Rescare’s Welfare Helpline Coordinator attended a recent regional seminar hosted by the Financial Ombudsman’s Service (FOS), which gave him a clearer idea of the FOS’s role, and provided the opportunity to raise a few questions on the issue of ‘personal banking and learning disability’.
The issue of how the learning disabled or their representatitives (be it attorney, deputy, appointee, parent, relative, friend, carer or advocate) are treated by the banks is frequently encountered and remains one of the greyest of grey areas.
The British Bankers’ Association (BBA) issues internal advice to its members in very vague terms.
Until its recent demise in 2012 the Financial Services Authority (FSA) had a supervisory role over the clearing banks; this role has been taken over by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) – but the guidance on learning disability is hard to locate on its website and not exactly expansive.
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has previously held enquiries into specific issues of concern e.g. ‘mental capacity and access to credit’, but we can see no current enquiries into personal banking and learning disability.
The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has official powers to sort out complaints between a customer (or his/her representative) and a financial business. It will usually expect the client to have first attempted to resolve problems with the business via dialogue or a complaints procedure.
Rescare usually recommends that a parent or carer worried or upset by how a bank is behaving towards someone with a learning disability takes up the issue initially at the ‘lowest level’ e.g. with the staff in a particular branch, before escalating the matter. Questions of how a bank should or can behave are probably now best submitted to the FCA. For further advice, contact the Rescare Helpline.