FOI003553 FOI Trading Standards

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I am writing to request data regarding consumer complaints and financial losses relating to home improvement, construction, and domestic trade fraud.

Please provide the following information for the last three financial years (2023/24, 2024/25, 2025/26):

1) The total number of consumer complaints received regarding home improvement, construction, or domestic trade fraud.
1a) Of the total complaints in Question 1, how many involved initial contact between the consumer and the tradesperson originating via social media platforms?

2) The total estimated financial loss to consumers reported in relation to these specific complaints.

Note: If extracting the contact method data for question 1a requires manual retrieval of individual case files and would exceed the Section 12 cost limit, please fulfill questions 1 and 2 and advise on any pre-aggregated contact-channel data available for question 1a in your reporting software.

I would be grateful if you could provide this data in an electronic format, preferably Google Sheets/Excel/CSV.