Question
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many complaints to the Financial Service Ombudsman were dismissed in financial year 2025/26 on the grounds that to do so, "would seriously impair the effective operation of the Service," and, of these complaints
Answer
The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) recently answered a similar question from Lord Foulkes of Cumnock and a copy of the letter was placed in the Library of the House of Lords. In the letter, the FOS confirmed that it dismissed 680 complaints without consideration of their merits in the 2025-26 financial year, on the basis that doing so would have seriously impaired the effective operation of the FOS. In the same period, it received over 223,000 complaints in total, meaning that cases dismissed on this basis represented approximately 0.31% of its overall annual caseload. The Treasury does not hold the other information requested. The FOS will respond to the Honourable Member regarding those points by letter and a copy of the letter will be placed in the Library of the House of Commons.
Verdict: AMBER (58/100) DEFERRED
The first part of the question is answered directly: the reply gives the exact figure of 680 complaints dismissed without consideration of their merits in 2025-26 and states the ground, that handling them would seriously impair the Financial Ombudsman Service's effective operation. The second part is not answered in the reply itself. The Treasury says it does not hold the further information requested, and the Financial Ombudsman Service will write to the Member, so the asker would need to wait for that letter or ask again for the specifics.
How we got there
| Question item | Coverage | Specificity | Rationale |
|---|---|---|---|
| How many complaints to the Financial Ombudsman Service were dismissed in financial year 2025/26 on the grounds that handling them would seriously impair the effective operation of the Service? | Addressed | Direct | The reply gives the exact figure asked for (680 complaints dismissed without consideration of their merits in 2025-26) and states the stated ground, that handling them would seriously impair the effective operation of the FOS. The surrounding context figures (over 223,000 total complaints, about 0.31%) add relevant scale but are not needed to answer the item. |
| Of those complaints, the further information requested is not stated because the question is cut off after 'and, of these complaints'. | Deferred | Hedged | The question item is truncated, so the further information requested is unknown; the reply says the Treasury does not hold the other information and that the FOS will respond to the Member by letter (with a copy placed in the Commons Library), which defers any substantive answer rather than giving it in the reply itself. |