Who we are

The Financial Ombudsman Service has been sorting out complaints between financial businesses and their customers since we were set up by Parliament in 2001. Find out more about us and the service we provide for small businesses. 

If a financial business and a small business can’t resolve a complaint themselves, we’ll give an unbiased answer about what has happened. If we decide someone has been treated unfairly, we’ll use our legal powers to put things right. On this page, we explain more about our role and the service we provide for small businesses.

The Financial Ombudsman Service for small businesses

In 2019 we were given official powers to look into complaints from small businesses. We now offer a dedicated dispute resolution service that over 99% of UK small businesses are eligible to use. 

Find out more about the types of small businesses, charities and trusts we can help.

Our service is free for small businesses and individual consumers and every year well over 1 million people contact us about problems with a variety of financial products and services. 

Find out more about the complaints we can help with.  

Our knowledge and experience

  • Our small business team

    Our team of investigators and ombudsmen specialise in resolving complaints from small businesses about financial products and services. 

    Read more about our small business team

  • Sharing insight and experience

    We meet regularly with representatives from small businesses, trade bodies and financial services to share insight to help prevent and resolve complaints. 

    Read more about our advisory group

If you’re not a small business...

If you have a complaint about a financial business but you’re not a small business, head to our Financial Ombudsman Service website to find out how we can help individual consumers. 

If you’re not sure, contact us and we'll be happy to help.

 

Read our guidance for individual consumers

Guided by fairness

Fairness is at the heart of what we do – and how we treat our staff and the people who use our service. You can read more about our aims and values, our governance and funding, careers at the ombudsman and the latest news, on our main website.

Visit our main website