The number of complaints needing intervention from the Financial Ombudsman Service has fallen to its lowest level in over a year, according to new quarterly figures.
The FOS processed 68,000 complaints between April to June of this year, down from 74,600 during the same period last year.
The fall in case numbers has been particularly significant across certain issues, for example complaints about perceived irresponsible and unaffordable lending have halved. In the first three months of this financial year, the FOS received 10,000 new cases, compared to 21,600 in the same period of 2024.
Similarly, the most complained about issue – motor finance commission – has dropped from 36,000 cases in April to June 2024 to 21,500 cases in the same three-month period of this year.
The other common area which has seen a dramatic drop is fraud and scams, which dropped from 6,800 complaints in the April to June period 2024 to 3,400 this year.
The sharp drop in complaints follows the FOS’s newly introduced charging regime for professional representatives which came into effect on April 1 2025. Under the new regime, professional representatives who bring more than ten cases a year, will be charged a fee for each case they refer to the FOS.
Prior to charging, the FOS saw a high proportion of withdrawn and abandoned cases brought by professional representatives however it expects this to drop over the next few months as representatives bring better-evidenced complaints to the service.
James Dipple-Johnstone, interim chief ombudsman at the Financial Ombudsman Service, said: “Following a year of extraordinary demand, we recently announced reforms to modernise the UK’s redress system, making it more agile and responsive and a much better fit for today’s economy.
“We have acted on feedback from our Call for Input and reviewed a range of our processes – and have already made changes. We’ll continue to listen to our industry partners so that, working together, we can have a system that’s fit for the future.”
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