our aims and values
The Financial Ombudsman Service was set up by law as an independent public body. Our job is to help settle individual disputes between consumers and businesses providing financial services - fairly, reasonably, quickly and informally.
fairly
Established by Parliament, we are neither a consumer champion nor an industry trade-body. We are completely independent and deal with disputes fairly and impartially.
Our service is for everyone. We aim to be accessible and to meet any particular needs our customers may have. This includes, for example, communicating with them in the format or language they need.
We look at the facts of each complaint - not at how well people present their case. So no one should need any special expertise or professional help in order to bring their complaint to us.
reasonably
We aim to give clear, jargon-free reasons for our decisions - so that any fair-minded person can understand why we reached a particular conclusion.
And we actively share our knowledge and experience with the outside world - to help consumers and businesses settle disputes without the need for our involvement, and to try to help prevent the need for complaints in the first place.
quickly
Because we deal with thousands of disputes every week, we have to be practical and business-like in our approach. We set ourselves challenging targets and aim to produce a fair outcome in each case as speedily as we can.
informally
Our service is an informal alternative to the courts, and our approach is very different. We do not usually have formal hearings or face-to-face cross-examinations. We are not hidebound by rigid procedures and we aim to be as flexible as possible in our approach.