FOS consultation on future funding -

On 2 July, the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) published a consultation paper on the future of its funding. The FOS proposes to: (i) rebalance the proportion of the income received from its levy compared to that received from case fees. It is aiming to achieve an equal split between the two in order to give greater certainty and stability in its funding; (ii) change the number of “free” cases to 10 per firm, and to 50 for each group within its group account fee arrangement; and (iii) maintain reserves of a minimum of six months’ operating income. The deadline for comments is 13 August.