Aggregate complaints data: 2021 H2

This page shows the market-level data reported to us by financial services firms for 2021 H2 between 1 July 2021 and 31 December 2021. It includes analysis on the latest trends for each product group.

We use our complaints data to help assess how firms interact with and treat their customers as well as monitoring their performance over time. We also use this data to guide our work in supervising firms and markets, highlighting any potential concerns with specific financial products offered.

Download the aggregate complaints data (XLSX)

Key Findings

  • 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 (figure 1).
     
  • 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 (PPI). 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.
     
  • As the number of PPI complaints has fallen, so too has the total number of complaints that took longer than 8 weeks to close. In 2021 H2, only 6% of complaints took this long to close, compared to 12% in 2021 H1.
     
  • The total redress paid fell 52% from £559m in 2021 H1 to £291.5m. Although the majority of this can be attributed to the falling PPI complaints, the amount paid for other complaints still fell 22% from £284m in 2021 H1 to £222.2m in 2021 H2.
     
  • The percentage of complaints that are upheld increased slightly from 59.4% in 2021 H1 to 59.5% in 2021 H2.

 

Chart tips: hover over the data series to view the data values and filter the data categories by clicking on the legend.

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Data table

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Note: complaints recorded for 2016 H2 include firms whose reporting periods ended on or after 30 December 2016. These firms accounted for approximately 90% of complaints.

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Data table

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Complaints closed 

Firms have 8 weeks after receiving a complaint to provide a written response. 

Table 1 – Complaints closed in the period

  All Complaints PPI All other complaints
  2021 H1 2021 H2 2021 H1 2021 H2 2021 H1 2021 H2
Total complaints opened 2.16m 1.87m 0.16m 0.04m 2.00m 1.83m
of which:            
closed within 3 days (%) 48% 49% 4% 8% 51% 50%
closed within 8 weeks (%) 40% 45% 15% 17% 42% 46%
closed after 8 weeks (%) 12% 6% 80% 75% 7% 5%

Source: FCA complaints data

Table 2 – Complaints upheld and redress paid

  All Complaints All other complaints PPI
  2021 H1 2021 H2 2021 H1 2021 H2 2021 H1 2021 H2
Total complaints closed 2.1m 1.8m 1.9m 1.8m 0.2m 0.00m
of which:            
upheld 1.2m 1.1m 1.2m 1.0m 0.1m 0.0m
% upheld 59% 59% 60% 60% 52% 46%
Total redress paid £537.4m £261.3m £263.0m £192.1m £274.3m £69.2m
Redress for upheld complaints £499.2m £228.9m £243.7m £171.0m £255.5m £57.9m
Redress for complaints not upheld £38.0m £32.3m £19.2m £21.0m £18.8m £11.3m
Average redress for complaints upheld £402 £214 £210 £163 £3119 £2827

Source: FCA complaints data

Aggregate complaints data sortable tables: 2021 H2

 

Product Product Group 2023 H1 2023 H2 2024 H1
Annuities (including enhanced and impaired) Decumulation & pensions 8,711 8,501 8,987
Assistance Insurance & pure protection 27,518 26,632 18,125
Credit cards Banking and credit cards 201,925 232,757 222,529
Crowdfunding / Peer to Peer Investments 457 300 289
Current accounts Banking and credit cards 509,923 515,639 492,557
Decumulation packaged multi products Decumulation & pensions 0 2 0
Discretionary management services Investments 1,175 2,162 1,404
Drawdown and UFPLS Decumulation & pensions 6,326 7,008 9,037
Endowments Investments 3,484 3,164 3,046
Equity release Home finance 2,085 1,929 2,201
ETPs Investments 204 327 303
FX/CFD/Spreadbetting Investments 1,190 1,302 1,153
General insurance packaged multi products Insurance & pure protection 19,726 19,336 14,864
Impaired credit Home finance 581 714 633
Income protection and other accident, sickness and unemployment Insurance & pure protection 3,724 3,728 4,100
Investment bonds Investments 11,051 11,275 10,949
Investment packaged multi products Investments 80 75 73
Investment trusts Investments 815 1,344 508
ISAs (where investment held) Investments 19,868 21,170 22,737
Medical/health Insurance & pure protection 85,316 80,293 95,886
Motor & transport Insurance & pure protection 276,994 281,148 276,469
Non-discretionary management services Investments 974 727 903
Non-workplace personal pensions (e.g. SIPPs, SHPs, PPPs) Decumulation & pensions 47,537 45,996 50,831
Other banking - Please provide details below Banking and credit cards 28,159 73,398 22,084
Other decumulation Decumulation & pensions 77 51 29
Other general insurance Insurance & pure protection 150,740 118,981 118,527
Other investment products/funds Investments 7,790 7,090 7,522
Other pensions Decumulation & pensions 367 339 286
Other pure protection Insurance & pure protection 602 381 466
Other regulated home finance products Home finance 70,136 70,393 70,614
Other unregulated home finance products Home finance 16,718 19,147 16,759
Overdrafts Banking and credit cards 9,387 15,232 15,317
Packaged accounts Banking and credit cards 12,788 13,461 15,080
Payment protection insurance Insurance & pure protection 3,287 2,009 879
Pensions packaged multi products Decumulation & pensions 19 26 22
Pet Insurance & pure protection 27,847 26,984 27,888
Platforms Investments 7,524 7,845 9,102
Property Insurance & pure protection 92,659 91,893 100,234
Protection packaged multi products Insurance & pure protection 887 509 553
Savings (including ISAs) Banking and credit cards 85,315 91,177 83,380
Second and subsequent charge Home finance 1,991 2,698 3,025
Structured products Investments 163 107 131
Third way products (e.g. investment linked, variable, fixed term) Decumulation & pensions 94 91 75
Travel Insurance & pure protection 32,589 34,669 28,049
Trust based pensions (e.g. Occupational and DB) Decumulation & pensions 8,494 7,122 7,414
UCITS Investments 219 188 187
Unit trusts/OEICs Investments 4,419 4,437 4,496
Warranty Insurance & pure protection 49,885 43,704 53,577
Whole of life/term assurance/critical illness Insurance & pure protection 27,094 23,672 24,672
Workplace personal pensions (e.g. SIPPs, SHPs, PPPs) Decumulation & pensions 16,477 17,749 16,341

