The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) wants to restore its oversight of small business insurance broking disputes.

Its remit was changed in 2010, allowing it to address disputes on retail products only.

Now it wants to cover broker disputes involving loss-of-profit and business interruption insurance, plus small business cover in certain circumstances.

In a consultation paper FOS says it plans to remove the word “retail” from its terms of reference on small business insurance.

This change would take effect on January 1 2016, with operational guidelines on how the disputes would be handled issued earlier.

FOS also wants to expand its jurisdiction to include uninsured third party motor vehicle disputes, including cases in which insured drivers who cause damage do not pay their excess to insurers.

It also plans to increase its maximum award for uninsured motor claim disputes from $3000 to $5000.

Submissions on the proposals must reach FOS by August 1.

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