The UK Regulators’ Network (UKR( has responded to the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) IC call for evidence as part of its inquiry into the NIC’s Future of Regulation.
The scope of the NIC study is the key regulated infrastructure sectors: telecoms, energy, water - the Commission is expected to report on the regulation study in Autumn 2019.
The response is specifically focussed on one particular question posed by the NIC, namely:
Where could regulators work together more consistently to meet future challenges, achieve efficiencies within the regulatory system or to promote better outcomes for consumers, investors or society?
The response sets out the ways in which the eleven UKRN member regulators, including the energy, water and telecoms sectoral regulators, are already working together, and where they plan to increase collaboration to tackle existing and future challenges.
The UKRN's own work programme is focused on two core themes:
- improving outcomes for vulnerable consumers
- infrastructure and investment
The response says:
We recognise that the nature of the challenges we currently face means there is an even greater need for regulators to work together.”
“In addition to existing commitments, we will be driving several ambitious new projects in areas where a collaborative approach can bring increased benefits for consumers and the economy.”
Work has already begun on a new, significant cross-sector project to understand and improve outcomes for consumers in vulnerable circumstances. The project examines how do regulators define vulnerability, what are their legal duties towards vulnerable consumers and actions they are taking to improve outcomes for vulnerable consumers.
The third phase on maximising the impact of intermediaries will seek to understand what interventions work to improve outcomes for consumers in vulnerable circumstances and how these can be implemented across sectors.
Work is ongoing on best practice and minimum standards for vulnerable consumers.- UKRN has been working with a range of experts to develop this, including Scope, Money and Mental Health and Citizens Advice. A publication setting out how regulators will be taking this forward will be published in the next few months.
Other ongoing work by UKRN covers scoping common performance metrics across the water, energy, telecoms and financial services sectors, with UKRN coordinating work to think through which metrics are most meaningful to consumers for each sector and how best to collate these. An options paper setting out next steps will be published in July 2019.
Click here to read the full response.
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