The financial Ombudsman (FOS) is calling for a budget increase of up to £15m in 2011/12 to deal with a shift towards harder-fought cases, but says it will freeze case fees and its general annual levy for the second year running.
The increase could see the FOS budget soar to £116m as the flood of payment protection insurance (PPI) cases continues to swell. FOS says it expects the number of cases for the year to March 2011 to be 7% higher than last year, but within this total figure, PPI cases have risen by almost 40%. Consumers and firms are also fighting harder to win their cases in the face of tight economic conditions, increasing the number of decisions which reach an ombudsman and therefore upping costs, it says. The proportion of cases requiring an ombudsman's decision has risen from around 8% in 2...
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