BBRS Reporting Data – as of the close of business 28 February 2023
27 March 2023
As of 28 February 2023, the BBRS has reached 72 settlements of which 23 were the result of adjudications and 49 were settled directly between the parties following BBRS involvement. Of those resolved directly, 9 cases were resolved via conciliation, and a further 2 were successfully mediated.
Substantially more than £1 million of financial awards have been made to SMEs as a result of BBRS intervention, across the various dispute resolution routes. Where cases evolve to direct settlement between the SME and bank following BBRS intervention, the BBRS is not always party to the redress sum that is agreed, and so this figure is likely to be significantly higher.
In addition to monetary awards, a significant number of non-financial awards have been issued following BBRS intervention, including rearranging lending terms and conditions, discharges from personal guarantees and debt recovery rearrangements.
The BBRS’ Historical Scheme closed to new registrations during this reporting period on 14 February 2023. The BBRS is funded to continue until the end of 2023 and remains open to process historical complaints registered before the deadline and for new registrations to the Contemporary Scheme.
1 – Count of registrations
The total number of cases registered with the BBRS. These figures do not consider eligibility or account for duplicates.
| Total | Previous month | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Historical Scheme Total | 523 | 514 | 9 |
| Contemporary Scheme Total | 212 | 201 | 11 |
| Dual Scheme Total1 | 18 | 14 | 4 |
| Unestablished Date of Complaint | 185 | 192 | -7 |
| Total | 938 | 921 | 172 |
- Cases which potentially have components relating to both Historical and Contemporary schemes.
- Number of cases registered with the BBRS between 1-28 February.
2 – Case Status
Cases may be closed for a variety of reasons, for example the removal of duplicate cases, withdrawals or ineligibility.
| Total | Previous month | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Cases1 | 82 | 84 | -2 |
| Closed Cases2 | 856 | 837 | 19 |
| Total | 938 | 921 | 17 |
- Live includes all active cases regardless of eligibility. This includes cases to be allocated. As of 28 February 2023 there were 9 cases awaiting allocation.
- Cases now closed.
3 – Eligibility
The BBRS treats all cases as eligible until we have established the facts relating to each complaint. When a complaint is first assembled, information is collected to check eligibility.
| Total | |
|---|---|
|
:
Open cases progressing currently as eligible1 |
Total :
75 |
|
:
Open cases assessed as ineligible2 |
Total :
7 |
|
:
Closed cases assessed as ineligible3 |
Total :
146 |
|
:
Closed cases assessed as eligible4 |
Total :
13 |
|
:
Closed cases without an assessment of eligibility5 |
Total :
697 |
|
:
Total |
Total :
938 |
- As eligibility is under review throughout the entire BBRS process, most live cases appear in this category.
- The number of cases found to be ineligible and remaining live, because the customer or bank may be appealing, they might be being considered for the concessionary case approach or pending closure.
- The number of cases found to be ineligible for the BBRS through formal Eligibility Assessments that have completed their journey (i.e. the outcome can no longer be appealed).
- The number of cases found to be eligible for the BBRS through formal Eligibility Assessments that have completed their journey (i.e. the outcome can no longer be appealed). Eligible cases that did not require a formal Eligibility Assessment are not in this category.
- The number of cases that have completed their journey for reasons unrelated to eligibility.
4 – Reasons for Ineligibility
The table below captures the reasons for ineligibility, not the number of ineligible cases. A case may have multiple reasons for being found ineligible. This also captures instances where a case has not received a formal Eligibility Assessment, but where a customer chooses to withdraw a case because of its ineligibility.
|
:
Case was likely to be eligible for Financial Ombudsman Service |
Total :
100 |
|
:
At the time the case was referred to the bank, the business did not meet the required BBRS financial criteria for turnover and/or balance sheet limit. |
Total :
91 |
|
:
Cases eligible for another scheme |
Total :
30 |
|
:
Settled prior to registration |
Total :
23 |
|
:
Part of the case is time barred1 |
Total :
20 |
|
:
The case has been the subject of a court claim, or formal pre-action correspondence |
Total :
15 |
|
:
The incident(s) occurred pre 01/12/2001 |
Total :
13 |
|
:
Bank complained about is not a participating bank |
Total :
9 |
|
:
Bank complained about is not based in the UK (or the act or omission did not occur in the UK) |
Total :
4 |
|
:
The complaint is subject to a live litigation |
Total :
4 |
|
:
Total |
Total :
309 |
- The complaint was not brought to the bank within the time limits (in general, more than six years after the act or omission complained of or three years after the customer became aware of the act or omission).
5 – Concessionary Cases
If a case falls outside the BBRS’ eligibility criteria, the BBRS may still be able to consider it provided that we, the customer and the bank all agree.
| Total | |
|---|---|
|
:
Concessionary cases presented to bank1 |
Total :
41 |
|
:
Concessionary case progression agreed by bank2 |
Total :
8 |
|
:
Concessionary case progression declined by bank3
|
Total :
29 |
|
:
Awaiting Bank Response |
Total :
4 |
- The number of cases where the BBRS has written to the bank to seek their agreement to consider a case falling outside the BBRS’ eligibility criteria.
- The number of cases where the bank has agreed that the BBRS can consider a case falling outside the BBRS’ eligibility criteria under the concessionary case process.
- The number of cases where the bank has not agreed that the BBRS can consider a case falling outside the BBRS’ eligibility criteria under the concessionary case process. 11 of these cases were taken forward, either as partly eligible, or taken back by the bank and settled.
6 – Determinations
Both parties to a complaint have the opportunity to respond to a Provisional Determination before the resultant Determination is issued. Any responses to the Provisional Determination will be taken into account before the issuing of the Determination.
| Determinations1 | |
|---|---|
| Total Provisional Determinations issued2 | 51 |
| Total resultant Determinations issued3 | 46 |
| Outcomes (closed cases only)4 | |
|---|---|
| Upheld | 4 |
| Partially upheld | 20 |
| Not upheld | 13 |
| Total | 37 |
- These figures account for all determinations issued.
- All eligible cases have a Provisional Determination, which is like a draft outcome, available for comments from both parties.
- After a set timeframe and any further submissions from either party, a Provisional Determination becomes a resultant Determination.
- These figures account for all cases that have completed their journey (i.e. the outcome can no longer be appealed).
7 – Eligibility Appeals
| Total | |
|---|---|
| Eligibility Appeal notices received | 76 |
| No grounds for appeal1 | 59 |
| Appeal notices considered | 13 |
| Eligibility Appeal notices being considered | 4 |
- The BBRS can only consider an Appeal that meets the permissible grounds for appealing an outcome. If an Appeal does not meet the permissible grounds, it will not be considered.
8 – Awards (closed cases only)1
| Total | |
|---|---|
| Financial awards issued2 | 23 |
| Non-financial awards issued | 14 |
| Total | 37 |
- These figures account for all cases that have completed their journey (i.e. the outcome can no longer be appealed). This figure does not include any settlements made via non-adjudicative alternative dispute resolution or direct settlement as these are confidential between the bank and the customer.
- This also captures any financial awards issued for Distress and Inconvenience, regardless of whether a complaint is substantively upheld.
