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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 – 5 November 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.  To date, we have been thoroughly and independently examining the FCA’s files in relation to the eight-year period relating to BSPS, and we are also looking into a longer timeframe to understand the FCA’s awareness of issues in the defined benefit transfer market prior to the BSPS matter.  We are taking into consideration all of the information and points raised by the individual complainants as well as additional documents received from the FCA.  The Complaints Commissioner is working to issue a report encompassing all of the relevant information as quickly as possible whilst ensuring a thorough and careful investigation is completed.

Whilst the Commissioner’s usual approach is to carry out a desk-based review of the complaints received, in relation to the BSPS investigation, we are aware that some complainants would like to speak with the Commissioner directly so that they can feed in their views on their complaint.  The Commissioner wants to ensure that as many of those affected get the chance to raise their concerns and feel that these are being addressed.  With this in mind, we have contacted those who have registered a complaint about the FCA’s handling of BSPS with this office to see if they would be interested in joining a video conference call with the Commissioner and a number of complainants have asked to participate in this call which we are in the process of arranging for later this month.  Those who have not yet registered their BSPS complaint with us may still be able to do so depending on their circumstances and if the complaint relates to the issues raised in the FCA Decision Letter of 19 April 2024.  If this is the case, please contact info@frccommissioner.org.uk setting out the circumstances of your complaint as soon as possible and in any event on or before 29 November 2024. 

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.  The FCA is in the process of arranging a meeting with us to provide further information in relation to redress.  

We will be issuing a further update about BSPS on our website at the beginning of December 2024.

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.