The FSA's Performance against Service Standards
The format for our Performance Account was a new innovation when it was first published in March 2005, and as such the trend data included in this and subsequent Performance Accounts will begin from 1 April 2004. This was also the date when the FSA's new structure was implemented. This structure reflects a greater emphasis on customer service.
Performance for periods prior to April 2004 can still be accessed here.
In this section of our website you can find statistics relating to our performance against our service standards since 1 April 2004.
We hope that the new tables make it easier for you to find the information you need. In some cases we are reporting against standards which were introduced part way through the year to 31 March 2005; for example we have included statistics relating to the performance of our contact centres.
Overview of Performance:
Overall we are reporting our performance against the 70 standards that were in place for the period up to 31st March 2005. We received no applications related to 6 of these standards, and for the remaining standards we:
- Met 38 (59.4%);
- Nearly met (where over 90% of the target level was achieved) 18 (28.1%); but
- Did not meet 7 of these (10.9%).
Where we either nearly met, or did not meet our standards we explain what performance we did achieve; why we did not meet our standards and what we are doing to improve our future performance.
The graph below shows how our overall performance against our standards for the full financial year 1 April 2004 to 31 March 2005 compares to the previous reporting period, 1 April 2004 to 31 December 2004:
The percentage of standards which were met remains largely the same as in our interim report. Indeed the actual number of standards met has increased from 37 to 38; there were previously no applications for standard A9.1 and this standard has now been met. However the percentage has fallen slightly because we are now reporting against one extra standard overall, and the number of standards for which we had no applications has decreased.
Improved performance in the final quarter of the financial year is reflected in a number of standards which have moved from 'Not Met' to 'Nearly Met'. This is due to some standards which were not met during the first three quarters being met in the period 1 January 2005 – 31 March 2005, increasing performance against these standards to over 90% compliance for the full financial year. Two standards relating to complaints against the FSA (C1.2 and C1.3) fall into this category, as does the standard for EEA firms wishing to establish a branch in the UK (N3.1).
New from 1 April 2005:
In March we published 11 new standards which came into force on 1 April 2005. In some cases we have produced these as a result of discussions with firms, trade bodies and other stakeholders who are most affected by them.
With effect from 1 April 2005 we have been measuring our performance against standards relating to:
- changes to firms' static data (e.g. their address);
- processing of appointed representative notifications;
- processing of mutual society registrations;
- processing of cancellations to Part IV permission; and
- responding to requests for information made under Freedom of Information Act, the Data Protection Act and the Environmental Information Regulations.
We will report against these new standards for the first time when the Performance Account is next published in October 2005.
Customer Satisfaction:
On 1 April we introduced systematic monitoring of customer satisfaction across a range of services provided by the FSA. This initially involved surveying customers after they had completed one of the following processes:
- Corporate Authorisation;
- Waiver;
- Variation of Permission;
- Change of Controller; or
- Cancellation.
With effect from 1 May we also started monitoring the satisfaction of customers after they had completed one of the following processes:
- Collective Investment Scheme applications;
- Passporting; and
- Individual Approval.
Over time this approach will be applied across an increased range of services.
Mortgage and General Insurance Firms:
The FSA has recently taken on responsibility for the regulation of firms providing mortgages, and for mortgage and general insurance intermediaries. In total we are now responsible for some 15,500 additional firms. Since this work was an exceptional one-off exercise, we initially excluded statistics relating to the authorisation of these firms from the performance reports. Now that the initial authorisation exercise is nearly complete, we have included data relating to such firms for the period 1 January 2005 to 31 March 2005. For information relating to our initial authorisation work on mortgage and general insurance regulation please click here.
Wording changes:
In line with the continued improvement of our Performance Account, a number of our service standards have been re-worded. These changes do not alter the nature of the underlying performance which we measure and report on. However we believe that the new wording more clearly expresses the FSA's obligations set out in the legislation from which the standards are drawn. The standards in which changes have been made are: A1.2, A5.1, A6.1, R2.1, R3.1, R4.1 and R9.1, and L3.1 (previously these standards were reported on as 2, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 34 and 42 respectively). The previous wording of these standards can be seen in the 2003/4 Performance Account.
When we next publish the Performance Account, for the six month period to 30 September 2005, we will also report against re-worded service standards relating to Corporate Authorisations (A1.1 and A1.2) and Approved Persons (R1.1 and R1.2). In future, there will be a single standard for each of these transactions to ensure that they better reflect both the legislation from which they are drawn and also the actual processes behind them. As with other wording changes, this will not materially alter the target level of performance which we report against.
What are service standards and why do we have them?
As we clearly set out in our Business Plan we are committed to continuing to improve our business capability and effectiveness, and to providing faster turnaround times for the regular interactions between the FSA and firms, consumers and other stakeholders. We are also committed to improving the quality of the services we provide. Providing an effective service is an important part of maintaining good relationships with our stakeholders. As the most recent Practitioner Panel Survey demonstrated the effectiveness with which we discharge our responsibilities is a key factor in determining our stakeholders' overall perceptions of the FSA. We must, of course, make appropriate regulatory decisions and so will not always grant what our stakeholders ask for.
In accordance with our commitment to be transparent about our dealings with stakeholders, we have developed a wide range of service standards. The standards currently set out the speed of service stakeholders can expect to receive from us. Some of these service standards are drawn from our legal obligations, some are detailed in our Handbook and we have set some voluntary standards in a number of areas that are most important to our stakeholders. In future we will report on our performance against these standards every 6 months, rather than annually. The next report will be published in October 2005, and the one after in April 2006.
How to navigate our service standards.
We have grouped our service standards according to the six headings set out at the bottom of this page. Clicking any one of the headings will show all the service standards within that category, together with information on actual performance.
View a complete list of our Service Standards.
| Category |
|---|
| Authorisations
(Standards relating to our speed of processing applications for authorisation from firms) |
| Regulatory
decisions (Standards related to the speed with which we make regulatory decisions at firms' requests) |
| Complaints
against the FSA (Standards relating to the speed with which we deal with complaints made against us) |
| Listing
(Standards agreed with HM Treasury regarding the speed with which we process requests relating to the UKLA) |
| Notifications
(Standards reflecting our speed in making routine changes to the information we hold) |
| Communications
(Standards reflecting our speed in responding to communications) |
| Performance key | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Not MetUnder 90% Compliance |
 Nearly MetOver 90% Compliance |
 Met 100% Compliance |
 No Applications No Requests Received |