On 22 May 2025, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a consultation paper, CP25/13 on improving the complaints reporting process.

Background

The FCA has collected complaints complaints data from regulated firms since 2002, and uses this data to help it understand market trends, identify current or emerging harms to consumers, and improve its understanding of consumer complaint outcomes.However, it notes that it has not conducted a wholesale review of its complaints data collection since 2015, and since then its regulatory remit has expanded to cover new areas of activity, some of which have adopted their own complaints reporting processes, potentially duplicating work and creating inefficiency. 

Proposals

CP25/13 sets out proposals intended to simplify how regulated firms report complaints to the FCA, make the process more efficient, effective and consistent, and improve the quality of the data it collects. It explains the improvements the FCA proposes to make to its data collection and why, and discusses how the proposals should improve firms’ experience of reporting complaints and the broader benefits the FCA expects for consumers. 

Next steps

The consultation closes on 24 July 2025. The FCA plans to consider all responses and publish a policy statement in 2025.