Team size: 15

Did the pandemic lead to a lasting increase in the interaction your legal team has with the strategic plans of the company?

Yes, given FSCS’s statutory function. We faced an increased number of firm defaults, precipitated by the global pandemic. Despite the increased pressures, we used the crisis as a catalyst for improving our service and driving forward our organisational strategy. In particular, we harnessed our technology to operate more efficiently and effectively, not only allowing us to increase the number of claims we processed but also to enhance customer satisfaction and our employee engagement, as well as becoming a more influential voice across the regulatory system.

The legal team at FSCS was instrumental in helping the organisation not only to navigate those challenges, but also to use this period of turbulence and uncertainty as an opportunity to reshape and enhance the company’s role in the wider financial services environment.

How has the increasing consciousness of climate change and sustainability affected your company and the team’s priorities?

Society faces an existential threat due to climate change, and all companies therefore face increasing ESG risks which they need to urgently respond to. As part of the financial services regulatory system, the FSCS has a role to play in helping to avoid consumer detriment as a result of issues such as greenwashing where regulated firms fail. By raising awareness of some of the risks in this space, the FSCS can help consumers make prudent and sustainable investment decisions. As the moral compass of an organisation, the legal team at the FSCS is well placed to play a leadership role in this regard, and to ensure that ESG risks are front and centre of the risk debate at board and executive level.