Evaluation publications

Evaluations conducted or commissioned by the OFT are organised under the following catagories: Independent evaluation and research projects; Internal impact estimation and research; Evaluation strategy documents. 

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Independent evaluation and research projects

 

A review of the OFT's impact estimation methods

The OFT commissioned Professor Stephen Davies to carry out an independent review of its impact estimation methodologies. The review, published in January 2010, assesses the methodologies applied to each area of OFT's work and suggests possible modifications. Overall, it provides a very positive endorsement of the bulk of the OFT impact estimation work.

Download the A review of the OFT's impact estimation methods (pdf 543kb)
Download the OFT response to the review of impact estimation methods (pdf 135kb)

Evaluation of six consumer enforcement cases

The OFT commissioned London Economics to evaluate the impact of a sample of six completed consumer enforcement cases. The principal aim of this study was to review the effectiveness of a cross section of OFT interventions, and consider ways to enhance the impact of future interventions.

Consumer Credit Interventions Evaluation

In June 2009 the OFT published its first evaluation of its consumer credit work. This evaluation commissioned by the OFT and undertaken by IFF Research examines a cross section of credit activities where the OFT has taken action in the credit market over recent years

Review of merger decisions under the Enterprise Act 2002

A report prepared for the Competition Commission, Office of Fair Trading and the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.

Evaluation of the Save Xmas awareness campaign

In November 2008 the OFT published an independent report on the evaluation of the Save Xmas awareness campaign

Evaluating the impact of the Supply of Extended Warranties on Domestic Electrical Goods Order 2005


In October 2008 the OFT published an independent report on evaluating the impact of the Supply of Extended Warranties on Domestic Electrical Goods Order 2005 

An evaluation of the impact upon productivity of ending resale price maintenance on books

In March 2008 the OFT published a report that examines how the ending of resale price maintenance (RPM) on books affected productivity in book publishing and retailing.

The deterrence effect of competition enforcement by the OFT

In November 2007 the OFT published an independent piece of research on the deterrent effect of competition enforcement, carried out by Deloitte.

Also in November 2007, the OFT published a discussion document on the issues raised by the report, seeking views by 1 February 2008.

In March 2008 the OFT published a summary of the responses to the discussion document.

Impact of 2003 taxis market study

In October 2007 the OFT published an independent evaluation of the impact of the taxis market study carried out by Europe Economics.

Usage and efficacy of the CD database for TSS

In February 2007 the OFT published an independent evaluation into the usage of the Consumer Direct database by Local Authority Trading Standards Services.

Consumer Codes Approval Scheme

In October 2006 the OFT published an independent evaluation of the impact on business of the Consumer Codes Approval Scheme (CCAS), carried out by the economics research consultancy Centre for Economics and Business Research Ltd with support from market research agency Opinion Research Business.

The aim of the CCAS is to safeguard or promote consumers' interests through the identification and approval of robust self-regulatory codes of practice that give consumers greater rights and protection than the minimum required by law.

See Approved codes of practice area of this website.

Evaluation of Enterprise Act training for Trading Standards Services

In December 2006 the OFT published an evaluation report prepared by IFF research on the training of Local Authority Trading Standards Services in Part 8 of the Enterprise Act.

Car warranties market study

In June 2006 the OFT published an independent evaluation of the impact of the new car warranties market study carried out by Europe Economics.

Ex-post analysis of mergers referred to the Competition Commission

In March 2005, PwC Economics published a report into the ex-post evaluation of mergers referred by the OFT to the Competition Commission (CC) and subsequently cleared without remedy. The report was jointly commissioned by the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, the CC and the OFT. The report focuses on evidence of effective competition in ten separate cases and aims to see if there are any lessons that can be drawn that may guide future merger decisions.

Consumer savings targets: OFT economic discussion paper

In 2002 the OFT published a paper by Professor Steve Davies and Adrian Majumdar, discussing whether it would be sensible to set consumer savings targets for the OFT and, if they were set, how to measure them. The discussion of measurement underpins our recent impact evaluation work.

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Internal impact estimation and research

 

Monitoring the internet shopping market 

In January 2010 the OFT published a note assessing changes in consumer awareness of rights, business practices, and consumer confidence in relation to online shopping. This report compares findings from a web sweep carried out in March 2009 to those from a similar exercise undertaken in December 2007. It analyses results from consumer omnibus surveys - published in May 2009 - and the web sweep to give an overall assessment of market developments on such key issues as awareness of cancellation rights, security concerns, and consumer confidence since the OFT Internet Shopping market study and follow up activities carried out in 2007.

Assessing the wider benefits of the OFT's work

The OFT has a target with HM Treasury to demonstrate how it delivers wider benefits to consumers in the form of deterrence of anti-competitive behaviour and increasing consumer confidence. This paper further develops the wider benefits evidence base through considering the OFT’s impact on consumer confidence.

Assessing the impact of Trading Standards' fair trading work

In June 2009, the OFT published the findings of work carried out to estimate the consumer savings that are delivered by the fair trading work of local authority Trading Standards Services across the UK. The methodologies used to estimate the consumer savings are set out in detail in the report.

Findings from consumer surveys on internet shopping

In May 2009 we published a comparison of pre and post study consumer research. The report compares 2009 findings from telephone and online consumer omnibus surveys to those of the original surveys conducted as part of OFT's Internet Shopping market study in 2006.

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Positive impact

Positive impact 08/09
In July 2009 we published the fourth Positive impact document. In addition to areas covered by Positive impact 07/08, this presents impact estimates of our non-scams consumer protection work.  

Positive impact 07/08
In July 2008 we published the third Positive impact document. In addition to areas covered by Positive impact 06/07, it estimates impact of OFT's market studies work.

Positive impact 06/07
In July 2007 we published the second Positive impact document. In addition to updating the methodology used in Positive impact 05 to give more accurate estimates of impact, it also covers the OFTs Scambuster work.

Positive impact 05
In December 2005 we published the first Positive impact document. We applied internationally recognised methodologies, supplemented by recent academic literature, to estimate the consumer savings generated by a subsection of our competition enforcement work in the period 2000/01 - 2004/5.

Consumer savings from merger control

We have developed an innovative method for estimating the impact of our merger control work, detailed in this April 2007 document.

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Evaluation strategy documents

Evaluation strategy for the OFT's approach to calculating direct benefits to consumers

The OFT has agreed with HM Treasury a performance framework which includes a target to provide, in each annual report, quantitative evidence of how the OFT delivers direct financial benefits to consumers of at least five times that of its cost to the taxpayer across the spending review period. In this March 2008 document we describe the OFT approach to measuring performance against this target.

Evaluation strategy for market studies

The OFT is committed to evaluate how effectively it fulfils its mission. In September 2006 the OFT published a document outlining the strategy for evaluating OFT market studies work.
 
The OFT is committed in its annual plan to commission an independent evaluation of the impact of at least one market study each year. The strategy defines the criteria the OFT will use for deciding which studies to evaluate. It also describes how the OFT will embed evaluation in market studies through the definition of success criteria and monitoring arrangements for the market studies published after April 2007.




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