The FOS has published a letter, dated 8 October 2024, from its Chair, Baroness Manzoor CBE, to FCA Chair, Ashley Alder, confirm its board’s decision to introduce a fee for certain claims management companies (CMCs) bringing cases before it.
The decision was made following a consultation which closed in July – the letter sets out feedback the FOS received from stakeholders and its proposed next steps.
Key points from the consultation feedback were:
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majority support for proposals to introduce a charge to make the FOS’s fee arrangement fairer by sharing costs across respondent firms and CMCs;
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disagreement on the level of fee to be charged – unsurprisingly, respondent firms prefer the full £650 case fee to be charged, whereas CMCs would prefer a very low charge, or none at all;
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broad support for the FOS to retain a residual fee for every complaint in scope, payable by CMCs;
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agreement with the proposed charging mechanism, whereby if the FOS does not determine in favour of t