ombudsman news
issue 63
July/August 2007
ask ombudsman news
bringing a complaint on someone else's behalf
I have been asked by a friend to act on her behalf on a complaint she has against her bank. The complaint hasn't been resolved to her satisfaction so we’re currently in the process of referring the matter on to you. I have printed out the complaint form from your website and see there is a declaration on the last page that needs signing. Can I just check with you whether my friend needs to sign this declaration, or can I do it on her behalf as her representative?
A consumer still needs to sign the declaration, even if they have asked someone else to deal with the complaint on their behalf. By signing the declaration, a consumer gives us their consent to obtain and handle personal information about them, as well as showing us that they understand what is involved in raising a complaint – something that only they can do.
ombudsman facts and figures
I am trying to find information on which sector of the financial services industry had the most complaints made against it in the past year. I understand these statistics are available to the public and would be most grateful if you could let me know how I could get hold of them.
We think you'll find our annual review for 2006/07 helpful. It provides facts and figures about our work and the types of complaints we receive.
Among other things, the review shows that during the year, the ombudsman service:
- received 94,392 new complaints in total – including 46,134 new mortgage endowment cases (around 175 every working day, compared with 250 cases a day in the previous year); and
- saw banking disputes increase by 47% and insurance complaints go up by 10% – with a 21% decrease in cases involving investments;
- settled more than half of all disputes about banking, insurance and investments within three months – and two-thirds of mortgage endowment cases within nine months.
While half of the total number of disputes related to ten of the UK's largest financial groups, over 80% of the businesses covered by the ombudsman service had no complaint referred to the service during the year.