Start with the outcome you need
A regulator, enforcement body and redress scheme may look at the same conduct for different reasons. This profile separates the wider public-interest role from the route that can deal with your own loss.
Role and remit
What the CMA does
The Competition and Markets Authority is a UK non-ministerial government department. It promotes competition and protects consumers through market studies, investigations, guidance and enforcement.
The CMA acts on problems that affect competition or groups of consumers.
Its consumer enforcement powers can address breaches and wider market conduct.
It is not the normal body for deciding one consumer's refund dispute.
Powers and limits
What it can and cannot do
The correct route depends on whether you want wider enforcement, an individual remedy, or both.
| It can | It usually cannot |
|---|---|
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Individual route
Separate market intelligence from your remedy
Evidence of a pattern may be valuable to the CMA even while your own dispute follows a different path.
- Complain to the trader and specify the legal and practical remedy sought.
- Use the Citizens Advice consumer service for individual consumer guidance and suitable enforcement referrals.
- Send market-wide intelligence through the CMA route where the conduct appears widespread or structural.
- Preserve evidence of the wider pattern, including standard terms, repeated adverts and consistent responses.
- Do not let a CMA report delay any ADR, chargeback, Section 75 or court deadline.
The CMA can protect consumers at market level without becoming the decision-maker in your private dispute. Treat regulatory reporting and personal redress as connected but separate tracks.
Prepare the report
What to keep and send
Give the body enough information to identify the conduct and understand why it matters. Keep the material needed for your separate claim as well.
- The trader, group or market involved and the scale of the apparent practice.
- Standard terms, checkout flows, cancellation journeys, pricing displays or repeated representations.
- Examples showing that the issue is not limited to one isolated service failure.
- Dates and any material showing when a practice changed.
- Your separate correspondence and loss calculation for the personal claim.
Route check
Is this the right route?
The CMA is most relevant when conduct appears to affect a market, a class of consumers or competition itself. It is not an escalation service for a single unresolved order. A consumer can report useful market intelligence while pursuing the trader, card provider, ADR scheme, ombudsman or court for personal redress.
| Situation | Best first route | How to separate the issues |
|---|---|---|
| A cancellation design obstructs many subscribers | CMA intelligence plus individual cancellation dispute | Preserve the sign-up and cancellation journeys, terms and standard responses. Explain why the design appears systematic rather than a one-off technical fault. |
| A platform uses recurring misleading price claims | CMA or relevant sector intelligence | Collect dated examples across products or sellers. Distinguish a broad commercial practice from a single pricing error. |
| Businesses appear to coordinate prices or markets | CMA competition-reporting route | Use the specific competition or cartel route and do not confront participants if that could destroy evidence or create risk. |
| One faulty purchase | Seller and consumer redress route | The Consumer Rights Act route, card protection, ADR or court is generally more direct than asking the CMA to intervene. |
| A regulated sector has a specialist body | Sector regulator, with CMA route if genuinely cross-market | Energy, communications, finance, aviation and other sectors may have a regulator with more specific powers and complaint intelligence. |
Define the outcome before choosing the body
A report can seek wider enforcement, an individual complaint can seek a practical remedy, and a court claim can seek a legally enforceable order. The same evidence may support all three, but each submission should say what that recipient is being asked to do.
Worked situations
How the route works in practice
These examples show how to divide one set of facts into the correct complaint, regulatory and redress tracks. They are illustrations, not findings that a rule has been breached.
Subscription cancellation barriers
A service can be joined in a few clicks but cancellation requires repeated screens, calls or unclear steps. Save the full journey, the terms at sign-up, renewal notices, unsuccessful cancellation attempts and charges. Ask the business to cancel and reimburse disputed charges where justified. A CMA report should explain the standard design and likely scale, not merely state that one account was difficult.
Online urgency and scarcity claims
A website repeatedly presents countdowns, low-stock messages or popularity claims that appear not to reflect reality. Record dated sessions and explain what changed or reset. The individual consumer should challenge any resulting purchase through the seller and payment routes. The market report should focus on the repeated presentation, the consumer decision it may influence and the evidence that the claim is not isolated.
Potential price coordination
Several competitors move in a way that raises a genuine competition concern. Consumers should not make accusations publicly without evidence. Provide the CMA with factual material, source documents and an explanation of how the businesses, conduct and market connect. Keep any personal overcharge claim separate and obtain legal advice if substantial loss or complex competition law is involved.
Build the case
Prepare one evidence pack, then tailor each submission
A large unstructured upload makes a complaint harder to assess. Build a reliable master file, then send the documents and explanation relevant to the recipient's role.
