Complaints data, it appears, is like waiting for buses. You wait a while and two come along at once, with both the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) publishing H2 2024 complaints data a week apart.
On 29 April 2025, the FCA published its complaints data for the second half of 2024. This aggregated data, yet again, shows an overall decline in new complaints across all sectors of the financial services market, with firms receiving around 1.78 million complaints, down by about 4.3% from the previous six months. Nevertheless, since H1 2021, complaints have stayed relatively constant between 1.7 million and 2.0 million.
What is surprising is that the FCA and FOS data show such stark differences. The FOS data published on 6 May 2025 shows a 49% increase in complaints, receiving 140,000 more complaints compared to the same period in 2023. It is not clear why the difference is so extensive between the two sets of data, and there may be a few reasons for this. However, it is possible that while overall complaints to firms appear to have decreased, consumers are not persuaded by the decisions taken by firms and are taking more complaints to the FOS.
Themes
Within the FCA data, banking and credit card products, which are some of the most commonly reported complaints, experienced small reductions in complaint volumes (decreasing by 1.3% and 2.4%, respectively). Motor and transport complaints also saw a decline this half year, with an 8% decrease reported. Despite the decreases, complaints about current accounts, motor insurance, and credit cards continue to be among the top issues for consumers.
A point to note is that these decreases are not reflected in the FOS data, with disputes about banking fraud, credit affordability, and motor finance commission being the main drivers for the rise in complaints. Indeed, banking and credit, with motor finance in particular, have all seen a large surge in complaint volumes at the FOS, with 109,155 complaints—an increase of nearly 76% from the previous year.
One big turnaround in the FCA data was the decrease in decumulation and pensions complaints, which went from a 7.1% increase in H1 to a 4.2% decrease in H2. This appears to be due, in part, to a reduction in the number of trust-based pension complaints received (e.g. occupational and defined benefit). Interestingly, this is not reflected in the FOS data, where 4,345 decumulation, life and pension complaints were received—a 8.73% increase compared to the same period in 2023.
Products with larger decreases in complaints in the FCA data include investment products, which decreased by 15.7%, and home finance products, which decreased by 10% from the previous six months. Notably, while home finance product complaints decreased overall, Equity Release product complaints increased by 5.8% in the last six months. For investments, there were also increases in complaints about structured products, UCITS, and ETPs.
Again, in the FOS data, the opposite is noted, with an increase in investment complaints reported — 2,587 complaints (up from 2,311), an 11.94% increase. However, the good news is that mortgage and home finance complaints have decreased by 9.5%.
While it is encouraging that the FCA data shows new complaint volumes appear to have decreased across all sectors, two particular products saw huge percentage increases in complaints, primarily driven by the low volumes. Investment packaged multi products increased from 73 complaints to 115, a 57.5% increase, and protection packaged multi products also saw an increase from 554 complaints to 788, a 42.2% increase. This is of particular interest, as insurance and pure protection product complaints decreased overall by 6%.
Outcomes
In terms of the FCA data outcomes, the percentage of complaints upheld decreased slightly from 60% in late 2023 to 56.64% in H2 2024, with redress payments also declining to £235 million. Interestingly, the redress paid for complaints not upheld has increased—from £25 million in H1 2023 to just short of £27 million in this data. Average redress has also increased since 2023, from £183 to £207.
For the FOS outcomes, overall, 33% of complaints were upheld in favour of consumers, down from 36% in the same period the previous year. Of note, professional representatives were responsible for 46% of all complaints in the period, up from 22% the previous year. However, only 25% of these cases were upheld in favour of the consumer, compared to 37% of cases brought directly by consumers. To address this, the FOS introduced a new fee model in April 2025, charging professional representatives who submit more than 10 cases per annum. The move aims to make funding arrangements fairer and to encourage professional representatives to submit better-evidenced complaints, considering their merits more diligently before referring them to the FOS.
Finally, some good news in the FCA data is that the challenges in complaint resolution that appeared in the last set of data look to have been addressed by firms, with more cases being closed within three days, and a decrease in complaints extending beyond the 8-week resolution period.
Summary
The data highlights both positive trends in lower complaint volumes received by firms and customer satisfaction for more simple issues, but also the need for enhanced efficiency in managing more complex complaint cases, as well as those involving professional representatives. This suggests that some firms may need to improve their complaints operating models and associated processes, and/or consider the provision of additional skilled resource.
If you would like to discuss any aspect of the FCA’s or FOS’s latest complaints data, please reach out to us at hello@square4.com.
