Investigation Services

Formal Investigation

Where a complaint is formally investigated, the Ombudsman issues a decision that is legally binding on both parties, subject only to an appeal to the High Court.

The outcomes of legally binding decisions that are issued by the Ombudsman are:

  • Partially upheld
  • Substantially upheld
  • Upheld
  • Not upheld

You can read more about legally binding decisions and read anonymised decisions from our decisions database.

For more information on the compensation that may be directed by the Ombudsman in a legally binding decision, and other redress, read our page on 'Compensation and other redress'.

Section 62 of the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman Act 2017 requires the Ombudsman to publish decisions, which are legally binding on both parties and which are issued in complaints concerning financial service providers. These are published on an anonymised basis, in accordance with the legislative provisions:

"… the Ombudsman shall publish decisions made by him or her after the establishment day in relation to complaints concerning financial service providers and case studies in relation to complaints concerning pension providers in such a manner that

  1. ensures that
    • a complainant shall not be identified by name, address or otherwise,
    • a provider shall not be identified by name or address,
    and
  2. ensures compliance with the Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018."

 

In order to preserve the anonymity of complainants, the FSPO examines the contents of every legally binding decision which has been issued, to determine whether it includes details of unique or unusual circumstances or events. The FSPO assesses whether the contents of any decision, taken together, could make the complainant/s identifiable to others who may know them. Where that possibility remains, even when appropriate redactions have been applied, a legally binding decision may be withheld from publication. Examples include decisions which reference unusual health conditions, unique combinations of circumstances, or particularly sensitive personal issues.

In addition to making these decisions available on the database below, summaries of a selection of our decisions are published in our Digests of Decisions.

When the Ombudsman issues a legally binding decision, that decision may be challenged by way of statutory appeal to the High Court within 35 days from that date. For this reason, the FSPO does not publish decisions before the elapse of that 35-day period and additionally, decisions appealed to the High Court are not published while they are the subject of legal proceedings.