Information relating to claims management company (CMC) authorisation - October 2021

On 2 September 2021, 54 FCA authorised firms held Advising on investments (except on Pension Transfers and Pension Opt Outs) permission, as well as one of the following claims management permissions:

• Seeking out, referrals and identification of claims or potential claims
• Advice, investigation or representation in relation to a fin serv product claim
• Advice, investigation or representation in relation to a personal injury claim
• Advice, investigation or representation in relation to a criminal injury claim
• Advice, investigation or representation in relation to an employment claim
• Advice, investigation or representation in relation to a claim spec. benefit
• Advice, investigation or representation in relation to a house disrepair claim
• Temporary permission to carry out claims management activities

Please note that by “financial advice firms”, we mean FCA authorised firms providing Retail Investment advice, i.e. firms with one or more of the following permissions for retail customers:

• Advising on investments (except on Pension Transfers and Pension Opt Outs)
• Advising on Pension Transfers and Pension Opt Outs
• Advising on P2P agreements

On 2 September 2021, 652 firms had full authorisation for claims management activity, including at least one of the following permissions.  This does not mean that the firm’s main business is claims management, as some of the firms may also have other permissions.

• Seeking out, referrals and identification of claims or potential claims
• Advice, investigation or representation in relation to a fin. serv. product claim
• Advice, investigation or representation in relation to a personal injury claim
• Advice, investigation or representation in relation to a criminal injury claim
• Advice, investigation or representation in relation to an employment claim
• Advice, investigation or representation in relation to a claim spec. benefit
• Advice, investigation or representation in relation to a house disrepair claim

As at 2 September 2021, 63 applications for CMC permissions are being assessed, 27 of these applicants have temporary permission to provide CMC services.

For the period 1 April 2019 to 30 June 2021, 28 firms had their applications refused or rejected, broken down as follows:

• 1 April 2019–1 April 2020 - 1
• 1 April 2020–1 April 2021 - 22
• 1 April 2021–30 June 2021 – 5

• April 2018-April 2019
• April 2019-April 2020
• April 2020-April 2021
• April 2021-June 2021

No firms have had their permissions cancelled – in total 26 applications for CMC permissions have been refused (however only 19 have been published, as of 2 September 2021).  Some firms have applied to cancel their claims management permissions.