- Write a five-line case summary. Name the respondent, transaction or service, disputed conduct, date range, current position and outcome needed.
- Build a chronology. List the important event, who acted, the evidence reference and why it matters. Leave out repeated chasers unless delay itself is an issue.
- Separate facts from conclusions. State what the document shows before stating the rule or standard you think it engages. Avoid claiming criminality, fraud or systemic misconduct without a proper basis.
- Create an evidence index. Use short labels such as A1 contract, A2 advert, A3 payment and A4 complaint response. Redact irrelevant personal data, but keep an unredacted original.
- Calculate the personal remedy. Show the refund, correction, reimbursement or compensation requested and how each amount was calculated. This belongs in the redress submission even where the regulator cannot award it.
- Explain the wider concern. For a report to the CMA, identify the repeated practice, safety issue, regulated standard or public impact. Give evidence of scale without speculation.
- Record every deadline. Keep complaint, chargeback, statutory, ADR, ombudsman and court dates in one list. A regulatory report rarely stops another clock.
| Document | Purpose | Keep it usable |
|---|---|---|
| Case summary | Lets the reader understand the dispute before opening attachments. | Keep it factual, dated and under one page. |
| Chronology | Shows sequence, delay and opportunities to put matters right. | Reference the supporting evidence beside each important event. |
| Issue schedule | Separates different allegations, responses and remedies. | Use one row per issue and do not merge unrelated failures. |
| Loss schedule | Explains the money or practical correction requested. | Show arithmetic, receipts, mitigation and amounts already repaid. |
| Source note | Connects the facts to the rule, Code or official guidance. | Cite the exact provision or heading and check its date and scope. |
Write the submission
A clear structure for the complaint or report
Use plain language and adapt the request to the body's actual powers. A useful submission can be firm without treating an allegation as an established fact.
Suggested structure
Subject: Complaint or information about [respondent] concerning [issue] on [date or period]
Summary: I am writing because [brief factual description]. The attached chronology and documents identify the relevant events.
Issues: My main concerns are [numbered issue 1], [issue 2] and [issue 3]. For each issue I have identified the evidence and the rule or standard I believe may be relevant.
Impact and scale: The effect on me was [practical or financial impact]. I believe the wider concern may be [supported explanation], based on [evidence].
Request: Please confirm whether this is within your remit, what further information is required and what I should expect next. My separate request to [trader, provider or scheme] is [personal remedy].
Do not copy this structure blindly. Remove paragraphs that do not apply, use the body's form where required and comply with limits on issues, attachments or file types. Never include bank details, identity documents or third-party records unless they are necessary and the submission route is secure.
Scope and jurisdiction
Check coverage before arguing the merits
A strong complaint can still fail if the CMA has no power over the respondent, activity, territory or date. Record the jurisdiction analysis at the front of the file so it can be corrected early.
| Check | Evidence | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Respondent | Legal name, trading name, registration, licence, membership or provider status. | A brand, agent or marketplace may not be the body legally responsible or within scope. |
| Activity | Contract, advert, account, product, service and the precise conduct complained about. | A body can regulate one activity of a firm while another activity belongs elsewhere. |
| Consumer status | Whether the complainant acted mainly outside a trade or profession, or meets another scheme definition. | Individuals, businesses, charities, tenants and passengers may have different access tests. |
| Territory | Consumer location, business establishment, property, service and place of the relevant event. | UK bodies often have England-only, Great Britain or otherwise limited jurisdiction. |
| Date | Event, contract, complaint and final response dates. | Law, rulebooks, membership and regulatory powers change. The current rule may not govern an older event. |
| Complaint stage | Original complaint, escalation, final response, deadlock letter and elapsed period. | Some redress routes open only after the provider has had a fair opportunity to respond. |
If coverage is unclear
Check the official remit and definitions first. Ask the body a short jurisdiction question if necessary, giving the respondent, activity, territory and date. Do not send the full merits bundle merely to ask whether the route exists. At the same time, preserve any alternative complaint, payment, appeal or court deadline.
Agents, groups and marketplaces
Identify who made the promise, received the money, supplied the service, processed the payment and issued the disputed decision. These may be different organisations. A regulator may supervise one of them while the consumer claim lies against another. Keep the contractual and regulatory relationships separate in the issue schedule.
How evidence is assessed
Quality matters more than volume
Regulators and redress bodies apply different legal tests, policies and priorities, but reliable evidence has common features. It is authentic, relevant, complete enough for context and clearly connected to the proposition it is said to support.
