The Financial Ombudsman Service has increased its maximum award limit from £415,000 to £430,000.
From April 1, its awards limits will increase to £430,000 for complaints referred to the service about acts or omissions by firms on or after April 1, 2019.
Additionally, for complaints referred to the service about acts or omissions by firms before April1, 2019, the award limit will increase from £190,000 to £195,000.
The compensation award increase by the Fos is in line with prior increases by the organisation.
Last year, the maximum award was increased from £375,000 to £415,000.
The limit is adjusted each year in line with inflation, as measured by the Consumer Prices Index, which remained at 4 per cent in the most recent inflation update in February.
These increased award limits for the coming financial year have been confirmed by the Financial Conduct Authority.
FOI response time
This announcement comes after the Information Commissioner’s Office said it was taking action against public authorities, including the Fos.
The Fos was given recommendations by the ICO setting out improvements it can make to better comply with its legal obligations.
According to the ICO, this was because the Fos showed ‘significant inconsistency’ in FOI request response times which it said was due to key staff leaving the Fos in August 2023.
In 2022/23, reportedly only 65 per cent of requests were responded to by the Fos within the statutory timeframe.
According to the ICO, things temporarily improved in 2023/24 but the number of requests responded to within the statutory time limits has been continually dropping since August 2023, reaching 23 per cent in November 2023.
tom.dunstan@ft.com
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