The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has released its latest complaints data, showing that insurance & pure protection saw a 10.1% increase in complaints as 2025 went on, jumping from 717,523 in the first half (H1) of last year to 790,329 in the second half (H2).
Overall, financial services firms received 1.87m complaints in 2025 H2, marking a 0.9% increase from the 1.85m complaints reported in 2025 H1. These figures remain consistent with previous years since the first half of 2021, after which time complaints have remained fairly constant between 1.7m and 2m.
Insurance & pure protection was the main product group to be listed as experiencing a rise in complaints throughout last year, with banking and credit cards, decumulation & pensions, home finance, and investments all seeing a decrease in complaints between H1 and H2.
This is the first time since H1 2021 that insurance & pure protection has seen an increase in complaints between the two halves of the year, with every other year reporting a higher volume of complaints in H1 than in H2. 2024 H1 saw 764,532 complaints for insurance & pure protection, compared to 718,737 in 2024 H2.
"The latest data shows that complaints continue to rise, albeit only by 0.9%," Ash Daniells, legal director at Kennedys, said. "These figures reflect a stubborn market – indeed, since 2021, numbers have remained consistently high. The trend will continue, given consumers are increasingly willing to escalate issues if unhappy.
"Concerningly for firms, complaints are, on average, taking longer to resolve, as well as costing more. The amount of redress paid increased to £281m in the latest figures.
"The fall in complaints relating to investment and pensions is one of the more encouraging parts of the latest FCA data. Positively, it seems firms are making progress in these areas, which have historically attracted higher scrutiny.
"Whilst complaint levels have remained consistently high, the underlying causes are now more commonly pointing towards service level issues, including a lack of communication, rather than isolated failures. This seems to contrast with the FCA’s Consumer Duty, which firms will no doubt need to be prepared to explain and justify."