Complaints, contextualised by number of products.

Product Product Group 2023 H1 2023 H2 2024 H1
Annuities (including enhanced and impaired) Decumulation & pensions 1.2 1.1 1.2
Assistance Insurance & pure protection 3.5 2.7 1.9
Credit cards Banking and credit cards 3.6 3.9 3.8
Crowdfunding / Peer to Peer Investments 0.8 0.6 1.8
Current accounts Banking and credit cards 4.3 4.2 3.9
Discretionary management services Investments 1 2.2 0.6
Drawdown and UFPLS Decumulation & pensions 5.7 6.1 7.3
Endowments Investments 1.4 1.3 1.4
Equity release Home finance 5.9 6.7 8.6
ETPs Investments 0 1.1 0.8
FX/CFD/Spreadbetting Investments 0.1 0 0.1
General insurance packaged multi products Insurance & pure protection 1.5 1.5 1
Impaired credit Home finance 4.3 7.9 6.6
Income protection and other accident, sickness and unemployment Insurance & pure protection 0.3 0.3 0.9
Investment bonds Investments 4.3 4.7 5
Investment packaged multi products Investments 2.9 2.3 2.2
Investment trusts Investments 5.1 12.7 0.5
ISAs (where investment held) Investments 1.8 1.7 1.8
Medical/health Insurance & pure protection 8.8 8.3 9.9
Motor & transport Insurance & pure protection 3.7 3.9 3.8
Non-discretionary management services Investments 0.1 0.1 0.1
Non-workplace personal pensions (e.g. SIPPs, SHPs, PPPs) Decumulation & pensions 3.2 2.7 3.7
Other banking - Please provide details below Banking and credit cards 2.4 1.8 3.7
Other general insurance Insurance & pure protection 2.1 1.4 1.7
Other investment products/funds Investments 0.6 0.5 0.2
Other pensions Decumulation & pensions 0.6 0.6 0.5
Other pure protection Insurance & pure protection 0.3 0.4 0.1
Other regulated home finance products Home finance 7 7 7.1
Other unregulated home finance products Home finance 6 7.8 7
Overdrafts Banking and credit cards 0.2 0.3 0.3
Packaged accounts Banking and credit cards 1.7 1.8 2
Payment protection insurance Insurance & pure protection 0.2 0.1 0.1
Pensions packaged multi products Decumulation & pensions 1,166.70
Pet Insurance & pure protection 5.6 4.8 5.1
Platforms Investments 2 1.3 0.2
Property Insurance & pure protection 2.2 2.1 2.3
Protection packaged multi products Insurance & pure protection 0.5 1 1.1
Savings (including ISAs) Banking and credit cards 0.7 0.7 0.6
Second and subsequent charge Home finance 12.8 28.1 27
Structured products Investments 4.6 0.6 4.3
Third way products (e.g. investment linked, variable, fixed term) Decumulation & pensions 2.1 2.5 1.6
Travel Insurance & pure protection 0.8 0.8 0.8
Trust based pensions (e.g. Occupational and DB) Decumulation & pensions 0.7 0.6 0.7
UCITS Investments 0.7 0.6 8.8
Unit trusts/OEICs Investments 0.9 0.9 1.6
Warranty Insurance & pure protection 2.5 2.4 2.8
Whole of life/term assurance/critical illness Insurance & pure protection 0.9 0.7 0.8
Workplace personal pensions (e.g. SIPPs, SHPs, PPPs) Decumulation & pensions 1 1 0.9

Further information about the complaints data

Copyright

The data on this page is available under the terms of the Open Government Licence.