Consumers seeking advice and information from FOS about SIPPs rose by 45% during the quarter, although the number of cases referred to the ombudsman fell by 17%. The percentage of SIPP cases upheld in Q2 2015 was 47%, down from 59% a year ago.
Enquiries relating to term assurance products were down 12% compared with a year ago. Cases referred to the ombudsman, however, rose by 10%. Complaints upheld during the three-month period rose to 26% against 23% in Q2 2014.
Complaints about guaranteed bonds, which promise to provide a fixed income over a fixed term, were up 95%; while issues relating to “with profit” bonds were down 15%. Mortgage endowment complaints also registered a marked decrease of 23%.
The mis-selling of payment protection insurance (PPI) remained the biggest single source of consumer complaints. PPI accounted for 58% of all complaints in the three months to September 2015, compared with 65% during the same period last year.
High and rising
There has been a lot of volatility in the number of complaints handled by FOS over the past few years, according to Martyn James, head of media at FOS.
“The number of complaints (excluding mass claims such as PPI) is pretty consistent and consistently high. It is definitely not plateauing,” James said.
The increased awareness of consumers about their rights accounts for much of the increase in complaints. Also, the rise in complaints is not necessarily linked to the wider business environment. A lot of people get in contact when their investments don’t perform as expected, James explained.
During the second quarter of the financial year FOS handled 141,622 enquiries from consumers. It took on 85,896 new cases, with 9,715 passed to an ombudsman during the final stage of the complaints handling process.
