The figures published today show that the ombudsman took on 191,129 new cases in total in the first half of 2014.
Of the total cases referred to the ombudsman in the first half of the year (191,129), payment protection insurance made up seven out of ten (70%) – with a total of 133,819 new PPI complaints.
For complaints about financial products other than PPI, the total number of cases referred to the ombudsman was 3% higher than the second half of the 2013 (57,310 compared to 55,747). This involved banking complaints increasing by 7% and insurance cases by 1%.
The average uphold rate (where the ombudsman found in the consumer’s favour) over the six-month period was 57%, up from 51% during the previous six months, and ranging from 1% to 94% across the individual businesses
Chief ombudsman Caroline Wayman said:
“Responsibility for sorting out the mass mis-sale of PPI is still the major part of the ombudsman’s workload. But during the first half of 2014 there’s been a marked change in the type of complaints consumers are asking us to resolve – as underlying attitudes become more entrenched and the issues involved get more complex.
“We’re seeing more and more people turn to us in frustration where they feel their bank or insurer simply doesn’t understand or really care. And we’re hearing growing dissatisfaction from people about being processed industrially as a number rather than being listened to as an individual customer.
“By giving their customers more thoughtful, considerate and personal responses – clearly setting out the reasoning behind an individual decision – we know that businesses can help sort out problems earlier on, prevent complaints being escalated to the ombudsman and rebuild trust and confidence more generally.”
