Financial complaints needing intervention by the Financial Ombudsman Service have fallen to their lowest level in over a year, according to new quarterly figures published today.
The independent dispute resolution service, which is free for consumers, processed 68,000 complaints in the first three months of this financial year. At the same time last year, April to June 2024, the organisation received 74,600 new cases. The Financial Ombudsman has seen lower levels of complaints about everyday financial products, such as current accounts, credit cards and motor insurance.
The fall in case numbers has also been particularly significant across certain issues, for instance complaints about perceived irresponsible and unaffordable lending have halved. In the first three months of this financial year, the Financial Ombudsman received 10,000 new cases, compared to 21,600 at the same time in 2024/25.
Similarly, the most complained about issue – motor finance commission – has dropped from 36,000 cases in the last three months of 2024/25 to 21,500 cases processed in the first quarter of this financial year.
The other common case area which has seen a significant drop is fraud and scams, with consumers lodging 6,800 complaints, of which half (3,400) are about authorised push payments (APP), where consumers inadvertently transfer money to a fraudster’s account. In the first quarter of 2024/25 consumers submitted around 8,800 fraud and scam complaints.
The service recently introduced charges for professional representatives who bring more than ten complaints a year. The move aimed to bring better balance to the organisation’s fee model and to encourage representatives to submit better-evidenced complaints, considering their merits more diligently before referring them.
Whilst this period shows 30,800 cases were brought by professional representatives, compared to 36,600 in the first quarter last year, it is likely that the next set of quarterly data will show even fewer complaints brought through this route.
Prior to charging, the Financial Ombudsman saw a high proportion of withdrawn and abandoned cases brought by professional representatives, however it anticipates that this will drop over the next few months as representatives bring better-evidenced complaints to the service.
Today’s figures include complaints which were submitted at the end of the last financial year but were processed by the Financial Ombudsman after 1 April. These cases are not chargeable for professional representatives.
James Dipple-Johnstone, Interim Chief Ombudsman at the Financial Ombudsman Service, said:
“Following a year of extraordinary demand, we recently announced reforms to modernise the UK’s redress system, making it more agile and responsive and a much better fit for today’s economy.
“We have acted on feedback from our Call for Input and reviewed a range of our processes – and have already made changes. We’ll continue to listen to our industry partners so that, working together, we can have a system that’s fit for the future.”
The particularly high demand for the Financial Ombudsman is one of the reasons it has been working closely with HM Treasury (HMT) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to modernise the dispute resolution system to ensure consumers can continue to access a quick and high-quality alternative to the courts.
The changes, which complement recently announced government proposals, will help firms identify and resolve issues before complaints escalate and aim to give greater predictability , so businesses have confidence to invest, innovate and support UK growth.
The proposals include changes to the way the Financial Ombudsman processes complaints to ensure they are well-evidenced before an investigation begins, as well as guidelines to help industry assess and trigger the need to resolve a situation with wider implications that could spike complaints. Both consultations close on the 8 October.
The Financial Ombudsman continues to welcome firms resolving complaints first without the need for the service to intervene.
A breakdown of the figures shows which products were the most complained about between April and June 2025. As a comparison, the table below also provides previously published data for the last quarter of 2024/25 and the same period in the last financial year.
| As reported in Q1 2024/25 | As reported in Q4 2024/25 | Q1 2025/26 | |
| Hire purchase (motor) | 15,900 | 37,200 | 24,300 |
| Current accounts | 8,700 | 9,300 | 7,800 |
| Credit cards | 18,200 | 9,200 | 6,600 |
| Conditional sale (motor) | 2,600 | 3,100 | 3,300 |
| Car or motorcycle insurance | 3,900 | 3,200 | 2,800 |
