The Financial Ombudsman Service expects the number of complaints it will receive this year to hit 210,000 - nearly 30,000 higher than predicted in December.

The FOS has raised its expected complaints figure after discussions with business and consumer groups.

The government-backed organisation is expecting more complaints related to fraud and scams, unaffordable lending and credit cards.

The Financial Ombudsman Service says it expects to receive 12,800 investment and pensions complaints this year, of which it says “very few” will be about the British Steel Pension Scheme.

The FOS says that despite the rapid rise in complaint numbers expected it has pledged to resolve complaints quicker with “more stretching targets for the year ahead.”

The Ombudsman has also confirmed that lower case fees and levy charges should reduce the overall cost to the industry of its complaint handling service by over £60m in real terms.

The case fee will be cut by £100 per case to £650, while the compulsory and voluntary jurisdiction levy costs to businesses will also be reduced.

Details of the higher figures are published today in its final plans and budget for 2024/25.

In December the FOS forecast it would receive around 181,300 new cases in 2024/25 but it has now raised that number by 28,700 to 210,000.

The Ombudsman says it has made efforts to improve its service and has reduced the time it takes to resolve a case from 4.8 months in 2022/23 to 2.96 months by the last three months of 2023/24. It has also set itself a new target of resolving 90% of cases within six months.

Abby Thomas, FOS chief executive and chief ombudsman of the Financial Ombudsman Service, said: “The Financial Ombudsman Service continues to make significant improvements in the service we offer, getting customers decisions more quickly while maintaining the high quality of our work. We will be even more ambitious next year, with plans to resolve complaints faster, while also reducing the cost of our service to businesses.

“In the year ahead it’s likely that our service will see increasing levels of complaints, with many of those disputes expected to focus on the critical issues that impact people’s everyday lives. This includes perceived unaffordable lending, concerns about car loan agreements and disputes around fraud and scams.”

The Ombudsman has committed to resolve 17% more cases in the year ahead than in 2023/24, up from 192,500 to 225,000. The FOS plans to recruit more case handlers and invest more in digital services and expand its regional presence.

Ms Thomas added: “With uncertainty around casework levels in the year ahead, we’re building a service which is flexible and agile, allowing us to respond to increased demand across any area of our business.

“Our plans will help ensure that the customer is at the heart of everything we do. We want every person who engages with our service to clearly understand the outcome of their case. Now more than ever it’s crucial that businesses work with us to improve all customers’ experiences of financial services.”