Martin Lewis' MSE issues Financial Ombudsman Service warning over deadline

Martin Lewis' Money Saving Expert has warned the free and independent Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) faces reform. BBC and ITV star Mr Lewis' team at MSE says the FOS may be reformed in future, the Labour Party government has announced.

MSE explained: "But it's still very early days – for now, there are NO changes to how the Ombudsman works and you can still escalate your complaint to the service as usual." It explained: "A joint consultation launched today (Friday 15 November) will now consider how the complaints system can be "modernised" so that fewer complaints are escalated to the Ombudsman and so that consumers get quicker and better outcomes."

The consultation will focus on making sure consumers receive appropriate redress when things go wrong and looking at how firms can identify practices that are harmful to consumers, proactively address these issues, and resolve complaints more effectively themselves.

READ MORE Premier Inn customers furious over change to hotel bars that's 'needless'

It will also explore identifying redress issues earlier so they can be resolved swiftly and efficiently and reducing the number of "meritless" complaints from claims management firms. The deadline for individuals and groups to give their views is 30 January 2025.

The consultation states: "The current redress framework works well for individual customer complaints about specific issues. However, challenges can occur when there are large numbers of complaints about the same issue (we describe these as ‘mass redress events’). These challenges can be compounded if firms do not identify issues early or do not proactively address harm where it occurs."

This call for input will primarily interest consumers and groups representing consumer interests, policy makers and other regulatory bodies and firms and industry bodies, it adds. The consultation explains: "We also want to hear from: industry advisers and consultancies and experts and commentators and academics and think tanks and PRs to consumers making complaints."