Our aims and values
We were set up by Parliament to sort out complaints between financial businesses and their customers. What matters most to us is fairness - and fairness is the foundation of our long-held values.
Our values
We always aim to:
- do the right thing
- treat our customers well and respect their needs
- do what we say we'll do
- be inquisitive and build everyone's knowledge
Our commitments
We’re committed to:
- running a service with fairness at its heart
- being a well-run and efficient service
- earning the trust and respect of our customers
- helping everyone who needs us
- sharing our knowledge to encourage fairness in financial services
- attracting, developing and keeping staff who uphold our values
Transparency and openness
As a public body, we believe it’s important to be transparent and open. You can look at the following information to find out more about what we do and how we operate:
- how we’re governed and funded
- our annual strategic plans and budget
- our annual report and accounts, which looks at the performance of our service over the last year
- our annual review, which includes data on the different types of complaints we handle
- who we work with, including the Financial Conduct Authority
- who works for us, including our board of directors, executive team and ombudsmen
- the meeting minutes of our board of directors
- the standards of service you can expect from us
- the annual report of our independent assessor, who looks at complaints from consumers and businesses about the standards of service we provide
- our approach to equality, diversity and inclusion
Being socially responsible
Everything we do is guided by our sense of fairness. Our staff’s willingness to volunteer in the local community and raise money for charity shows the values we share in doing the right thing by other people.
To maintain our sense of fairness, it’s essential that we understand our staff, our customers, the businesses we work with and the different communities we serve. To do this, we:
- strive for equality, diversity and inclusion in how we recruit and manage our staff and how we treat our customers
- provide tools, guidance and support that help our staff to keep their physical and mental health as good as it can be
- take part in community outreach programmes locally and around the UK
What you can expect from us
When people bring their complaints to us, we’ll always try to:
- investigate fairly and listen to both sides
- give people our answer as quickly as possible
- explain things clearly and let people know where they stand
- meet people’s communication and accessibility needs
Read more about the level of service you can expect from us.