the ombudsman's latest work to engage with young people
The Financial Ombudsman Service is taking part in freshers' open-days at the University of Kent, Canterbury (26 September 2008) and Greenwich University (18 September 2008) as part of its work to engage with students and younger consumers.
The ombudsman is commited to raising awareness among younger people of the free and impartial role of the ombudsman in settling consumer disputes involving banks, insurance companies and finance firms.
Earlier this year the ombudsman service unveiled the latest stage of its youth work at the Young Consumer of the Year event at the Trading Standards annual conference in Bournemouth. This included posters and postcards specially designed for the event featuring a frog [opens in PDF format] and a snowboarder [opens in PDF format].
This follows a campaign launched last year [first time? ... feel small? ... misunderstood? – youth-campaign posters open in PDF format] to help promote younger people's understanding of their consumer rights in relation to complaining – which led to the number of young people using the ombudsman service doubling during the year.
The ombudsman's campaign to engage with younger consumers also involves:
- work with teachers and youth workers including coverage in the Times Educational Supplement, Education Today and Education Executive
- coverage in magazines such as the What's On student guide
- work with Connexions Direct – a national network of advisers focussing on 13-19 year olds.