Dispute resolution explained

What were the different types of dispute resolution used by the BBRS?

Settlement

At any point during the customer journey, the parties could have attempted early settlement of a customer’s complaint.

This could happen at any stage in the BBRS complaints process and could occur as a result of either party’s initiative or be prompted, indirectly, by enquiries made as part of the BBRS investigative processes, by a customer champion or a Case Assessor.

Conciliation

The BBRS, where appropriate, would encourage and support a customer and their bank to seek a fair and reasonable outcome without the need for BBRS investigative adjudication, but by agreement instead. Agreeing to conciliation did not affect consideration of the complaint if settlement could not be achieved, and the case instead continued to adjudication. You can find out more about conciliation in our Guidance document here.

Formal Mediation

Where a bank and customer agreed, they had an opportunity to enter direct discussions to try and resolve the dispute. A trained neutral mediator was appointed to assist and facilitate negotiations for the dispute to be resolved. Agreeing to formal mediation did not affect consideration of the complaint should a settlement not be achieved and the case instead continued to adjudication.

Either the bank or the customer could suggest mediation at any point in the BBRS process so the parties could explore the possibility of attempting to resolve their complaint by this method (if both were amenable).

If the case was settled this way, the BBRS’ involvement ended. If there was no settlement or only partial settlement adjudication would resume, and no details of mediation would be seen or considered by the Case Assessor. You can find out more about mediation in our Guidance document here.

Adjudication

Adjudication was the method used to investigate a complaint when a customer was eligible for the BBRS scheme, and a Case Assessor would make a decision based on what was fair and reasonable in the circumstances, based on the evidence presented.

A Case Assessor first issued a Provisional Determination to which both the customer and bank could respond and provide additional relevant material. The Case Assessor would take into account those comments and material before a formal Determination was made after 28 days.

Unless either party appealed against the Determination the customer could accept the Determination, in which case it would become binding on the bank as well as the customer and the dispute would come to an end. The customer could also reject the Determination (and was assumed to have done so if it neither accepted nor appealed against the Determination within the time-limits specified) and choose to pursue the complaint elsewhere.