UK consumers spend on average a whopping £90 billion a month and December must surely be see the biggest spend.

More than one in five people in the UK experience problems with goods and services. A quarter of them spend more than four hours trying to sort out these problems, one in ten having to take time off work to do so.

The Consumer Rights Act came into force on October 1, 2015 and streamlines eight pieces of legislation into one. This should make life a little easier for shoppers.

Most of the changes were important updates to existing laws. But two new areas of law were also introduced.

• For the first time rights on digital content have been set out in legislation. The Act gives consumers a clear right to the repair or replacement of faulty digital content, such as online film and games, music downloads and e-books. The law here had been unclear and this change has brought us up to date with how digital products have evolved.

• There are now also new, clear rules for what should happen if a service is not provided with reasonable care and skill or as agreed. For example, the business that provided the service must bring it into line with what was agreed with the customer or, if this is not practical, must give some money back.

In addition, Alternative Dispute Resolution is now available to all businesses to help when a dispute with a consumer cannot be settled directly. The Citizens Advice Consumer Service can give advice and information on these new laws, telephone 03454 04 05 06 helplines are open Monday to Friday 9.00am to 5.00pm, or you can download a leaflet type ‘Citizens Advice know your new rights’ into your search engine for the link within our website.

Free, confidential advice and help is available from South Lakes Citizens Advice Bureau on any aspect of debt, consumer problems, benefits, housing, employment and any other problems. We have various outlets across South Lakeland and can also give advice over the phone – telephone 015394 46464 for an appointment and help.