The Financial Ombudsman Service has announced that its proactive settlement scheme will continue. The FOS explains that over the last couple of years, it has trialed a new way to help financial businesses and their customers to resolve complaints more quickly. By using "proactive settlement," financial businesses can make an offer to resolve a complaint before the FOS carries out a full investigation. Following the trial and reviewing feedback from participants, the FOS identified a few ways to improve the process.
From June 24, 2024, the FOS will introduce the following changes:
The FOS has also changed how it works internally to embed the process permanently and ensure it can continue to send offers on to customers promptly. The FOS also updated its webpage on how it handles complaints and its guide on the proactive settlement scheme criteria.
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