaviour by businesses in a broad range of sectors, including consumer retail and energy. If it takes forward a super-complaint, the CMA has to respond within 90 days. Subsequent steps could include the CMA taking enforcement action to stop consumer harms, recommending that the government change legislation, or starting a further investigation into the issues at hand. The CMA can also work with other regulators in its response.