Timescales

A complaint must usually be referred to the Commissioner within three months of the date of the regulator’s decision letter.  Although the Commissioner can consider complaints received more than three months after the decision, they will expect the complainant to provide a clear explanation of why the complaint was sent late.

Complaints received by the OCC vary widely both in complexity and content. Our work ranges from straightforward signposting to appropriate alternative organisations to address the issues, through to investigating complex apparent regulatory failures.

The following service levels are based on consistent quality of customer service, rather than unrealistic guarantees of timescales.

  1. Acknowledge 95% of correspondence within three working days,
  2. Answer 95% of telephone calls within two working days,
  3. Update 95% of complainants at least every four weeks,
  4. The OCC aims to complete our preliminary investigations of complaints and issue a preliminary report to both the complainant and regulator respond to complaints within 90 days of receiving all the necessary information. However, the time it takes to resolve a complaint can vary depending on the complexity of the case
    • 75% within 12 weeks from receipt of receiving all the necessary information.
    • 85% within 20 weeks from receipt of receiving all the necessary information.
    • 98% within 52 weeks from receipt of receiving all the necessary information.
  5. To allow both the complainant and the regulator 3 weeks to provide a response to the Commissioner’s preliminary report.
    • Requests for additional time to respond to the preliminary report made by either party will be considered and granted where reasonable.
    • Where both parties respond prior to the outlined response date the Commissioner may use their discretion to complete their final report at an earlier date.
  6. To complete the final report within 3 weeks from the final date given to both the complainant and the regulator to provide their responses to the preliminary report.  Where the Commissioner will not meet this timeframe both parties will be informed.
  7. To allow the regulator 10 working days to provide any written response they have to the final report.
    • Requests for additional time to respond to the final report made by either party will be considered and granted where reasonable.
  8. To publish an anonymised copy of the final report along with any regulator response, on the Commissioner website, generally on the first or third Thursday of each month after the date to provide any responses has elapsed.
  9. Once we start to investigate, we will keep in touch at least every 20 working days to let complainants and the organisations we investigate know our progress.
  10. We deal with complaints about our service and post decision review requests within 20 working days.
  11. Where we cannot meet these timescales, we will let complainants and organisations know and explain why.

 

Timescales for complex complaints

Some complaints are categorised as complex, due to the volume of information to review, the number of issues raised, or the nature of the matters under investigation. For complex complaints, our aim is to issue a preliminary report within six months of receiving the relevant information from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) or other regulator. If during our investigation, we need further information from the regulator or from the complainant, we will pause the investigation. The investigation clock will stop until the information is received, which may extend the six month timeframe. The timing of the final decision will depend on the complexity and any further information required.

Individual complex complaints

For individual complaints categorised as complex, the same six month aim and clock‑stop rules apply. We will provide progress updates every four weeks while the investigation is ongoing.

Group complaints (additional provisions)

Under the Complaints Scheme, complainants have three months from the date of the regulator’s decision letter to refer their complaint to the Complaints Commissioner. Our formal investigation of a group complaint usually begins after the three‑month referral window closes and once all submissions are received, although preliminary work may begin earlier to ensure information is complete. Our aim is to issue a preliminary report within six months of receiving all submissions and relevant information from the regulator. Timeframes may be longer for particularly complicated cases. We will provide regular updates via our website on the progress of group investigations.