"As we look ahead, we’re projecting that a further 170,000 new disputes could be referred to us in 2021/22."
In its strategic plan and budget for 2021/22, FOS confirmed that its compulsory jurisdiction levy has been set at £96m and its voluntary jurisdiction levy will increase by £1m.
FOS aims to have resolved over 95% of the volume of complaints it had originally planned to by the end of the year.
However, the Ombudsman said it has "received substantially more new complaints in our general casework than we’d budgeted for", with a 45% rise in incoming complaints.
As a result, FOS said "we haven’t made the headway we’d anticipated in reducing waiting times, and that we’ll begin 2021/22 with more people waiting for our answer".
Chief ombudsman, Caroline Wayman, commented: "As we look ahead, we’re projecting that a further 170,000 new disputes could be referred to us in 2021/22.
"Anticipating the challenges presented by this ongoing high demand, we’ve put action to bring down waiting times front and centre of our casework plans. We’re aiming to resolve 220,000 complaints over the year as a whole – 50,000 more than we receive.
“Our final 2021/22 budget involves a smaller levy increase than our consultation base case – balancing the need to fund our service appropriately and protect against the risk of in‑year funding requests, with our recognition of the pressures facing firms and the need to provide certainty around their contribution.
“The solution we’ve reached also retains an increase in our case fee – reflecting the strong support respondents expressed for this facet of our funding.”
