Financial Ombudsman Service Sets Case Resolution Targets

UK Financial Ombudsman Service News

Published January 13th, 2026

Detected March 12th, 2026

Summary

The UK Financial Ombudsman Service has published its plans and budget for the 2026/27 financial year, setting a target to resolve 245,000 cases. The service is consulting on these ambitious targets, which include resolving over 80% of cases within six months.

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What changed

The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has released its proposed plans and budget for the 2026/27 financial year, outlining an ambitious target to resolve 245,000 cases. This includes an expected intake of 188,000 new cases, with a specific focus on clearing 60,000 motor finance commission (MFC) cases. The FOS aims to improve timeliness by resolving over 80% of all cases within six months, building on recent improvements.

This document represents a consultation on the FOS's strategic direction and operational targets. While not directly imposing new obligations on regulated firms, these targets signal the FOS's capacity and priorities for handling complaints related to banking, credit cards, insurance, investments, pensions, and other financial products. Stakeholders, particularly financial services firms, should be aware of these targets as they may influence complaint handling and potential FOS caseloads. The consultation period closes on January 21, 2026, indicating a need for interested parties to review and respond promptly.

What to do next

Review the Financial Ombudsman Service's proposed plans and budget for 2026/27.
Submit feedback or comments to the FOS consultation by January 21, 2026.
Anticipate potential shifts in FOS case resolution times and priorities.

Source document (simplified)

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Financial Ombudsman Service sets out ambitious targets for resolving cases in 2026/27

13 January 2026

Press release Strategic plans and budget Consultations and responses

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We are consulting on its Plans and Budget for the next financial year as it looks to resolve 245,000 cases in 2026/27
We expect to receive 188,000 cases in 2026/27
We continue to work closely with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and HM Treasury to deliver a series of reforms to the redress system

The continuous delivery of changes and improvements to will be a key focus for us as we set out ambitious targets for the next financial year.

We plan to resolve 245,000 cases in 2026/27, as we work through our existing stock levels, of which 60,000 will be motor finance commission (MFC) cases. The remaining cases will be non-motor finance complaints, such as insurance, investments, pensions and banking.

We've improved our timeliness over the last two years and plan to build on this with a target to resolve over 80% of cases within six months.

Following a period of extraordinary demand, we expect to receive 188,000 cases in 2026/27 across a range of financial products including bank accounts, credit cards and insurance. For 2025/26, our latest forecast shows that we expect to receive around 205,000 cases. By comparison, in 2024/25, prior to implementing a charging regime for professional representatives, we received over 305,000 cases.

This reduction in case volumes compared to recent years is due to measures which we have implemented, including introducing a case fee for professional representatives.

We also expect complaints about Buy Now Pay Later (Deferred Payment Credit) products to come into our jurisdiction in July 2026, meaning it is likely we'll start receiving complaints in the second half of 2026/27. Using insight from market leaders and its experience of new products, we expect to receive around 2,000 cases on issues including general administration, problems with credit files and perceived irresponsible lending.

We are continuing to work closely with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and HM Treasury to deliver a series of reforms to the redress system to help firms identify and resolve issues before complaints escalate and bring consistency and predictability for businesses and consumers. So far, we have made a number of changes to improve the system. April 2026 marks the one-year anniversary since we brought in charging for professional representatives to refer complaints to our service.

As previously announced, we changed the interest we apply to some of the awards we direct financial businesses to make in order to better reflect market conditions. This came into force on 1 January 2026. We have also made an interest calculator available to businesses to provide further support in helping them adapt to the new interest rate.

Jenny Simmonds, Interim Chief Executive at the Financial Ombudsman Service, said:

The continuous delivery of changes and improvements to our service and the framework in which we operate will be a key focus next year.

We are continuing to drive operational efficiencies while maintaining the quality of our service, ensuring that we have the resources in place to enable us to resolve complaints in a timely manner.

We want to lay the foundations for an agile, responsive and modern Financial Ombudsman which is fit for the future and has the confidence of consumers and financial businesses alike. The next year will be a crucial one for our service and we welcome views from stakeholders on our proposals.
After holding our costs to businesses flat last year, we are also consulting on proposals to increase its case fee from £650 to £680 and compulsory levy to £86m as we respond to inflationary challenges and deliver the biggest reforms to our service since we were created.

The proposed costs for businesses still represent a significant saving on 2023/24 levels, as we continue to focus on efficiency savings. Charges for professional representatives would increase from £250 to £260, with the credit if the case is found in favour of the complainant increasing from £175 to £180.

The consultation on our Plans and Budget 2026/27 is open until 21 January 2026.

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