Context
FOS over the past couple of years have trialled a new way to help financial businesses and their customers resolve complaints more quickly. By using ‘proactive settlement’ financial businesses can make an offer to resolve a complaint before FOS carry out a full investigation.
Key points to note and next actions
Having reviewed the proactive settlement scheme, the FOS has found that it gives financial businesses a useful option to resolve complaints early in the FOS process. As part of the review the following changes will be made to the scheme criteria, effective 24 June 2024;
- Simplifying the scheme – businesses must make an offer within 14 days from when the case moves to investigation (currently 21 days).
- Communicating with its customers - When FOS receive an offer, it will assess whether it meets the scheme criteria. If not, it will let the business know why and that it will follow the standard FOS investigation process.
- Improving its internal processes - FOS is also working to permanently embed the process and ensure it can continue to send offers on to customers promptly.
For a case to meet the scheme criteria and be resolved as proactively settled:
- Firms must make an offer in writing within 14 calendar days of being notified by FOS that the case has moved to investigation
- When firms put forward their offer, they must make it clear that they are making it under the ‘proactive settlement scheme’
- The offer should be different from any previous offer the firm has made to its customer, including the offer made in the firm’s final response letter
- Firms should explain why they are making the offer and provide relevant supporting information
- The customer must accept the offer and the firm must resolve the complaint without the need for further investigation.