Nicky Morgan MP, chair of the Treasury Committee, has written to the Financial Ombudsman Service about TV’s ‘Dispatches’ programme which this week exposed poorly trained FOS staff searching on Google to learn about what products they were reviewing.

Mrs Morgan has asked for a response from the FOS by 27 March.
 
On Monday Channel 4’s ‘Dispatches’ programme went undercover at the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) where journalists “found that staff with inadequate training or understanding of financial products are judging cases, with some having reached decisions in favour of the banks, without properly reading case files.”
 

In the programme, Rushanara Ali MP, a member of the Treasury Committee, said: “The ombudsman needs to demonstrate that they have satisfactorily dealt with cases in the past…If they can’t do that then…members of the public will want to go back and have their cases reviewed where appropriate.”
 
Ms Morgan has written to Caroline Wayman, chief Ombudsman and chief executive of FOS, for further comment about the findings of the programme.

Mrs Morgan asks Ms Wayman to address:
 
• What evidence is there to assure Parliament that the problems identified in the programme have not led to poor decision making at the FOS?
• What are the FOS’ processes to undertake quality control on previous decisions?
• Does the FOS have the ability to reopen cases that it feels it may not have decided correctly? 
• The programme suggested that there is a potential bias to decide in favour of a bank, since that led to an easier path to closing a case. Does the FOS recognise that potential bias, and if so, how does it combat it?

She has also asked the FOS to provide full details on the “seemingly forgotten cases and unopened correspondence” described in the programme and to comment on the training and specialism of staff at the FOS, specifically addressing the allegations that under ‘qualified’ staff are being given responsibility for making decisions on cases for which they have inadequate training experience.

She also wants details of the number of people affected by alleged errors or improper handling of cases.