Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS)
The Financial Ombudsman Service is the free, independent complaints scheme for financial disputes in the UK. If your insurer won’t put things right, the FOS is where you take your case next.
What the FOS is and its statutory role
The FOS was set up under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 to resolve disputes between consumers and financial firms without going to court. It is free for consumers to use and funded by a levy and case fees on the firms it covers.
It is not a regulator. It does not write rules or supervise insurers. Its job is to look at individual complaints — about claims, cover decisions, pricing or service — and decide what is fair and reasonable in each case.
Our explainer on how the FOS resolves insurance disputes sets out the full process, from a firm’s final response to a formal ombudsman decision.
FOS decisions are binding on the firm if the customer accepts them, but a customer who disagrees remains free to go to court instead.
How the FOS affects your insurance
For you as a customer, the FOS is your main route to challenge an insurer that has rejected your claim, delayed payment or handled you unfairly — free of charge, without a lawyer. Motor insurance complaints rose in the first quarter of 2026, and the ombudsman has been upholding more travel insurance complaints too, giving a sense of where friction in the market is building.
Because the FOS publishes decision data and uphold rates by firm, its rulings also shape how insurers write policies and handle claims going forward — a firm that keeps losing complaints on a particular exclusion will often rewrite it.
For insurers, brokers and MGAs, a rising complaint or uphold rate against them is a signal the FCA and PRA both watch, feeding into the wider Consumer Duty requirement to deliver fair outcomes.
Key recent FOS interventions
The ombudsman’s own figures show motor insurance complaints up 12% in the first quarter of 2026, and it has been upholding a growing share of travel insurance complaints, often over pre-existing medical condition exclusions and delayed cancellation payouts.
These trends sit alongside the wider regulatory push described in our explainer on the FCA and PRA, and the FOS continues to publish complaint data by firm that feeds directly into FCA supervision of individual insurers.
How to engage with the FOS
You cannot go straight to the FOS. Complain to your insurer first and give it the chance to issue a final response, usually within eight weeks. If you are still unhappy, or the insurer doesn’t resolve it in time, you can refer the case to the Financial Ombudsman Service free of charge. Our guide on how the FOS resolves insurance disputes walks through what happens next.
For insurers and brokers, engagement happens through the complaints-handling process itself, and through responding to FOS case findings and thematic reports.
Sources
Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. Financial Ombudsman Service: complaints data and annual review. FOS Q1 2026 complaints figures, motor and travel insurance. FCA DISP rules (dispute resolution: complaints).