With regards to case fees the FOS has said that for 2007/08 they propose to increase the fee from £360 to £400 per case. The FOS reason the alternative to this would have been a disproportionate rise in the annual levy, resulting in the levy providing about 40 per cent of income.
Emma Parker, press officer at the FOS, explained: “From the discussion paper on the funding of our compulsory jurisdiction, we discovered, the overwhelming response was for a greater proportion of our income coming from case fees”
Further plans also revealed that the number of complaints cases submitted to the FOS was beginning to fall and this was expected to continue through 2007/08. This reduction was mainly due to mortgage endowment complaints becoming time-barred.
However, while this was welcome news to mortgage intermediaries the FOS added that it was unclear how many cases where there is a dispute about time bars will result in the firm having to pay a case fee. The FOS said it was its working assumption was that it will receive approximately 12,000 such time-barred mortgage endowment complaints in 2007/08.
Simon Webster, managing director at Facts & Figures Financial Planners Ltd, said: “I think the FOS has made the right decision and many directly authorised brokers will welcome it. If you run a tight ship, you will not have to worry about the rise of case fees affecting you. By paying for additional cases it is only the offender that pays.”
