the independent assessor
The independent assessor is appointed by our board and has his own official terms of reference (see below). He can deal with complaints from consumers and businesses about the level of service we provide. He cannot consider whether we were right to uphold or reject a dispute between a business and a consumer.
If you have given us the opportunity to respond to a complaint about the level of service we have provided, and you’re still not happy, you can contact the independent assessor – Michael Barnes CBE.
The independent assessor will consider the information you provide and look at all our papers on the case. He will then decide whether your complaint about our service is justified. If he thinks the service we gave you was satisfactory, he will tell you why. If he thinks our service was not satisfactory, he will explain his reasons and will recommend the steps we should take to put things right.
If you need to contact the independent assessor, please write to:
The Independent Assessor
PO Box 35738
London
E14 9YU
Each year the independent assessor produces an annual report, setting out his findings and recommendations over the year. His report is published in full in our annual review each year.
the independent assessor's terms of reference
- Any person or firm directly affected by the statutory functions of the Financial Ombudsman Service may raise with the independent assessor any complaint about the standard of service provided by the Financial Ombudsman service (a service complaint), provided:
a) the service complaint has first been made to the chief ombudsman or one of the principal ombudsmen or the service review manager, and they have had a reasonable opportunity of responding to the service complaint; and
b) the person or firm making the service complaint remains dissatisfied and complains to the independent assessor within three months of the Financial Ombudsman Service confirming that it has completed its own internal procedures in relation to the service complaint. - If the independent assessor receives a service complaint that also relates to other matters, the independent assessor shall only investigate the service complaint. Service complaints exclude, amongst other things:
a) the merits of any decision concerning any complaint against a firm under the law and/or rules relating to the Financial Ombudsman Service, including: jurisdiction; the wider-implications process; dismissing, rejecting or upholding such a complaint; and any redress; and
b) employment issues relating to the staff of the Financial Ombudsman Service and issues concerning commercial transactions between the Financial Ombudsman Service and third parties. - Generally, the independent assessor will only consider service complaints after the complaint against the firm has been concluded. In exceptional cases, the independent assessor may require the Financial Ombudsman Service to suspend investigation of the complaint against the firm while the service complaint is considered.
- The independent assessor shall have access to all files held by the Financial Ombudsman Service relating to the service complaint and may seek any further information that he considers necessary from the person or firm making the service complaint or from the Financial Ombudsman Service.
- If the independent assessor considers that a service complaint should be upheld in whole or in part, he may recommend to the chief ombudsman that the Financial Ombudsman Service makes an apology or pays appropriate compensation (equivalent to that which the Financial Ombudsman Service would award against a firm in similar circumstances) for any damage, distress or inconvenience caused by the Financial Ombudsman Service’s standard of service to the person or firm making the service complaint.
- If the chief ombudsman does not accept that recommendation, the independent assessor shall refer the matter to the board of the Financial Ombudsman Service – which shall normally decide on its response at the next meeting of the board, following receipt of the recommendation, for which it is possible to include the relevant papers in the agenda.
- If the board of the Financial Ombudsman Service declines to comply with a recommendation referred to it by the independent assessor, it shall inform the independent assessor and the person or firm making the service complaint of its reasons for doing so, and shall publish them in its annual report.
- The independent assessor shall communicate his findings in writing to the person or firm who made the service complaint and to the Financial Ombudsman Service. There is no further appeal against the independent assessor’s decision.
- Each year the independent assessor shall compile, for inclusion in the annual report of the Financial Ombudsman Service, a summary of the number and nature of the complaints received by him/her, and of any recommendations made to the chief ombudsman or referred to the board of the Financial Ombudsman Service.