Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many complaints to the Financial Service Ombudsman were dismissed in financial year 2025/26 on the grounds that to do so, "would seriously impair the effective operation of the Service," and, of these complaints, how many a) involved a lasting Power of Attorney and b) involved sums over £50,000.

The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) recently answered a similar question from Lord Foulkes of Cumnock and a copy of the letter was placed in the Library of the House of Lords.

In the letter, the FOS confirmed that it dismissed 680 complaints without consideration of their merits in the 2025-26 financial year, on the basis that doing so would have seriously impaired the effective operation of the FOS.

In the same period, it received over 223,000 complaints in total, meaning that cases dismissed on this basis represented approximately 0.31% of its overall annual caseload.

The Treasury does not hold the other information requested. The FOS will respond to the Honourable Member regarding those points by letter and a copy of the letter will be placed in the Library of the House of Commons.