Can we help you with your complaint?

If your complaint is about a bank, an insurance company or a finance firm rather than one of the regulators, you should first complain to the company and then if you remain unhappy to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

British Steel Pension Scheme (BSPS) update – 17 December 2024

The Commissioner’s investigation into the FCA’s handling of BSPS is ongoing and we have had a large number of complainants contact us.

During the past month, the Commissioner has held two video conference calls with BSPS complainants.  These calls were set up to allow those complainants who wished to feed in their views directly to the Commissioner to do so. We are currently in the process of reviewing the additional evidence that has been sent to us following those calls.

We have had a number of complainants raise specific issues around redress and the timing of redress calculations with us recently. This issue is being investigated alongside the other issues raised in the group complaint.  We have also discussed this issue with the FCA and we are currently in the process of considering the evidence that we have heard on this particular issue.  The findings on this issue together with the other matters that make up our investigation in response to the FCA Decision Letter of 19 April 2024 will be dealt with in the Commissioner’s Preliminary Report.

The Complaints Commissioner is working to issue the Preliminary Report encompassing all of the relevant information as quickly as possible. Complainants who have registered their complaint with the Commissioner and the FCA will be sent the Preliminary Report directly and will have an opportunity to provide comments on the Preliminary Report.  These comments will be considered by the Commissioner before it is made public in a Final Report.

Safe Hands notice – 11 November 2024

The Commissioner received a large number of complaints about the FCA’s handling of Safe Hands Plans Limited (‘Safe Hands’). The Commissioner’s view was that the most efficient and expedient way of addressing the concerns of complainants was to prepare a single ‘master’ preliminary report, which was issued on 9 September 2024 to eligible complainants. Those complainants, their representatives and the FCA were invited to comment on the preliminary report by 30 September 2024.

The Commissioner is considering subsequent comments and/or responses to the preliminary report and will take these into consideration if she thinks it is appropriate to do so, when responding to complainants. The FCA has now provided a response to the Commissioner’s additional enquiries. The Commissioner will take into consideration all the information and comments made on the preliminary report and will be working to review all the relevant information.  The issuance of the report in a timely fashion is a priority for this office which it will endeavour to do as quickly as it can whilst ensuring a thorough and careful investigation is completed.

We have been working extremely hard in our investigation into the FCA’s handling of Safe Hands to ensure we would be able to provide complainants with an answer to their complaint as quickly as possible. We appreciate complainants may have felt frustrated at times and we thank you for your ongoing patience during this time.

Please check this website for further information on the progress of this investigation on 15 January 2025. Complainants who have approached us will be updated separately as part of our review process.