Associate Ombudsman

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Associate Ombudsman

We are looking for people to help us make final decisions on individual cases

Contract: Self Employed

Pay: Ranges from £137 to £683 per case (inclusive of VAT if you need to charge it)

Location: Remote working, with occasional visit to our offices when necessary

At the Financial Ombudsman Service, we make decisions on a range of complex and difficult issues, ranging from daytoday banking, investment, insurance advice, payment protection insurance, and even spread betting.

Every year we resolve hundreds of thousands of disputes between consumers or small businesses and their financial service providers. Our focus is on the individual facts and circumstances of each case. It’s our role to bring common sense, sensitivity, and fairness to the problem, cutting through complexity and getting to the heart of the issue. Our decisions are legally binding, and we have extensive decisionmaking powers to tell financial businesses how to put things right. So, we need to have confidence in our judgement, and a passion for resolving things fairly.

The role

As an Associate Ombudsman you’ll join our panel of Ombudsmen contributing to its output by resolving cases and making individual decisions. You’ll be given the support you need to make sure your decisions are both fair and feel fair – recognising that behind every complaint are real people.

To provide services for us as an Associate Ombudsman, you’ll need to show us that you’ve got the appropriate qualifications and experience pursuant to schedule 17 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. You’ll also need to have strong experience of case handling at a senior level, preferably with Ombudsman experience to provide services across our full range of cases.

To be considered for this role, you’ll need to show us that you’ve got the skills and capabilities as described in the job profile (hyperlink this to the job profile). You’ll also have to meet the following minimum criteria:

Minimum Criteria

To be considered for this role, you’ll need to be able to demonstrate your experience of the following skills and capabilities:

• Significant previous Ombudsman andor senior case handling experience and knowledge and ability to work across some of our niche casework areas.

• Experience on advising and making decisions on legal, regulatory or governance issues – with a good understanding of investments and the ability to quickly get to grips with retail investment products, practice and advice.

• Ability to evaluate complex information and use sound judgement, sometimes in the absence of all of the evidence, to reach fair decisions.

• Ability to work at pace in a selfdirected environment, to deliver work to a consistently high standard.

• Experience of persuasive, accurate writing and delivering individual, evidencebased explanations and outcomes showing logical, clear and concise decision making

• Desirable Criteria

  We would also like you to have the following skills:

  • Ability to stay well organised and deliver on your commitments

  • Ability to provide exceptional customer service, keeping in mind that behind every case are real people

  • How do I apply?

    Upload your CV and the answers to the questions below as one document. Your answers to the questions, should not exceed 1,000 words. If you do fail to answer the questions below, your application will not be progressed.

    Questions:

    1) Please tell us about your experience in working in an environment subject to regulation andor law.

    2) Your ability to assess large volumes of information and draw out key points.

    3) Knowledge or experience of the financial services industry

    Applications need to be submitted by 11:59pm Sunday 10th August 2025

    Successful candidates will be invited to complete online assessments. Those that are successful after this stage will be invited to a virtual interview.

    Due to high application numbers this advert may end earlier than the date specified, so please dont delay and apply now!

    A full job profile is available on request which we will provide to candidates shortlisted to the first stage of the assessment process.

    Authenticity of applications

    We value authentic, personal applications. If we determine that your CV or supporting statement was generated using AI tools, your application may be withdrawn from consideration.

    Proud to be an inclusive employer

    Reflecting the communities we serve helps us provide the best service to our customers. Diversity and inclusion are fundamental to our success, so we welcome applications from women and other underrepresented groups. As part of our commitment to the Race at Work Charter, we welcome applications from Black, Asian, and other ethnic minority candidates.

    We’re proud to be a Level 3 Disability Confident Leader. This means that we will put disabled candidates through to the next stage of the recruitment process as long as they meet the minimum criteria for a role. (Exceptions may apply if we have so many applications, we can’t interview all the candidates who qualify under the scheme.)

    If you would like to speak to a member of our team about any reasonable adjustments you need, please email recruitment@financialombudsman.org.uk and let us know your preferred method of contact.

    You can find out more about our diversity and inclusion strategy and plans on our website.

    Find out more

    Find out more about our work culture on our website, where we also have a dedicated careers page. You may also find it useful to check our LinkedIn page and Instagram.

    Good luck with your application!