ROAR Insights.

Insights ¦ Water Single Social Tariff Report

Published by: Independent Age Search for original: Link Key Take Aways A significant proportion of older adults on low incomes in England and Wales are experiencing water poverty, with current estimates around 750,000 pensioner households, rising potentially to 1 million by 2029/30. There is broad public support (over 70%) in both England and Wales for introducing a single, standardised social tariff for water bills to address regional disparities. Existing social tariffs are inconsistent across water companies, creating a postcode lottery… Read more

Insights ¦ The Illusion of Thinking: Understanding the Strengths and Limitations of Reasoning Models via the Lens of Problem Complexity

Published by: Apple Search for original: Link Key Take Aways Current frontier Large Reasoning Models (LRMs) exhibit fundamental limitations in developing generalisable reasoning capabilities, especially beyond certain complexity thresholds. Empirical analysis reveals three distinct reasoning regimes: standard LLMs outperform LRMs at low complexity; LRMs gain advantages at medium complexity; both collapse at high complexity. Scaling propensity shows a counterintuitive pattern: reasoning effort (token usage) increases up to a threshold but then declines despite facing more complex problems. Performance collapse occurs… Read more

Insights ¦ State of AI in Business 2025

Published by: MIT NANDA Search for original: Link Key Takeaways The majority of organisations are high adopters of GenAI tools like ChatGPT and Copilot, yet only a small fraction (around 5%) are realising meaningful business impact or transformative change. The core barrier to scaling AI solutions is not model quality or regulation but the organisation’s approach — specifically, its ability to build systems that learn, adapt, and retain context over time. Big firms lead in the number of AI pilots… Read more

Insights ¦ Evolving our funding model

Published by: Financial Ombudsman Service Search for original: Link Key Take Aways The Financial Ombudsman Service is evolving its funding model to better reflect case workload, aligning with principles of fairness, simplicity, and sustainability. The consultation proposes further differentiation of case fees based on case stage and outcome, moving beyond the existing flat fee structure introduced with professional representatives. Differentiation by case stage aims to incentivise early resolution, with lower fees at initial stages and higher fees for cases requiring… Read more

Insights ¦ Call for Input Modernising the Redress System

Published by: Financial Conduct Authority Search for original: Link Key Take Aways The current redress framework effectively handles individual complaints but struggles with mass redress events involving large volumes of complaints and systemic harm. Increasing complaint volumes, particularly from professional representatives, can overwhelm firms and the Financial Ombudsman, leading to delays, increased costs, and potential disorderly firm failures. Greater collaboration between the FCA and Financial Ombudsman is planned to improve early identification and management of issues with wider implications (WWI),… Read more

Insights ¦ Debt strategy A ‘reset’ and ‘reform’ for customers in debt

Published by: Ofgem Search for original: Link Key Take Aways The energy sector is experiencing unprecedented levels of debt due to the recent energy crisis, necessitating bespoke rather than generic solutions. A potential debt relief scheme, targeting vulnerable consumers, could involve a £0.5 to 1bn fund aimed at resetting accumulated debt and restoring financial stability. The current handling of debt by energy suppliers is inconsistent, highlighting a need for standardised standards, including a proposed ‘debt guarantee’ and ‘debt outcome’. An… Read more