In a proposed plan for the next financial year published today, FOS also announced that it will continue to freeze the case fee paid by businesses at £550 – payable only after the 25th case – meaning 99% of businesses will continue to pay no case fee at all.
In the plan, FOS revealed how significantly their workload has increased – from 25,000 new cases in 2000 to more than half a million new cases in 2014.
In 2015/16 FOS expect to answer 1.4 million consumer enquiries and resolve a further 250,000 disputes involving PPI, reducing the number of existing PPI cases from around 280,000 to 180,000.
The number of new cases received is expected to drop by 12% in 2015/16, largely due to the reduction in new PPI cases, down from 400,000 this year to 280,000 in March 2015, with an estimated 180,000 remaining by March 2016.
Additionally, they expect to deal with 88,000 banking complaints, 33,000 insurance cases and 17,000 investment complaints, and will recruit an additional 200 adjudicators and ombudsmen.
FOS have also announced plans to replace the current case-handling system with a new IT platform and casework management system, introducing a digital platform to allow customers to interact with them through online forms and web-chats.
Caroline Wayman, chief ombudsman, said:
"Over the last few years the ombudsman’s workload has increased substantially – and the volatility of complaint levels remains a significant challenge when planning for the future. But we’re finally seeing evidence that the number of complaints referred to us by consumers is starting to stabilise.
"On the other hand, complaints about PPI are still the main driver of financial disputes. And although numbers are slowly declining, it will be years before we can truly say this mis-selling scandal is over. Our plans take into account the increasingly hard-fought and complex nature of the cases we are seeing – not only in PPI but also in areas like mortgages and pensions.
"No two financial complaints are alike. So from payday loans to pension drawdowns, our principal focus this year continues to be on placing fairness at the heart of what we do. Giving people honest, thoughtful answers that help them better understand and make sense of things that have gone wrong."
