external liaison – what we can do for you
The Financial Ombudsman Service receives many requests to visit individual businesses and consumer groups. As part of our commitment to external liaison, we want to meet as many of our customers and stakeholders as possible – to answer questions and discuss issues face-to-face. Last year our external liaison team took part in over 250 meetings, roadshows, conferences and events.
But covering over 100,000 businesses obviously means we can't visit each one individually. Instead, we look at ways to target and prioritise our resources, so that we can fully maximise the benefit of our work in this area.
The aims of our outreach and external liaison work are to:
- encourage the early resolution of complaints – before they reach the ombudsman service – by providing clear information about our approach;
- help encourage the elimination of the sources of complaints – by feeding back lessons learned from our work; and
- raise awareness of rights and obligations in relation to complaints-handling and the ombudsman service.
inviting us to take part in an event
We particularly welcome invitations to take part in regional events that enable us to talk to a range of stakeholders at a local venue – for example, if you get together with other organisations or businesses in your area and would like us to come along to a group meeting.
To help us assess whether we would be making best use of our limited resources in attending a particular event, we need details about:
- what subject area(s) the event will cover;
- who the proposed audience is; and
- what type of event is involved (for example – a hands-on workshop or a formal annual conference?).
We will also need advance notice (usually at least three months) to help us find the necessary space in our diaries – and to research and prepare the relevant material.
We can consider invitations addressed to a specific person here at the ombudsman service. But we cannot guarantee that person will be able to attend. Where the subject and/or audience is a specialist one, we reserve the right to send an alternative speaker or representative with the relevant specialist knowledge.
before the event
We will try our hardest to meet the organiser's deadlines for sending speaker's notes or slides in advance (where appropriate). If, due to unforeseen circumstances, we are unable to provide a speaker as arranged, we will let you know as soon as possible and will try to provide a suitable alternative.
after the event
We want to make the best use of our resources. It is very important that our external liaison activities make a difference – and add value both to our and your work. This is why we actively encourage feedback from the people who attend and organise the events we take part in – to help us improve our future presentations and training.
costs
To make the budget we have available for our external liaison work stretch as far as possible, we might ask you for suggestions on how we can save money when we visit you or take part in an event.
We do not charge for our time when we come on a visit or attend an event. But where an event's organiser is charging delegates to attend – or where the event is of a commercial nature – we generally expect any travel and accommodation costs we incur to be met.
copyright
Unless otherwise stated, we own the copyright and any other rights in all the material we provide.
You must not reproduce our copyright material, or store any part of it in any other website (or public or private electronic retrieval system), without our prior permission – unless the material specifically states that you can do so, in which case you must quote the source. Please email our publications team for further details.