The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has said it expects to receive 177,000 complaints and resolve 220,500 in the 2022/23 financial year.
This came as the ombudsman set out its financial budget for 2022/23.
The FOS said that its budget includes a cost base of £291.7m ($390m, €351m). In March 2021, it set a £260m budget for 2021/22 with a compulsory jurisdiction levy of £96m as it predicted a large increase in post-pandemic cases.
Individual case fees will be £750.
The Ombudsman set out a compulsory jurisdiction levy expected to increase to £106m and a voluntary jurisdiction levy of £700,000, down from £760,000 in 2021/22.
It has also planned that the businesses part of the in group-account fee arrangement will get 15 free cases, reduced from 50. Businesses outside the group-account fee arrangement will get three free cases, reduced from 25.
Aims
In 2022/23, the Financial Ombudsman expects to receive 177,000 complaints and resolve 220,500 complaints.
It said it wants to continue to ensure it is “equipped to respond to complexity and vulnerability in complaints” and invest in a change programme, which includes working with regulatory stakeholders to deliver its action plan.
Nausicaa Delfas, chief executive and chief ombudsman at the FOS, said: “In the last financial year, we took significant steps to put the Financial Ombudsman Service on a better path for the future. We published our action plan, together with our periodic review, and have been driving down our backlog of cases.
“In the next financial year, we will be investing to make a step change in performance, by developing our technologies and implementing our new operating model. The changes we make will help deliver a better service for all our customers and will allow the organisation to become financially sustainable for the future.”
