The questions relate to investigations and enforcement activities against rogue general firms and sole traders in the repair, maintenance and improvement sector, undertaken by the council and/or its Trading Standards department.
These complaints, investigations and prosecutions could be for reports of work by builders and fitters that is incomplete, completed to a poor standard or dangerous, or where a customer has been over-charged, defrauded or otherwise faced unfair practices. For each of the last four years:
1) How many reports and complaints about cowboy builders did your authority receive? This could be directly or via a conduit such as Citizens’ Advice.
2018 – 1663
2019 – 1580
2020 – 1594
2021 – 2148
These figures are complaints received in the outlined trade sectors. They relate to the Devon, Somerset and Torbay Trading Standards Service up to 1st April 2021 and from that date to the Heart of the South West Trading Standards Service which additionally includes the area of Plymouth.
2) How many investigations did your authority open into cowboy builders?
2018 – 559
2019 – 461
2020 – 423
2021 – 516
These figures are issues where a potential regulatory issue was identified in the outlined trade sectors and was passed to an enforcement team. They relate to the Devon, Somerset and Torbay Trading Standards Service up to 1st April 2021 and from that date to the Heart of the South West Trading Standards Service which additionally includes the area of Plymouth.
3) How many fines did your authority issue to cowboy builders?
No fines were issued by Devon County Council. The Courts issue fines, costs and in some cases compensation orders. In relation to court actions and prosecutions instigated by Trading Standards, monetary awards issued by Courts were:
| Year | Fine | Costs Order | Compensation |
| 2018 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 2019 | 2 | 5 | 2 |
| 2020 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 2021 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
4) What was the collective value of these fines?
| Year | Value of Fine (£) | Value of Costs (£) | Value of Compensation (£) |
| 2018 | 8,000 | 6,500 | 63,805 |
| 2019 | 800 | 14,400 | 39,900 |
| 2020 | 3,685 | 4,930 | 20,562 |
| 2021 | 0 | 500 | 1,000 |
5) How many times did your authority prosecute individuals and businesses accused of being rogue builders?
2018 – 2
2019 – 5
2020 – 2
2021 – 3
6) How many of these prosecutions resulted in convictions?
2018 – 2
2019 – 5
2020 – 2
2021 – 2
7) How many convictions resulted in prison sentences?
2018 – 1
2019 – 3
2020 – 0
2021 – 1
8) How many of these were suspended sentences?
2018 – 1
2019 – 2
2020 – 0
2021 – 0