What this site will and will not say.

fosAwardLimit

£455,000 for complaints referred to the Financial Ombudsman Service on or after 1 April 2026 about acts or omissions that occurred on or after 1 April 2019. For acts or omissions before 1 April 2019, the limit is £205,000 for cases referred on or after 1 April 2026.

fosAwardLimitNote

The Ombudsman can recommend a firm pays more than the limit, but the firm does not have to accept that recommendation.

fosInterest

For complaints referred from 1 January 2026 the Ombudsman typically asks firms to calculate interest using a time-weighted average of the Bank of England base rate plus one percentage point. Before that, the typical rate was 8% simple a year.

fosCost

The Financial Ombudsman Service is free to consumers.

fosSixMonths

You need to contact the Financial Ombudsman Service within 6 months of receiving the firm’s final response, or it may not be able to help.

fcaEightWeeks

Firms must normally give you their final response in writing within 8 weeks of your complaint.

fcaSixYearsThreeYears

You normally need to complain within 6 years of the problem happening or, if later, within 3 years of becoming aware that you had cause to complain.

fscsInvestmentLimit

For an investment firm that failed after 1 April 2019, FSCS can pay up to £85,000 per eligible person, per firm.

fscsOlderLimits

For firms that failed between 1 January 2010 and 31 March 2019 the limit is £50,000 per eligible person, per firm.

fscsAdvice

Where a claim is about bad advice, the advice must have been given on or after 28 August 1988.

fscsPerformance

FSCS cannot accept claims that are only about poor investment performance — the value of investments can go down as well as up.

fscsCost

It is free to claim from FSCS.

cmcFeeCap

For financial services claims started on or after 1 March 2022 the FCA caps what a claims management company can charge: 30% of awards up to £1,499 (max £420), 28% at £1,500–£9,999 (max £2,500), 25% at £10,000–£24,999 (max £5,000), 20% at £25,000–£49,999 (max £7,500) and 15% above £50,000 (max £10,000) — all excluding VAT.

cmcFeeCapCourt

The fee cap does not apply if you choose to pursue a claim in court with a claims management company.

cmcProtections

Authorised claims management companies must give you a one-page summary of the key information before you sign, a detailed cost illustration, and a 14-day cooling-off period.

s138d

Under section 138D of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, a contravention by an authorised person of a rule made by the FCA is actionable at the suit of a private person who suffers loss as a result, subject to the defences that apply to actions for breach of statutory duty.

limitation14a

For negligence claims where the facts were not known at the outset, the limitation period is six years from the date the cause of action accrued, or three years from the date of knowledge — whichever expires later.

limitation14b

There is an overriding fifteen-year longstop running from the act or omission alleged to constitute the negligence, which bars the claim even if the three-year knowledge period has not yet started to run.