Guide to information
This guide to information lists what we're most often asked about, with links to where you can find it on our site.
We share information freely through our website and publications. And we consult publicly on the issues that matter to the people who use and fund us.
We’ve organised this information in seven categories – in line with the Information Commissioner's model publication scheme.
Who we are and what we do
Organisational information, locations and contacts, constitutional and legal governance, including information about:
- who we are
- our aims and values
- our governance, including the official documents that set out our powers and function and our legal constitution
- our Board and the minutes of their meetings
- our Executive team
- our Ombudsmen
- how we work with stakeholders
- our customer service, and
- how to contact us
What we spend and how we spend it
Financial information relating to projected and actual income and expenditure, tendering, procurement and contracts, including information about:
- how we are funded
- our annual strategic plans and budget, which includes information on our staff numbers, productivity and workload
- our annual reports and accounts, which are presented to Parliament and filed each year with Companies House, and which set out information about our pay scales and details of executive remuneration and the fees paid to our non-executive directors
- employee expenses
- procurement – how we buy good and services.
Our priorities and how we are doing
Strategy and performance information, plans, assessments, inspections and reviews, including:
- our annual reports and accounts
- our strategic plans and budget
- activity reports in relation to the Alternative Dispute Resolution directive
- independent reviews of our service
- our annual diversity, inclusion and wellbeing reports
- Information about the Independent Assessor
How we make decisions
Policy proposals and decisions, decision making processes, internal criteria and procedures, consultations, including:
- The rules setting out how the Financial Ombudsman Service (and businesses providing financial services) should handle complaints – published as part of the Financial Services Authority's Handbook in the section called Dispute resolution: complaints
- how our complaints-handling process works – both for consumers and for businesses we cover
- information for consumers about the complaints we can help with and our approach
- information for businesses about complaints we deal with and our approach
- minutes of Board meetings
- data and insight
- our decisions database
- previous editions of our regular newsletter, Ombudsman News.
Our policies and procedures
Current written protocols for delivering our functions and responsibilities, such as information about:
- customer service and quality assurance principles
- how we're governed
- how we work with stakeholders
- minutes of our Board meetings
- who we can help
- what to expect when you make a complaint
- our statement in relation to the Modern Slavery Act
- how to make a freedom of information request
- how to make a subject access request
- our corporate policies, including those on:
- our privacy policy, which includes information on how we handle personal data.
Lists and registers
Information held in registers required by law and other lists and registers relating to the functions of the authority, including:
- data we publish every six months about financial businesses
- data we publish every quarter about financial products and services
- our database of ombudsman decisions
- our annual report and accounts
- our annual strategic plans and budget
- information on:
- our most recent gifts and hospitality register (PDF 106KB) – which lists all offers of gifts and hospitality between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2026, whether they were accepted or not.
The services we offer
Advice and guidance, booklets and leaflets, transactions and media releases, including:
- how to contact us
- how to bring a complaint, including making a complaint online
- our Business Support Hub for financial businesses
- our jurisdiction with details of how to join our voluntary jurisdiction
- our news
- our consumer leaflet
- how to subscribe to our regular newsletter, Ombudsman News
- careers with the Financial Ombudsman Service and our current vacancies
- our accessibility statement for our websites
- our accessibility information and services.