The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) now expects a caseload of 210,000 complaints in 2024/25, a 15% rise from its previous prediction of 181,300 and 27% more than it recorded in 2022/23.
FOS has attributed the predicted rise to several factors, including “everyday financial concerns” linked to the ongoing cost of living crisis, unaffordable lending, credit card complaints, fraud, and scams, as well as an influx of motor finance commission cases unaffected by the FCA review of historical cases.
Insurance complaints make up the second largest tranche of cases predicted to be received at 47,400 complaints, 18,700 of which are expected to relate to motor insurance.
Whilst exact data for the current year will not be available until June, statistics from the last quarter reveal that the number of new complaints received by the FOS between October and December was 16% higher than the previous year at 47,868, over a third (35%) of which were upheld.
Financial Ombudsman Service vow to improve case resolution rate
FOS set out its goals for the next year in its final plan and budget for 2024-25, which included a pledge to resolve 17% more cases in the year ahead than in 2023-24, from 192,500, to 225,000.
The service reports that it has reduced the time it takes to resolve a case from 4.8 months in 2022/23 to 2.96 months by final quarter of 2023, and has set a target to resolve 90% of cases within six months.
FOS also confirmed that, over the next year, it intends to cut case fees by £100 per case to £650 and reduce compulsory and voluntary jurisdiction levy costs, saving businesses around £60 million in costs once inflation and case number increased are taken into account.
Abby Thomas, FCO Chief Executive and Ombudsman, stated that the uncertainty around casework levels in the year ahead is driving the creation of a FOS service which is flexible and agile, and which will allow FOS to respond to increased demand across any area of its business.
Thomas added that FOS’ plans will help ensure that the customer is at the heart of everything it does, and that it wants every person who engages with the service to clearly understand the outcome of their case. Now, more than ever, FOS believes that it is crucial that businesses work with FOS to improve all customers’ experiences of financial services.