Changes coming to the BBRS Contemporary Scheme

Check if your clients are eligible for adjudication for resolution of disputes with participating banks before the scheme closes in December

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The Business Banking Resolution Service (BBRS) shared its quarterly case resolution data as of 31 March 2024. The report shows that 146 cases have been settled or been through the BBRS’s adjudication process so far and more than £2m of redress has been made following BBRS intervention.

For more context and detail behind these numbers, see the breakdown in the flow diagram and full report.

The BBRS was given an operational extension at the end of last year and continues to be available as a free service to ACCA members.

However, the BBRS has recently shared the news that participating banks and the BBRS Board have taken the decision to close the BBRS Contemporary Scheme. The Contemporary Scheme will close to new registrations at midnight on 13 December 2024.

BBRS will be continuing to accept new cases that meet their Eligibility Criteria, until 13 December 2024. These can be found in full on the BBRS website, but in summary include:

  • a business turnover of less than £10m (at the time they complained to their bank) and above the threshold of £6.5m (below this threshold would normally qualify them for the services of the Financial Ombudsman Service)
  • the issue must relate to a business banking complaint against one of the seven participating banks
  • the incident complained about must have taken place on or after 1 April 2019
  • the complaint must not have been through litigation or have been settled already via other means
  • the business will usually have received a Final Response Letter (FRL) from their bank, directing it to the services of the BBRS.

BBRS is urging all SMEs who think they might be eligible for the BBRS to register.

The BBRS, which is wholly funded by the seven participating banks (Barclays Bank, Danske Bank, HSBC UK, Lloyds Banking Group, NatWest Group, Santander UK plc, Virgin Money), was originally intended to close in 2023 but was given a temporary extension to operate beyond this deadline.

Over £2m of financial redress has been made as a result of BBRS intervention. Many cases have had non-monetary resolutions such as changes in loan terms, adjustments to debt recovery arrangements or interest rates, and adjustments to or cancellation of personal guarantees.

Since its inception in 2021, the BBRS has left no stone unturned in its mission to encourage eligible SMEs to register their complaint with the BBRS – running multiple marketing campaigns (creating 100 million Opportunities To See), engaging MPs and promoting its service through well-known business-facing organisations and individuals across the SME market.

Despite all these efforts, the BBRS has seen much lower case numbers than was originally forecast for its service at its inception. Independent research from Bayes Business School, commissioned by the BBRS in 2021 to investigate the low caseload, concluded that there were only 1600 possible cases in scope for BBRS.

Practitioners should highlight the service to any potentially eligible clients and get them to register before the deadline.