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FOS vs Small Claims
Simple thread - (not sure if one has ever done before). After alot of deliberation and getting more and more increased knowledge of the law (due to a seperate legal matter i am pursing) - my question is simple.
Is worth even going to the FOS at all - or better going stragiht to Small claims?
Every review of FOS is negative, just look at trust pilot. My experience with them in the past have been negative - im pretty sure they dont uphold many complaints. I remember, they dont even explain decisions, or do a detailed investigation and unlike court dont cross examine.
Another benefit of court - 97% of cases never reach court - for whatever reason. Could be a withdrawl of the case or settlement etc.
Small claims under 10k costs little to nothing and its more expensive for the other side (assuming a big corporation) as they higher big firms and in house legal just do deal with all legal cases.
Someone who has experience - what do you suggest? I am thinking from now on to buypass FOS and go straight to small claims - its more benficial for many reasons - also i do believe companies are alot more afraid of small claims then the FOS.
Comments
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The FOS uphold many complaints and their decision is always explained.
Have a look at their website, you can see statistics on all types of complaint and all regulated entities.
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The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) upholds an average of 26% to 34% of cases in favour of the consumer, meaning the majority of complaints (roughly 65% to 74%) are ultimately rejected. [1, 2]
Recent Overall Uphold RatesData from the Financial Ombudsman Service Annual Insights details the average percentage of complaints upheld in favour of consumers: [1]
- Q1 2026/27 (April – June 2026): 26% upheld.
- Full Financial Year 2025/26: 30% upheld across 214,600 total complaints.
- Full Financial Year 2024/25: 34% upheld across a six-year peak of 305,726 complaints. [1, 2, 3]
Uphold Rates by Financial SectorWhile the general average sits around 30%, different products have vastly different success rates. As shown in the FOS 2024/25 Annual Data, sectors vary significantly: [1, 2]
Sector / Product Type
Historical FOS Average Uphold Rate
Pensions (e.g., personal pension delays or advice)
48% to 50%
Insurance (e.g., car, travel, or buildings insurance)
38%
Investments (e.g., standard investments or ISAs)
36%
Banking and Payments (e.g., current accounts)
32%
Consumer Credit (e.g., credit cards or hire purchase)
32%
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FOS are a money grabbing organisation - do you know they charge an organisation anywhere between 250-750 just for a complaint against them - this is PER complaint.
Do not believe for one second they are impartial and neutral - they are firmly against the consumers when it comes to upholding complaints and firmly against the businesses when it comes to charging them money per case
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Do not believe for one second they are impartial and neutral - they are firmly against the consumers when it comes to upholding complaints and firmly against the businesses when it comes to charging them money per caseSo they are against everybody?
And they only exist to make money for themselves?
How about splitting the cost of the complaint, say, 30/70 between the complainer and the business? Would that be fairer.
How about abolishing them altogether? That should keep the Small Claims court busy, with a nice overflow to the ordinary courts where the costs involved are significantly higher than £750.
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If only the OP can explain what the problem is?
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Is this an abstract, hypothetical query, or do you have a specific matter in mind?
The 30% of cases decided in favour of the consumer seems fair to me, after allowing for vexatious cases, it is indicating that the financial businesses operate in a compliant manner in the main.
Your other thread has not evidenced that you have a particularly high level of knowledge of the law.
Your available bandwidth might be better focused on that case than diluted.
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FOS is a non-profit organisation - clearly the costs have to be met from somewhere, and the relevant legislation mandates that it's the financial institutions:
The fact that it's free for consumers means that there is effectively no disincentive to logging a case with FOS, and so many have zero merit, hence the uphold rate being roughly one third.
Naturally those whose complaints are rejected will feel aggrieved and go to TrustPilot about it, moaning that the system is against them and so on, but any sensible analysis of FOS needs to factor such biases in.
There have been independent reviews of FOS in the past, which have criticised them for a range of weaknesses, but not (as I recall) any objective assessment of impartiality.
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They are against the consumers the stats speak for themselves and they are for the companies. hence why they keep rejecting complaints and give the carror of this being 'free' so more and more complaints can come in. If they accepted all the complaints there the businesses would not reject them in the first place. The business model is simple, keep rejecting complaints and more and more customers come because its free and they keep chargign the business each time a new complaint comes, but as they dont uphelpd they dont force the business to pay more then a case fee up to £750, meaning the save probabbly more money on paying out a redress if its more then the case fee.
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I thought it was clear in the post - the problem is the FOS and them not being impartial.
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The facts speak for myself my friend - not sure why you are defending the FOS for? Just have a look at the trust pilot reviews and comments - or are they all lying aswell?
https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk - 2500 reviews, star rating 1.3
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