Transparency from firms on the number of complaints they receive is helpful for industry and consumers. Firms can compare their performance in the market and consumers have an additional source of information about the firms we regulate. Further complaints data may be obtained from the Financial Ombudsman Service.
We publish our complaints data every 6 months, around April and October. We provide firm-specific data for individual firms and aggregate, or total, data at market-level. These data sets include submissions from firms reporting 500 or more complaints within a 6-month period, or firms reporting 1,000 or more complaints in a year. Firms that meet these thresholds are obligated to publish complaints data on their websites. These complaints account for around 98% of all complaints that firms report to us. Please note that where a firm has reported less than 500 complaints, they report less detailed data to us.
Firm specific complaints data[1]
Our firm-specific complaints data set is composed of submissions from approximately 290 individual firms reporting either 500 or more complaints within a 6-month period, or 1,000 or more complaints annually. The data is available in 2 formats via 8 sortable tables that can be searched and filtered on at firm-level and a downloadable Excel file that can be filtered by 5 product groups.
Aggregate (total) complaints data[2]
Our aggregate (total) market-level complaints data includes 1 or more complaints reported by over 3,000 regulated firms. The data set includes details on the total number of opened complaints, closed complaints, complaints upheld, and the total redress paid by firms for a 6-month period.
Latest findings
- In 2023 H2, financial services firms received 1.87m complaints, a decrease of 1% from 2023 H1 (1.89m). Since the Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) peak in 2020, complaints have stayed relatively constant between 1.8m and 2m.
- The product groups that experienced an increase in their complaint numbers were: banking and credit cards (up 3.2%), home finance (up 3.7%), and investments (up 3.4%).
- The percentage of complaints upheld decreased from 61% in 2023 H1 to 58% in 2023 H2.
What is included in the data
In addition to the latest key findings, we also publish interactive dashboards containing tables and data visualisations exploring trends involving:
- the total number of opened, closed, and upheld complaints, in relation to the size of the market or firm
- the amount of redress paid
- the type of firm the complaint was about
- the type of product the complaint was about
- the reason for the complaint
Understanding the data
How we define a complaint
Our definition of a complaint is in the FCA Handbook glossary[3]. Firms must report complaints from eligible complainants[4] about activities carried out from an establishment maintained by the firm or their appointed representative[5] in the UK. The complaints data may also include complaints made by retail clients, professional clients, and any other eligible counterparties.
A complaint is considered resolved when the complainant has indicated that they accept the firm’s response to their complaint. It is not mandatory for either the response or the acceptance to be in writing.
Consumer credit complaints data
Our published aggregate, or total, complaints data does not include any complaint reported to us by firms only authorised to carry out consumer credit related activities. No data will be published until the authorisation process is complete. An exception may be where a firm has granted us explicit consent to publish or where a firm has already self-published their data.
More information on how to use our complaints data[6].
Making a complaint
If you are unhappy with a financial product or service received, please see how to complain[7].
Future edition publication dates
H1 2024 data: 24 October 2024
H2 2024 data: 24 April 2025