Financial Ombudsman Service

As part of a wider request, the complainant has requested information associated with a response the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) provided to a previous request he submitted to it, about its dispute resolution rules.  FOS refused to comply with part 3 of the request under section 12(1) of the FOIA (cost of compliance exceeds appropriate limit) and did not provide a response to part 4 of the request. The complainant has confirmed to the Commissioner that his complaint is focussed on the timeliness of FOS’ responses, and not FOS’ reliance on section 12(1). The Commissioner’s decision is as follows: FOS breached section 17(5) of the FOIA with regard to part 3 of the request as it did not issue the complainant with a refusal notice within 20 working days. FOS breached section 10(1) with regard to part 4 as it did not comply with section 1(1) within 20 working days, with regard to this part. FOS has now issued the complainant with a response to part 4 of the request and the Commissioner does not require FOS to take any remedial steps.