Ongoing financial advice services

When people contact us to complain, they’re often unhappy about:

• paying for ongoing advice that they didn’t receive
• an ongoing advice service not being suitable for their needs
• not being aware of the cost of the regular advice service or feeling that it wasn’t good value for money
• the suitability of the original pension or investment advice they were given
• administrative issues.

When we look at complaints about ongoing financial advice services, we use the regulatory and legal standards that applied at the time of the event the customer is complaining about.

The Financial Conduct Authority published what it views as good and poor practice in relation to ongoing advice services in February 2025. These guidelines outline expectations for fair treatment of customers and maintaining transparency in advice services.

We only look at complaints you've had an opportunity to deal with first. If your customer is unhappy with your decision, or you don't respond to them within the time limits, they can come to us. 

Each case is different, so what we require will vary. But we’ll look at the facts and evidence from both you and your customer. What we consider will usually include:

• relevant laws, rules and regulations, guidance, standards and codes of practice that were in place when the event happened, including the Consumer Duty
• whether you worked with your customer to thoroughly investigate the issue and, where necessary, took steps to put things right
• whether you were aware, or should have known, that your customer was vulnerable – and what support you offered or put in place if they were.

We may ask additional questions, or for specific information, for example, to explore whether your firm complied with the Consumer Duty.

If your customer was invited to annual reviews but declined the invitation, we’ll consider whether:

• you were in a position to deliver the review when you offered it, and
• whether your customer was aware of what they were declining.

If your customer didn’t respond to the invitation, we’ll look at how you contacted them – and how often. If they declined reviews repeatedly, we’d expect you to consider whether the ongoing service was still in their best interests.

We follow the FCA’s dispute resolution rules (DISP) and will take into account how you’ve tried to put things right. 

If we uphold your customer's complaint, we'll tell you what you need to do to put things right. We may also ask you to compensate them for any distress or inconvenience they’ve experienced as a result of the problem.

How we handle complaints

Businesses and consumer advisers can contact our Business Support Hub on 020 7964 1400 for information on how we might look at a particular complaint, or for guidance on our rules and how we work.

We also work with businesses and other organisations to help prevent complaints.