How we source renewal-trap figures
Cost ranges on this site are based on public reference material across the relevant landscape. The publishers below are representative of the kind of source that informs our positioning, not an exhaustive extraction map per figure. A specific figure on a specific page is not necessarily anchored to a single named publisher.
Sources
- FCA loyalty-penalty research (UK insurance and savings). Financial Conduct Authority published loyalty-penalty research: the 2018 super-complaint reply, the 2020 General Insurance Pricing Practices market study, and ongoing FCA Consumer Duty publications.
- Ofgem and Ofcom consumer research. Ofgem energy-price-cap and standard-variable-tariff loyalty research, Ofcom Communications Market Report broadband and mobile loyalty-penalty data.
- Citizens Advice loyalty-penalty work. The original 2018 Citizens Advice super-complaint and follow-up research on the £4.1bn loyalty-penalty figure across mobile, broadband, savings and insurance.
- Published consumer-research surveys. Which? consumer surveys on switching behaviour, MoneySavingExpert published loyalty-tax data, US ProPublica reporting on US insurance loyalty-penalty equivalents.
What we deliberately do not publish
- Specific provider switching recommendations. We describe the loyalty-penalty shape across categories but do not maintain a switch-to-provider-X recommendation; switching recommendations rot quickly with market conditions.
- Soundbite '£X per year per household' figures without source. Where a number is widely repeated, we trace it to its original publication and describe scope before quoting.
- Personal household data. Calculators run entirely in your browser. Your subscription / contract inputs are not transmitted, logged, or stored.
Update cadence
Site values update only when the underlying reality changes. Triggers:
- FCA publishes new General Insurance or Consumer Duty pricing-practice research
- Ofgem energy-price-cap or standing-charge changes that materially shift household loyalty cost
- Ofcom Communications Market Report annual refresh
- New Citizens Advice or Which? consumer-loyalty research
Cosmetic date bumps are not made.
Editorial position
This site is operated by Digital Signet, an independent AI-development studio. Digital Signet does not sell switching services, does not act as a price-comparison aggregator, does not earn affiliate commission on energy / broadband / insurance switches, and does not accept paid placements from any vendor in the comparison space. See /about for the operator and the wider network.
Editorial direction is set by Oliver Wakefield-Smith. Drafts are produced via Digital Signet's autonomous AI development methodology and reviewed against the editorial framework before publication.
Contact
For methodology questions, corrections, or scenarios that don't fit cleanly: [email protected].