Contemporaneous records
Documents created at the time usually carry more weight than a later recollection. Keep original emails, messages, bills, recordings where lawful, photographs with dates, website captures and account history. If a record has been annotated or cropped, retain the original and explain the edit.
Conflicting accounts
Do not hide evidence that appears inconsistent with the complaint. Identify the conflict and explain why one account should be preferred, using timing, independent records, internal consistency and surrounding conduct. A candid explanation is stronger than an incomplete bundle that the respondent can discredit.
Pattern evidence
For wider enforcement, show repeated wording, standard terms, common design, multiple dated examples or a documented failure of systems. Public reviews can suggest a line of enquiry, but anonymous posts are not a substitute for primary evidence. Avoid contacting strangers for personal information or coordinating accounts.
Impact and remedy evidence
Link financial loss to receipts, statements and calculations. Explain non-financial impact with specific duration, disruption, vulnerability or missed opportunities, without turning ordinary frustration into a medical or legal conclusion. Show steps taken to reduce avoidable loss.
Evidence obtained later
New documents can be supplied if they materially affect the issues. State when they were obtained, why they were unavailable earlier and exactly which part of the case they support. Do not repeatedly expand the complaint with unrelated concerns after the respondent has answered the defined issues.
Deadlines and risk
Do not let one route quietly close another
Complaint systems, ombudsmen, payment providers and courts calculate time in different ways. Record each possible deadline from the event that triggers it and verify it with the current official source.
| Clock | Risk to manage | Practical action |
|---|---|---|
| Provider complaint | Internal policies may impose stages or submission periods. | Complain promptly and save proof of receipt, while checking whether a policy limit is legally decisive. |
| Ombudsman or ADR | A final response can start a referral period, and waiting rules do not always extend the final limit. | Record the final response date and submit a complete enough referral before expiry. |
| Payment protection | Chargeback and platform protections can have short contractual limits. | Contact the provider early and ask for the applicable rule and evidence requirements. |
| Statutory appeal or review | Some public-law and tribunal routes use very short, strict periods. | Obtain specialist advice promptly and do not assume a complaint pauses the appeal clock. |
| Court limitation | Negotiation, regulatory reporting or ombudsman review may not stop time running. | Identify the cause of action, jurisdiction and limitation position. Seek advice before relying on an extension or standstill. |
Urgency is not only a date
Loss of essential supply, unsafe products, threatened eviction, fraud in progress, serious vulnerability and imminent travel can require immediate protective action. Use emergency or specialist channels first, then return to the ordinary complaint record when the immediate risk is controlled.
After submission
What may happen next
The absence of a full investigation or personal update does not decide the merits of the private complaint. Track the report and the redress process as separate pieces of work.
Market study or investigation
The CMA may examine how a market works, gather evidence and publish findings. These processes are wider than one consumer's transaction and can take time.
Consumer enforcement
The CMA can use statutory consumer-protection powers where the relevant tests are met. Current powers and procedures should be checked against official material for the conduct date.
Guidance and compliance change
Published guidance, undertakings or business changes can influence a whole market. They do not necessarily establish that every affected person receives the same individual remedy.
Information passed elsewhere
A different national or sector body may be better placed to act. Consumers should identify the regulated activity and respondent before deciding where to report.
Maintain a route log
Record the date submitted, reference number, acknowledgement, promised response date and any request for information. If new evidence arrives, send only what materially changes the assessment and identify the original reference. Repeatedly resending the whole file can obscure the important update.
Keep the personal claim active
Continue reasonable mitigation, answer relevant questions from the business and move to the next redress stage when eligible. If the dispute may go to court, comply with the appropriate pre-action conduct and obtain advice where the value, complexity or risk justifies it.
Detailed questions
Common questions about Competition and Markets Authority
Always check the linked official source for current forms, jurisdiction, service standards and scheme rules.
Will the CMA advise me about my individual claim?
No, its official reporting guidance says it cannot step in or advise on individual complaints. Use the consumer advice and redress route for your case.
How many examples make something systemic?
There is no simple consumer threshold. Explain the standard practice, likely reach and evidence of repetition. One well-documented journey can still be useful intelligence.
Should I wait for a CMA response?
No. Continue any cancellation, refund, card, ADR or court step within its own time limit.
Can a CMA publication support my complaint?
It can provide authoritative context where it covers the same conduct and period. You must still connect it to the facts, contract and remedy in your case.
What if the issue is in a regulated sector?
Check the specialist regulator first. Some bodies share or coordinate powers, but the most specific route is often easier to explain and evidence.
Primary material
Official sources
Check the current remit, procedure and rules before submitting anything.