The FOS is an independent, statutory dispute resolution scheme  who must deal with all disputers fairly and impartially. The FOS will only investigate complaints about the sale and marketing of products issued by FCA regulated companies. It can adjudicate on:

• complaints from individuals;
• complaints from charities with an annual income of less than £1 million (at the time the complaint is first made);
• complaints from a trustee of a trust which has a net asset value of less than £1 million (at the time the complaint is first made); and
• complaints from micro-enterprises (i.e. employing fewer than ten people and having a turnover or annual balance sheet that does not exceed €2m at the time the complaint is made).

Examples of complaints the FOS would deal with are:

• Someone feels they were wrongly advised to transfer their pension to another contract;
• Someone believes that they were advised to take out an unsuitable pension;
• Someone believes that there has been an excessive delay in processing the setting up of an annuity, causing them financial

Before a complaint can be sent to the FOS it must be first raised with the business that the complainant feels is at fault. The business then has 8 weeks to offer a solution. If the complainant still feels that the matter is unresolved they may go to the FOS.

The complaint to the FOS must be within:

• six months from the business sending the consumer a final response (which has to mention the six-month time limit); and
• six years from the event the consumer is complaining about (or, if later, three years from when the consumer knew, or could reasonably have known, they had cause to complain).
• Once these have expired, the complained about business can object to the FOS taking on the complaint on the grounds that it is ‘time-barred’.

If the FOS upholds the complaint, it has the power to make either a money award and/or a directions award. Under a money award, the maximum compensation the FOS can enforce is £150,000. When calculating the maximum compensation payable the following are excluded:

• any interest awarded on the compensation;
• any costs awarded; and
• any interest awarded on costs