The Financial Ombudsman Service is to move ahead with plans to charge more for different types of cases in a major fee shake up.

The move opens the door for the £750 case fee to rise for more complex or difficult cases.

The FOS made clear this week that ‘differential case fees’ by case or product type will be considered over the next 12 months.

The government-backed organisation, which investigates disputes in the financial sector and awards compensation where clients have been wronged or let down, also plans to change the compulsory jurisdiction levy (CJ) and Voluntary Jurisdiction Levy (VJ) and to introduce a 12 month time limit for disputing case fees.

The body outlined the potential changes this week in its Feedback Statement on Future Funding discussion paper.

The discussion paper was published in June, as Financial Planning Today reported.

FOS has now made clear in its Feedback Statement this week which proposals it will move forward with and which ones it will drop.

It will publish a consultation on its plans and budget for 2023-24 in December.

Among the proposals the FOS, headed by new CEO Abby Thomas, will take forward are:

• Changing the compulsory jurisdiction (CJ) levy and voluntary jurisdiction (VJ) levy to recover fixed costs, that is costs that do not materially change with volume

• Introducing a 12-month time limit for disputing case fees

• Trialing changes to the group fee account arrangements

• Differential case fees by case stage and/or by product type – based on modelling over the next 12 months

• Charging an initial case fee at conversion

In its Feedback document the body says, however, it will not take forward a number of options. These include: pursuing legislative changes to enable the FOS to charge professional representatives, charging businesses for delays due to non-compliance, discounts for bulk closures and charging individual case fees based on case complexity. There will also be no attempt to take forward proposals such as charging more for upheld cases or by the size of the business

The FOS said that its fee structure had not changed materially since 2000 and much had changed in financial services since then, requiring a change to its funding system. It has also been left with a significantly different funding requirement following the ending of PPI cases.

• The Feedback Statement is available here.