On 28 April 2022, the FCA published its latest set of complaints data. The FCA publishes complaints data every 6 months, around April and September, so that firms can compare their performance in the market and consumers have an additional source of information about FCA regulated firms.
The FCA’s latest findings include:
- In 2021 H2, financial services firms received 1.84m complaints, 10% lower than in 2021 H1 (2.04m). This is the lowest level recorded since 2016 H2.
- The insurance and pure protection product group saw the largest decrease in complaints received by firms: from 890,000 complaints in 2021 H1 to 770,000 complaints in 2021 H2 (11%). There was also a noticeable decrease in home finance complaints (14%), investments (29%) and decumulation and pensions (16%). No product group saw an increase from 2021 H2.
- Unlike in previous returns, the decrease in insurance and pure protection complaints was not driven by the drop in complaints about Payment Protection Insurance. Instead, it was consistent across all products. The exception was in warranties which has increased 18% from 44,329 to 52,091 (after also increasing 19% in 2021 H1).
Current accounts are still the most complained about products. The number of complaints for these increased 5% from 503,135 in 2021 H1 to 526,609 in 2021 H2. Other general insurance is the second most complained about product, but this fell 28% from 297,650 to 216,438
