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DISP 1.10 Complaints reporting rules

DISP 1.10.1RRP

Twice a year a firm must provide the FSA with a complete report concerning complaints received from eligible complainants. The report must be set out in the format in DISP 1 Annex 1.

DISP 1.10.2RRP

DISP 1 Annex 1 requires (for the relevant reporting period) information about:

  1. (1)

    the total number of complaints received by the firm, broken down according to the categories and generic product types described in DISP 1 Annex 1 which are relevant to the firm;

  2. (2)

    the total number of complaints closed by the firm:

    1. (a)

      within four weeks or less of receipt;

    2. (b)

      within four to eight weeks of receipt; and

    3. (c)

      more than eight weeks after receipt;

  3. (3)

    the total number of complaints:

    1. (a)

      upheld by the firm in the reporting period;

    2. (b)

      that the firm knows have been referred to, and accepted by, the Financial Ombudsman Service in the reporting period;

    3. (c)

      outstanding at the beginning of the reporting period; and

    4. (d)

      outstanding at the end of the reporting period; and

  4. (4)

    the total amount of redress paid in respect of complaints during the reporting period.

DISP 1.10.3GRP

For the purpose of DISP 1.10.2 R, when completing the return, the firm should take into account the following matters.

  1. (1)

    If a complaint could fall into more than one category, the complaint should be recorded in the category which the firm considers to form the main part of the complaint.

  2. (2)

    Under DISP 1.10.2R (3)(a), a firm should report any complaint to which it has given a final response which upholds the complaint, even if any redress offered is disputed by the complainant. Where a complaint is upheld in part, a firm should treat the whole complaint as upheld for reporting purposes. However, where a firm rejects a complaint, yet chooses to make a goodwill payment to the complainant, the complaint should be recorded as 'rejected'.

  3. (3)

    If a firm reports on the amount of redress paid under DISP 1.10.2R (4), redress should be interpreted to include an amount paid, or cost borne, by the firm, where a cash value can be readily identified, and should include:

    1. (a)

      amounts paid for distress and inconvenience;

    2. (b)

      a free transfer out to another provider which transfer would normally be paid for;

    3. (c)

      goodwill payments and goodwill gestures;

    4. (d)

      interest on delayed settlements;

    5. (e)

      waiver of an excess on an insurance policy; and

    6. (f)

      payments to put the consumer back into the position the consumer should have been in had the act or omission not occurred.

  4. (4)

    If a firm reports on the amount of redress paid under DISP 1.10.2R (4), the redress should not, however, include repayments or refunds of premiums which had been taken in error (for example where a firm had been taking, by direct debit, twice the actual premium amount due under a policy). The refund of the overcharge would not count as redress.

DISP 1.10.4RRP

The relevant reporting periods are:

  1. (1)

    the six months immediately following a firm's accounting reference date; and

  2. (2)

    the six months immediately preceding a firm's accounting reference date.

DISP 1.10.5RRP

Reports are to be submitted to the FSA within 30 business days of the end of the relevant reporting periods through, and in the electronic format specified in, the FSA Complaints Reporting System or the appropriate section of the FSA website.

DISP 1.10.6RRP

If a firm is unable to submit a report in electronic format because of a systems failure of any kind, the firm must notify the FSA , in writing and without delay, of that systems failure.

DISP 1.10.7RRP

A closed complaint is a complaint where:

  1. (1)

    the firm has sent a final response; or

  2. (2)

    the complainant has indicated in writing acceptance of the firm's earlier response under DISP 1.6.4 R; or

  3. (3)

    for a firm which operates a two-stage complaints procedure, the complainant has not indicated that he remains dissatisfied within eight weeks of the response sent by the firm under DISP 1.6.5 R.

DISP 1.10.8G

If a complaint is reported as closed under DISP 1.10.2R (2) because the complainant has not replied to the firm within eight weeks of a written response which meets the requirements in DISP 1.6.5 R, the firm may treat the date of that response as the date when the complaint was closed for the purposes of the reporting requirements in DISP 1.10.2R (2).

Notification of contact point for complainants

DISP 1.10.9RRP

For the purpose of inclusion in the public record maintained by the FSA, a firm must:

  1. (1)

    provide the FSA, at the time of its authorisation, with details of a single contact point within the firm for complainants; and

  2. (2)

    notify the FSA of any subsequent change in those details when convenient and, at the latest, in the firm's next report under the complaints reporting rules.