We publish a range of data separately to our annual data and quarterly data on financial products, and half-yearly data on financial businesses. This includes data published annually on complaints about independent financial advisers (IFAs).
Complaints about financial advisers
Following the 2016 Financial Advice Market Review, we’ve published a number of extra sets of data relating to complaints involving financial advisers. This page includes our latest data and, where relevant, the previous year’s figure for comparison.
New complaints about financial advisers
| 2019/20 | 2018/19 | |
|---|---|---|
| New complaints | 1,635 | 1,915 |
| As a proportion of all complaints | <1% | <1% |
| Complaints where the event being complained about happened more than 15 years ago | 241 | 307 |
| As a proportion of all complaints about financial advisers | 15% | 16% |
Uphold rate for top five most complained-about products in complaints about financial advisers
| 2019/20 | ||
| Complaints resolved | Upheld | |
|---|---|---|
| SIPPS | 166 | 59% |
| House mortgages | 91 | 21% |
| Occupational pension transfers | 64 | 42% |
| Portfolio management | 59 | 42% |
| Personal pensions | 46 | 41% |
| Total | 798 | 35% |
Uphold rate for different complaint types about financial advisers
| 2019/20 | 2018/19 | |||
| Complaints resolved | Upheld | Complaints resolved | Upheld | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sales and advice | 439 | 43% | 678 | 41% |
| Administration | 245 | 27% | 396 | 35% |
| Other | 114 | 24% | 51 | 29% |
| Total | 798 | 35% | 1,125 | 39% |
Resolved complaints where the event being complained about happened over 15 years ago
| 2019/20 | 2018/19 | |||
| Complaints resolved | Upheld | Complaints resolved | Upheld | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cases resolved on merit | 103 | 30% | 121 | 35% |
| Cases we couldn’t consider (for example, because of 6 + 3 time limit) | 131 | N/A | 164 | N/A |
| Withdrawn or abandoned by consumer | 19 | N/A | 14 | N/A |
| Total resolved cases | 253 | N/A | 299 | N/A |