Financial firms provide data to the FCA every 6 months about the complaints they have received, what these were about and how they dealt with them. The FCA collects and publishes data at both an aggregate (market level) and firm specific, although only publishes firm specific data for firms reporting 500 or more complaints in a 6 month reporting period, or 1,000 or more complaints in an annual reporting period.
The FCA uses the complaints data to help assess how firms interact with and treat their customers as well as monitoring their performance over time. It also uses this data to guide its work in supervising firms and markets, highlighting any potential concerns with specific financial products offered.
Key findings include:
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In 2024 H1, financial services firms received 1.86m complaints, a 4% decrease from 2023 H2 (1.94m) (Figure 1). Since complaints about Payment Protection Insurance peaked in 2020, complaints have stayed relatively constant between 1.8m and 2m.
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The product groups that experienced an increase in their complaint numbers were:
Decumulation & pensions - up 7.1% from 86,885 (2023 H2) to 93,023 (2024 H1)
Insurance & pure protection - up 1.4% from 754,010 (2023 H2) to 764,254 (2024 H1)
** Investments - up 2.1% from 61,513 (2023 H2) to 62,806 (2024 H1)
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The product groups that experienced a decrease in their complaint numbers were:
Banking and credit cards - down 9.6% from 941,664 (2023 H2) to 850,948 (2024 H1)
Home finance - down 1.7% from 94,881 (2023 H2) to 93,237 (2024 H1)