The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has increased its individual case fee from £650 to £750.
This increased fee was confirmed in the FOS’ strategic plan and budget for 2021/22.
The compulsory jurisdiction levy has been set at £96m, which is in the middle of the range proposed in December.
FOS received 69,000 complaints in Q2
The voluntary jurisdiction levy is expected to raise £1m, slightly below the £1.1m projected in December.
Looking to the year ahead, the ombudsman’s cost base is set at £260m.
According to the FOS, it expects to have resolved more than 95% of the volume of cases it had originally planned to in its general casework.
However, the pandemic has contributed to the number of complaints it received in 2020/21 being 45% higher than expected.
Caroline Wayman, chief ombudsman and chief executive of the Financial Ombudsman Service, said: “Our final 2021/22 budget involves a smaller levy increase than our consultation base case – balancing the need to fund our service appropriately and protect against the risk of in year funding requests, with our recognition of the pressures facing firms and the need to provide certainty around their contribution.
“The solution we’ve reached also retains an increase in our case fee – reflecting the strong support respondents expressed for this facet of our funding.”