The Financial Ombudsman Service said the unit cost for handling financial complaints had fallen to £688 from £730, and it intended to cap the cost at this level in the next financial year.
The Service, which has published its proposed budget plans for April 2002 to March 2003, said the fall in costs was achieved after the separate ombudsman schemes were combined under the new single Financial Ombudsman Service.
In a statement, it said that capping the cost meant that the proposed budget of £28.2m for next year remained constant in real terms compared to this year's budget of £27.6m.
"The budget assumes a similar volume of work next year to this year - handling around 250,000 enquiries and investigating 40,000 disputes - although projections are also made for a possible 10% increase or 10% decrease in complaints," it said.
The Financial Ombudsman Service is funded by financial firms which - under the new funding arrangements introduced this year - pay a general levy (calculated according to the size and type of each firm) and a case fee for each complaint brought by a customer and investigated by the ombudsman.
The proposed case fee is £360.
